No Surprise

Jewish camp strengthens Jewish identity.

Sue Fishkoff

Jewish Telegraphic Agency

San Francisco

H

undreds of thousands of Jewish
camp alumni — and their par-
ents — have long known that
those halcyon weeks spent at Jewish sum-
mer camp don't just cement lifelong friend-
ships. They also strengthen Jewish identity.
Now they have it in writing.
A new study on the long-term impact of
Jewish overnight camp concludes that those
who have attended camp are more Jewishly
engaged as adults, according to 13 key vari-
ables, than those who did not go to camp.
"We finally have a tool that proves
Jewish camp works, that it helps create a
more vibrant Jewish future,' said Jeremy
Fingerman, CEO of the Foundation for
Jewish Camp, which sponsored the study
and advocates for more than 155 Jewish
nonprofit camps in North America.
"Camp Works: The long-term impact of

Jewish overnight camp" used data from 26
national studies of adult Jewish engage-
ment, including the 2000-2001 National
Jewish Population Survey, to produce the
first statistical look at the effect of Jewish
camping on individual as well as commu-
nal Jewish identity.
The report shows the most pronounced
increase in Jewish engagement in four areas
not typically associated with non-Orthodox
Jewish behavior. Three of them have to do
with Jewish communal identity:
• Camp alumni are 55 percent more likely
than Jewish adults who did not attend
camp to say they are "very emotionally
attached to Israel."
• They are 45 percent more likely to
attend synagogue at least once a month.
• 30 percent more of them donate to
Jewish federations.
This is significant, says lead researcher
Steven M. Cohen, director of the Berman
Jewish Policy Archive at New York
University Wagner, because those three
behaviors indicate a certain level of Jewish

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communal commit-
ment, and it is pre-
cisely that communal
These children attended Camp Ramah in New York's
identification that
Berkshire Mountains last summer.
many Jewish experts
among non-Orthodox Jews under 49 than
fear is most at risk.
their elders, the report notes. That's proba-
The Berman Archive was funded by
bly not because more young Jews have gone
Detroiters Bill and Madeleine Berman.
"Where camp has had its strongest effect to camp, Cohen speculates, but because
more options are open to Jews today than
has to do with its creation of an intense,
in previous generations, and fewer of
temporary Jewish community,' said Cohen.
today's American Jews live in a primarily
That communal experience imprints on
Jewish environment.
the individual, he said, leading to a greater
"If you're a younger person, you need
propensity to view one's self within a larger
the intentionality of Jewish camp, or day
Jewish social network in adulthood.
schools or youth groups, to compensate for
The other 10 areas of investigation also
the loss of the organic Jewish socialization
revealed increased Jewish engagement
experience that characterized our parents
among camp alumni, from a 37 percent
and grandparents',' he said. "Its as if to be
increase in those who "always/usually" light
Jewish today, you have to be Jewishly edu-
Shabbat candles to a 5 percent increase in
cated:'
the number of those who "always/usually"
Jewish day schools and youth groups also
light Chanukah candles. These 10 areas
have a strong impact on Jewish identity,
are related to an individual sense of Jewish
Cohen said. But similar studies have not
identity.
been performed for these institutions. I
Camp's impact is more pronounced

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iba 114

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