New Jersey Jewish News
Commentary
Summer camps: Incubators for the Jewish future
In recent months, I’ve read article after article decrying the lack of continuity in the Jewish community and asking, “Where will the next generation of Jewish leaders come
from and how will we maintain continuity?”
One answer is, and has been, available to Jews for more than 100 years, and that is the 130 nonprofit Jewish overnight camps across North America. These camps ignite the interest, passions, and energy of Jewish youths and teach them the importance of Judaism, of Israel, of building long-lasting Jewish communities, and the responsibilities that go along with being the future leaders in the Jewish world.
If you think about it, what better place is there for Jewish youths to get in touch with their Jewishness than in fun, nonthreatening, noncompetitive nurturing environments where being Jewish is celebrated? As a parent, I know that Jewish camping is the best insurance policy Jewish parents can take out for their children that will assure Jewish continuity and leadership for the foreseeable future.
But don’t take my word for it. According to recent statistics from a study by Amy Sales and Leonard Saxe at Brandeis University, most campers report a higher level of Jewish observance at camp than at home, with 30 percent reporting being observant “much more than during the year” and 34 percent saying that their level of observance was “somewhat more at camp than during the year.” Additionally, in a study of the Conservative movement’s Ramah camps, Jewish camp attendance correlated with strengthened Jewish identity and commitment. More than 64 percent of young people who attended Jewish camps reported that their Jewish identity had been strengthened.
Jewish camps provide not only all the exciting experiences associated with camping but also leadership training and role modeling of Jewish values for more than 10,000 college students annually.
On Sunday and Monday in Jersey City, the Foundation for Jewish Camping will hold its first Leaders Assembly. It will bring together more than 300 camp directors, funders, and lay leaders. They’ll hear from experts in the field of camping and discuss major opportunities in the field to redouble their efforts to build the next generation of proactive Jewish leadership.
When one realizes that more than 65 percent of Jewish leaders attended a not-for-profit Jewish sleep-away camp, it’s easy to understand the importance of the Leaders Assembly. Such camps graduate rabbis and cantors, federation executives, and JCC leaders, day school principals and Hillel leaders. These Jewish sleep-away camp graduates, as role models, are passing on the torch of leadership to a new generation of Jewish campers. Many youngsters find them easier to identify with than even their teachers at home because of the nonthreatening, nurturing settings that camps offer. The fact that many counselors are only a few years older than their campers, have shared many of the same experiences, and speak the same language as they do makes it possible for them to relate to campers
Among the individuals who attended Jewish nonprofit camps and have become leaders in the Jewish world and beyond are Ruth Messinger, former Manhattan borough president and current president of American Jewish World Service; Israeli-American architect Daniel Libeskind; John Ruskay, chief executive officer of the UJA-Federation of New York; Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke; CNN host Larry King; and Tony Award-winning playwright Neil Simon.
It is the potential of Jewish camping to engage the entire Jewish community and create future Jewish leaders that led Rob and Elisa Spungen Bildner of Montclair to establish the Foundation for Jewish Camping. That vision attracted philanthropists Edgar Bronfman, Harold Grinspoon of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, Lynn Schusterman of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation, Michael Steinhardt of the Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation, and Abigail and Leslie Wexner to become members of the foundation’s board of trustees.
Today’s professional camp directors have awesome responsibilities. They are responsible for building and reinforcing the Jewish soul and building upon their experience to fan the flames of camping, from being campers to becoming counselors to having families and sending their children to camp.
Next week’s Leaders Assembly celebrates the positive traits of leadership that non-profit Jewish overnight camps offer — trust, respect, and a healthy, organic, and natural method for young Jews to get, and stay, in touch with their Jewish heritage and the importance of Israel in their lives. We hope that you will join us in celebrating these lofty ideals by contributing time and money to the non-profit Jewish camping community.
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