Publisher's Notebook Opinion Greatest Jewish Invention: How About Camping? Jewish Education Doesn't Help NECHEMIA MEYERS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS ARTHUR M. HORWITZ PUBLISHER brochures? What could be more Jewish? At the many discoveries that have influ- same time our kids are picking and choosing their enced the development of Western sessions, they are honing their Scholastic As- civilization. Life-saving vaccines. sessment Test-taking skills. Here are some of the The theory of relativity. And possibilities: overnight camping. Yes, that summer rit- ual which transfers our FOOD: (Choose 1) children from play sta- E kosher tions and Internet chat rooms to mildewy bunks and bug juice ❑ kosher style is a uniquely Jewish invention. It com- ❑ outright treife bines biblical wanderings, name changes, an affinity for the professions and SAT JEWISHNESS: preparation to mold future generations. Go ahead. Ask the rabbis. They'll tell E Orthodox you that during the Exodus from Egypt, Conservative the children of Israel spent 40 years wan- E dering in the wilderness (they could have 0 Reform chosen the teen caravan option) pitch- ❑ Humanistic ing tents, holding barbecues, singing songs around pillars of fire and com- ❑ kibbutz plaining about the quality of the staff. ❑ moshav And they ate manna, even though "they E settler knew not what it was." Still not sure? Have you noticed the names of the camps? Tamakwa. Tanu- POP QUIZ: ga. Wahanowin. Very rustic. Decidedly Food is to Jewisimess as American, Native American. (Maybe a. helium is to latex their owners wanted to apply for casi- no licenses all along.) Since arriving to b. fetish is to Freud these friendly shores, changing sur- c. saucer is to Frisbee names has been a Jewish art form. Af- ter all, would you send your kid to Camp d. carbon dioxide is to ferrous oxide Tulmult? Camp Zaftig? Camp e.both a and c Vildechaya? Maybe Camp Tony Curtis or Camp Kirk Douglas? Ask your kids who are the most im- PROGRAMS: (Choose 2) portant adults at camp. Not the bunk counselor or the camp director. Not the ❑ weight loss naturalist or the dietitian. Not even the E horseback riding coaches. Hands .down, it's the resident E. wilderness doctor and the resident pharmacist. They provide a combination of vital services E. caravan (treatment of insect bites, bouts of food ❑ fine arts poisoning and dispensation of medica- tions) with an ongoing career day. Imag- ❑ basketball ine ... become a doctor or pharmacist and ❑ swimming you, too, could spend every summer at ❑ tennis . camp with your family, in your bunk! But make room. There's a trend to- ❑ sports team ownership ward having a resident attorney — to ❑ sports agent keep an eye on the resident doctor and pharmacist and to file suit if an umpire ACCOMMODATIONS: (Choose 1) blows a call during the color war. And what about the camping ❑ Rustic (walk to bathroom; no hot water; Jews have been credited with no toilet paper) Tweener (walk to bathroom; warm water, one-ply paper) ❑ Almost home (bathroom attached to bunk; hot water; three-ply paper) But the ultimate contribution of Jewish camping to Western civilization? It reminds us how important we are to our kids. For the lit- tle things, like doing their laundry and cook- ing their favorite meal, even if its only macaroni and cheese. For the bigger things, like encour- aging their independence and reinforcing their Jewishness in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. The counselors, directors, coaches and resident doctors merely provide us with a break from our most important task — raising our chil- dren. 0 The assumption that Jewish ed- Jews, who go on believing that ucation is the key to Jewish con- Jewish education can make a tinuity is unfounded, according major difference. Take, for example, Professor to Dr. Stephen Miller, a British Alan Dershowitz, author of a sociologist. Speaking at the recent Bar- new book titled The Vanishing Ilan University workshop on American Jew. He thinks it "Jewish Survival: The Identifi- would be possible to counter as- cation Problem At The End similation and intermarriage by Of The 20th Century," Dr. creating academically excellent Miller based his conclusion on secular schools with a strong a 1995 study of British Jewry Jewish component. sponsored by the Institute for Jewish Policy Researe don. The largest and mos resentative survey of kind ever carried out, encompassed not mil: committed Jews, but also those who are as- similated, intermar- ried or uninvolved. Since intermar- riage is identified as the main enemy of Jewish survival, and has already reached 44 percent in Britain, the study outlined the factors that tend to e courage it. They inchk weak religious home university education and a lack of Jewish At those schools, prayer youth club experience. As to whether a Jewish edu- would be optional, and the only cation tends to lessen the criterion for acceptance would chances of intermarriage, Dr. be a desire to learn from Jewish Miller said: "It is not, in itself, a tradition. The Dershowitz scheme significant factor if parental re- ligiosity is taken into account." promises much more than it can In the United States, where deliver, for the aforementioned intermarriage has passed the studies clearly indicate that the 50 percent mark, the situation Jewishness of a young person is similar says Professor Sergio and his propensity to intermar- ry are determined by the Jew- ishness of his home rather than of his education. Home life is more the So Jewishness parents who want to im- bue their children with a Ju- important than daism they don't themselves practice are not likely to suc- formal Jewish ceed; in this sphere, as in oth- education. ers, there is little to be gained by saying "Do as I say and not DellaPergola, a renowned as I do." In one of the Jewish papers Hebrew University demogra- that carried the Dershowitz in- pher. In a survey on the future of terview, there was a full-page the Jewish people in the next ad which — albeit unintention- millennium, Professor Del- ally— said something that may laPergola declares that the main be more cogent about the future factor working against inter- of Diaspora Jewry. The headline at the top read: marriage in the United States is the religiosity of parents and "Celebrate with the entire Jew- the degree of religious obser- ish community — Sunday, March 16. Special guest speak- vance in the home. And while Jewish education ers, music, food." And just be- does heighten a young person's low, in much bigger letters, the sense of identification with the title of the affair was given, "Af- Jewish people, it does not, on its firmation 6000 — Celebrating own, make it more likely that the Future of the Jewish Com- he or she will marry within the munity into the Jewish Year 6000 (2240 CE)." fold. And what is the institution These observations don't seem to discourage concerned that will promote Jewish sur- vival for another 250 years? It's Nechemia Meyers writes from ' the old one — the family. 0 Rehovot, Israel.