SUMMER PLEASURES GOLDEN BEAR ROYAL OAK Making Summer Last a Lifetime Watch For New Expanded Summer Hours Larger Retail Site New Range Balls r '1 Off Range Balls Exp. 9-1-97 Not Valid With Any Other Offers, Specials or Discounts. Must Present Coupon. r $ HELEN ZELON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS 1 Off Captain Cove Adventure Golf Exp. 9-1-97 Not Valid With Any Other Offers, Specials or Discounts. Must Present Coupon. L J Located at Coolidge and 13 Mile Road (810) 549-4653 FRESH PRODUCE Ready to Serve Meals USDA CHOICE MEATS 'extensile Wine Selection 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- . . CATERING FOR ALL OCCASIONS fresh 'Preads 4. Pastries SPECIALTY SALADS & PASTAS Semice Oriented 6525 Commerce Rd. (at Green Lake Rd.) W. Bloomfield • (248) 363-7666 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