Opinion
A MIX OF IDEAS
Herzl In Hollywood
A
s I was reading Yediot Ahronot,
the Israeli daily newspaper, my
eye caught the most interest-
ing as well as surprising item regard-
ing the imminent naming of a street in
Hollywood, a mere stone throw from
fashionable Rodeo Drive, after Binyamin
Zeev Herzl, the father of Zionism and
visionary of the Jewish state as he is
referred to.
Admittedly, there is a Herzl Street in
Tel Aviv, the street on which I was born
and raised, and in Jerusalem and per-
haps in many another Israeli city, but in
Hollywood?
Well, as the article states, the local
Israeli consul managed to convince the
city council to name one of the city
streets after Herzl although it is highly
unusual to do so. The consul
managed to convince the city
council that Binyamin Zeev
Herzl's importance is not
restricted merely to the Jewish
state to which he laid the
foundation in Bazel in 1897,
when he convened the first
Zionist Congress, but also to
the Jewish people everywhere,
including the United States,
where a hitherto homeless
people regained their ancestral
homeland and their lost pride.
But why Hollywood and why
now? We all know what an important
part Jews played in Hollywood. As far
as why now, it has to do with the 150th
birthday of the man — he died in July
1860 at the much too early age
of 44 of heart failure — and
this historical event will be the
focal point of the forthcoming
Yom HaAtzmaut celebrations
this April when the Jewish state
will celebrate its 62nd birthday.
Personally, I couldn't be hap-
pier. As I mentioned before,
it was on Herzl street in Tel
Aviv, one of the first streets in
the city, that my father Yosef
Garber built a house in 1935,
a house where both my sister
Shula, born the same year, and
I were born and raised.
I often think of what would have been
if Herzl wouldn't succumb to his death
in such an early age; but, of course, we'll
never know. For one thing, my father
wouldn't have built his house on 97
Herzl Street and I wouldn't have gone to
Gymnasia Herzlia, the first Hebrew high
school in the world named for Herzl after
his untimely death. There wouldn't be
Mount Herzl, where the national ceme-
tery is found and where his remains were
reinterred in 1949. I distinctly remember
that historic day when we all passed by
his coffin near the Knesset, then located
near the Tel Aviv beach.
The 150th celebration of the birth
of this great man will no doubt add a
great measure of significance come Yom
HaAtzmaut on the fifth of Iyar 5770
(sundown on April 19). ❑
Rachel Kapen is a West Bloomfield resident.
Why A Jewish Camp?
New York/JTA
W
ith winter's snow at an end,
thousands of parents are
now imagining their children
swimming in a mountain lake after a long,
hot run in the summer sun as they send
off applications for their children to attend
summer camp.
But only some parents will choose a
camp that can also help build their child's
Jewish connections, identity and pride
while they also enjoy a seemingly endless
choice of camp activities.
This powerful Jewish growth oppor-
tunity should not be missed, especially
since campers today don't have to forgo
anything to enjoy the long-lasting benefits
from the summer experience.
Considering the shifting cultural pat-
terns among Jews during the past century
(remember bungalow colonies?), it may be
surprising that overnight camps are still
popular more than a century after the first
one opened. But it can't be a secret, can it,
if Jewish families last summer enrolled
70,000 children in a Jewish summer camp?
After having visited dozens and dozens
of camps across North America in my
work for a national Jewish foundation,
I have three reasons to choose a Jewish
camp (based on various archetypes):
• No sacrifices necessary. Skateboarding,
anyone?
Most Jewish camps today offer the same
activities and experiences available at
non-Jewish camps.
It's not unusual to find field hockey,
cooking, climbing walls, ropes courses,
42 Apri115 • 2010
mountain biking, tennis,
Ask a Jewish adult where they
waterskiing and, yes, even
had the most intensive and
skateboarding, in Jewish camps.
enjoyable Jewish experiences
Of course, these camps also
as a child, and many will say at
offer the traditional baseball,
camp.
basketball, swimming, arts and
• Too Jewish? Zoe's parents
crafts, theater plays and other
were worried she would be
activities.
turned off by a Jewish camp
Last summer, Alice attended
since her family is not Jewishly
a Jewish camp that offered a
engaged and Zoe has few Jewish
Joel E inleger
basketball "intensive": three
friends at her public school. Yet
Spe cial
weeks of instruction and prac-
most Jewish camps are skilled
Comm entary
tice for 21/2 hours every day.
in making the Jewish experience
There were five other intensive
a positive journey for campers
programs from which to choose. Jewish
using experiential education techniques.
camps have taken strides to keep pace
Campers learn the Jewish view about
with the competition, regularly adding
what they see or do, whether welcoming
specialties and new programs to accom-
new kids into their bunks, showing con-
modate the interests of their campers.
cern for the environment, exploring lead-
• Judaism — David, a sixth-grader, goes
ership, sportsmanship, outdoor activities
to his temple school weekly in preparation
or the arts.
for his bar mitzvah. The image of Jewish
Most important, Jewish connections are
summer camp raised fears that he would
made in ways that are fun. Kids sing Israeli
feel as if he was attending Hebrew school all as well as traditional camp songs, develop
summer. But camps that create intentional
skits, perform creative "raps;' design art
and thoughtful Jewish summer programs
projects and compete in intensive sports
make lasting positive impressions on chil-
competitions almost without ever realizing
dren, who learn that playing baseball and
that these fun activities incorporate biblical
being Jewish are not mutually exclusive.
themes, Jewish values and even Olympic-
After the summer, David came home
style/Maccabiah forms of sporting games
proud that many of the behaviors and val-
and competition.
ues he learns in school are rooted in Jewish
Jewish camps train their staffs to look for
ethics and found in our historic texts.
opportunities to make Judaism come alive
Even for day school children who ben-
for children, regardless of the activity or
efit from Jewish education daily, their
time of day.
classroom learning comes to life easily
To the surprise and delight of her par-
when shared with friends at camp.
ents, the Shabbat experience became Zoe's
Judaism is experienced in Jewish camps favorite part of the week. She loved the
in a natural, comfortable and positive way.
special Friday night service and Shabbat
meal, the singing and dancing, and the
relaxed schedule on Saturday that gives the
campers an appreciation for the difference
and meaning of the day — one that is less
structured and hectic than the other days
of the week. A moving, outdoor candlelight-
ing Havdalah service ends Shabbat, as Zoe
looked forward excitedly to the coming
week's special activities and events.
What makes for a happy camper?
Friendships are the reason kids return
year after year to the same camp, and the
return rates at most camps, Jewish or not,
are extremely high. The well-kept secret is
that it has little to do with the size of the
lake, the vintage of the bunks, the number
of tennis courts or the quality of the food
(which, happily, is much better than what I
was fed as a camper).
Campers are together virtually every
minute of the summer and share nonstop
growing and fun experiences. This is
what they most remember on the bus ride
home as they start counting the days until
camp will begin again next summer.
The Foundation for Jewish Camp's Web
site includes a database of more than 150
not-for-profit camps sponsored or sup-
ported by a Jewish organization.
Starting with this resource, parents can
identify camps that provide a good fit by
exploring the Web sites as well as hearing
from the director how the camp takes a
special interest in the Jewish development
of the camper while providing an array of
sports and activities to enjoy.
❑
Joel Einleger is a program officer at
the Avi Chai Foundation.