Editor's Notebook

The Gifts Of Jewish Camp

becoming the top professional of Detroit Jewry's venerable
I is woods and water, fun and friendship, sun and spir-
Jewish
camp provider: the Fresh Air Society and Tamarack
ituality. It's also a building block of Jewish identity.
Camps. Believe in campers to find meaning in Israel and
It's Jewish summer camp.
Studies abound that validate its spot alongside Israel trav- Judaic programs, he said. Be subtle but also accent enrich-
ment, whether it's eating in the cheder ochel (dining hall);
el, Jewish learning, Shabbat candle lighting, youth groups
making Kiddush cups for new Americans; planting trees,
and holiday celebrations in bringing pre-teens, teens and
Israeli style, on the campgrounds; or extending tzedekah to
their young adult advisers closer to Judaism.
people less fortunate.
In its distilled state, camp exposure is a living laboratory
"We don't force anyone to do anything," Geller said.
for being Jewish without the pressure to compete as a Jew.
"The
essence of informal education is to show how
It's the purest chance for younger Jews to stake their Jewish
Judaism can be cool and exciting. What campers want to
claim at their comfort level, religious or
embrace and — what they want to take with them — is up
cultural. The idea is to seamlessly wrap
to them."
Jewish activities, values and ethics into
I love Geller's oft-repeated adage that he once picked up
all the popular secular things about
at a camping seminar: "If you want to give children a
camp — to make Judaism as inviting as
Jewish background, you've got to give them a Jewish play-
water skiing.
ground."
I was energized reading Jerry
The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, our chief
Silverman's description of what bound
strategic planning and fund-raising agency, allo-
his daughter, Alison, then
ROBERT A.
cates more than $550,000 to the Fresh Air
9, to what I call camping
SICLAR
with a Jewish pulse.
Editor
In the Aug. 4 issue of
"If you want to give children a
the Chronicle of
Philanthropy, Silverman, president of the
Jewish background, you've got to
Foundation for Jewish Camping (FJC),
give them a Jewish playground."
wrote: "You have to understand that this is a
—Tamarack's Jonah Geller
girl who had a significant Jewish background
as a child. She had been to Jewish day school
and had been very involved with the syna-
Society each year for operations and scholar-
gogue's youth groups. But there was some-
ships;
it's one of our community's wisest invest-
thing about this camping experience, living
ments.
24 hours a day, seven days week with other
Rabbi Paul Yedwab of Temple Israel in West
Jewish kids in a place where Judaism is constantly in the
Bloomfield met his wife, Wendy, at the Reform move-
air, which connected her to her peers and to the culture in
a powerful way. I will never forget her tears, having to leave ment's Kutz Camp in Warwick, N.Y. This summer, they
spent a week volunteering at Camp George in Parry
friends just met four weeks ago."
His father was a rabbi, but Silverman didn't connect with Sound, Ont., where their three kids attend; he served on
the rabbinic faculty. Tamarack is among the camps that
the Jewish community until he got involved with the
Rabbi
Yedwab has assisted with programming.
Conservative movement's United Synagogue Youth. He
"I
believe
that Jewish camps are the close thing to Gan
even met his wife through USY. The connection deepened
Eden [the Garden of Eden] that one can find on this
as he witnessed the profound impact that Jewish camping
Earth," said Rabbi Yedwab, 49. "Kids
had on his three kids growing up amid
treat each other more kindly, get closer
the trappings of assimilation in
Points To Ponder
and enjoy the normal camp activities
America.
more because' of the tefillot [prayers], the
His insight reinforces the lofty rung
song
sessions and even the studies that
of Jewish camping on the ladder of
are
interwoven
into the daily and weekly
identity building as well as the essential
schedule."
role that parents play in making time
Has the (misguided) fear of
In a telling admission, Rabbi Yedwab
for Jewish expression in the hurried,
forced Judaism kept you from
said his work as a rabbi is rooted in
impressionable lives of their kids.
exploring the Jewish camp
making the rest of the Jewish world,
"My experiences have taught me so
experience for your kids?
including Temple Israel, more like
much about the importance of always
camp. "Most every successful innovation
giving kids the support they need to
that I have ever brought to Temple
grow and flourish," wrote Silverman,
Israel has been stolen from my favorite
47, a business executive in San
If your family has been
Jewish environment," he said.
Francisco and Boston before accepting
exposed
to Jewish summer
The array and quality of general,
the New York reins of FJC last summer.
camp, where does it rank
sports and specialty camps available to
"There are so many opportunities out
alongside other Jewish
Jewish families is impressive. But par-
therefor them, but before children can
moments
in
helping
shape
your
ents would be remiss if they didn't also
feel confident enough to go out and
kids'
Jewish
identity?
expose their kids to the special gifts of
take advantage of those opportunities,
Jewish summer camp, a pillar of the
they need us to believe in them."
experiences that help kids discover who
That reminded me of what Jonah
they are in the Jewish community. [I]
Geller told the JN in 2004, a year after

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funny!

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Thursday
• October 6
• 7:30 PM

C

• Fox Theatre

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248.538.6610
x418
www.jarc.org

998620

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jam

%TN

8/18

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