Madeline Budman

Madeline T. Budman (she/her) is a fifth-year rabbinic student at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. She earned her B.A. at Georgetown University, where she graduated with a major in English and double minors in Jewish Civilization and Women’s and Gender Studies. Madeline was the programmer for the rising 7th grade Tsofim unit at URJ Camp Coleman in 2017. In the summer of 2016, she was a participant in the RAC's Machon Kaplan program, where she interned at the National Council of Jewish Women.

The author and her campers at URJ Camp Coleman
Gun Violence Prevention

A Letter to My Campers After Parkland

Madeline Budman

My hope for you is that your schools will feel as safe as your camp cabins. I want you to be able to run, laugh, play, learn, and grow as freely as you could at camp, where your biggest fear is falling and skinning your knee. I want you to not have to question whether or not the next time you talk to your friends will be the last time you’re able to. I want you to be active and engaged citizens, like we teach you to be at camp, but I want you to do this out of a desire for good, not out of trauma and necessity. Most importantly, I want you to just be kids. I want you to not have to worry. I want you to have a childhood that lasts as long as possible, free from fear, free from pain, and free to always be as happy as you are at 201 Camp Coleman Drive. 
Women of the Wall

Next Year at the Kotel

Madeline Budman
When I embarked on my Birthright journey to Israel with URJ Kesher in December 2015, I packed my beloved tallit along with my Chacos and water bottle, but my tallit never saw the light of the Jerusalem sun.