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T
en teenagers sway in si-
lence, their arms linked,
their shadows long in
the amber late-after-
noon sunlight. At an unspoken
cue, they chant the ancient
melodies that welcome Shabbat
into their midst. For one spec-
tacular, suspended moment,
these very contemporary teens
are connected, spiritually and
physically, to the generations
that preceded them.
It may seem idyllic, but many
variations on this theme will play
out weekly in Jewish camps this
summer. Summer camping
means big business: It takes
nearly $ 4 billion a year to sup-
port the 8000 summer camps in
the U.S., and the 350 camps that
offer Jewish experiences and ed-
ucation host close to a quarter-
million eager campers every
summer.
Jewish camps run the gamut
from Talmud study and tradi-
tional ritual observance to folksy,
heimische camps that focus on
Jewish culture. Three major
camp networks — the Reform-af-
filiated Union of American He-
brew Congregations (UAHC)
camps, Conservative-sponsored
Camp Ramah, and Young Judea,
a Zionist Youth Movement camp
sponsored by Hadassah — show-
case many of the choices and al-
ternatives available to curious
campers and their families.
Nearly 8000 campers a year
spend summer at one of the nine
UAHC camps sprinkled across
the US, and return home en-
riched in friendships, learning,
and Jewish values. The largest
Jewish camp system in North
America, the UAHC network
takes as its mission the creation
of a contemporary communal
Jewish memory. As UAHC Di-
rector of Camping Rabbi Allen
Smith relates, Jews historically
lived in tightly knit all-Jewish
communities. The challenge to-
day is to recreate the vibrant se-
.
.
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Helen Zelon is a freelance writer
and parent of three prospective
campers living in Brooklyn,
New York.
curity of the shtetl with a thriv-
ing Jewish world "where kids and
adults can play, grow, and live
Jewish values."
Experiential, informal educa-
tion is a main goal of UAHC sum-
mer camp,according to Rabbi
Smith. Immersion in an all-Jew-
ish community offers campers of
all ages a chance to explore
`everyday' ways to be Jewish.
At Kutz Camp, a UAHC na-
tional teen camp in upstate New
York, young leaders of Reform
synagogue youth groups gather
for the NFTY (North American
Federation of Temple Youth)
Leadership Academy, a month
long program that balances Jew-
ish study with practical, take-
home lessons in building Jewish
community.
A Kutz summer might also in-
clude Kesher Camp, a brief ses-
sion where teens act as
mentor/counselors to autistic
youngsters, many of whom
areaway from home for the first
time, and for whom Jewish prac-
tice — baking challah, making
Shabbat — may be totally new.
"This is tikkun olam [mending
the world] in action," said Kutz
Camp Director Rabbi Gretchen
Conyer Reiss.
11111i11111=1111111
■ 1
Scholarships
are
available .
The UAHC plans to add $20
million in capital improvements
to the $30 million it now spends
annually. The goal is to double
the available beds, an important
objective since 60% of UAHC
campers are returnees.
Extensive "campership" fund-
ing programs assure that no
youngster is turned away. Spe-
cial-needs campers are welcome
as well, after parents and fami-
lies make the necessary arrange-
ments with the individual camps.
Song fests and outdoor activities create
wonderful camp memories. These
children are campers from Camp Eisner
in Great Barrington, Mass.
According to Camp Ramah's
Director of Development Bonnie
Orlin, "kids are hungry for Jew-
ish education and may not have
a place for it in their home com-
munity." She adds that "Jewish
community and education are the
two cornerstones" of Camp
Ramah, which has sites in six
states and a summer seminar in
Israel for high school seniors. Ed-
ucation is offered both informal-
ly and traditionally at Ramah —
campers participate in regular
religious services and receive in-
struction in traditional ritual
practice, like learning Haftorah
trop or a new piece of Hebrew
text, but their "teachers" are of-
ten the same person who taught
them diving in the morning or ce-
ramics in the afternoon.
"Our educational mission is to
transmit knowledge and skills,
and to create a committed Jew-
ish leadership," says Orlin, not-
ing that more than half of the
rabbinic and cantorial students
at the Jewish Theological Semi-
nary are Ramah graduates.
Ramah's commitment to edu-
cation extends to special-needs
campers, too, under the auspices
of the Tikvah program for young-
sters 12 and older at Camp,
Ramah in the Berkshires. Tik-
vah campers benefit from dedi-
cated programming in Hebrew
education and bar/bat mitzvah
preparation, an area often over-
looked when youngsters have
special needs.
Scholarships are available as