WHAT do fine cigars and a brand-new Jewish summer camp have in common?

Absolutely nothing, would be the perfectly logical answer.

Wrong.

There is indeed common ground between these two disparate topics, in the form of one David Engleberg, a Denver businessman and Jewish community activist.

At this stage of Engleberg’s life, fine cigars and summer camps are primary, if polar opposite, interests. He approaches both with a thoughtful enthusiasm that well complements his soft-spoken, low-key personality.

FOR the past 16 months or so, a perfect economic storm has been raging, affecting governments, businesses, individuals and non-profit organizations in an utterly non-discriminatory hurricane.

In its still-churning wake, the storm is leaving shattered plans, busted budgets, depleted portfolios and dashed hopes. Corporations and institutions have been left crippled, or left for dead, and their leaders left wondering when it will all end.

An economic environment, surely, to test the mettle of virtually anyone or anything that deals in money.

Taking this global storm down to the microcosmic level of local community, it’s not difficult to see evidence of the damage.

In the Denver Jewish community specifically, ambitious plans for a federation-led capital improvement campaign have been placed indefinitely on hold; community-run social service programs have cut back hours and benefits; staffers of Jewish community organizations have been laid off or seen their hours reduced.