jews d
in
the
Overnight Camp For
LGTBQ Jewish Campers
Camp in Ontario runs from Aug.19-26.
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March 8 • 2018
jn
C
anadian Young
Judaea is
launching
the first Jewish
overnight camp
program for
LGTBQ and
Jewish campers,
called Machane
Lev.
Machane Lev
will be housed at
Camp Shalom in
Gravenhurst, Ont., and
will run from Aug. 19-26, for
kids 8-16 years old. Machane Lev
is committed to being an inclusive
Jewish summer camp that cel-
ebrates identity, encourages cre-
ativity, enhances leadership skills
and evokes a love for Israel and the
Jewish community. Machane Lev
mean “Camp Heart” in Hebrew.
“Machane Lev became particu-
larly important to me when I was
approached last fall about a young
trans Jewish girl who was looking
for a camp. I felt that it was time to
create a safe option, where accom-
modations didn’t have to be made,”
said Risa Epstein, national executive
director of Canadian Young Judaea
and director of Machane Lev.
“I think, as a community, we
haven’t created enough safe spaces
for the Jewish LGBTQ community.
Over the years, we have been suc-
cessful at times in including more
people who have a range of sexual
identities and sexual orientations,
but I don’t think we have done as
much for kids with gender identity
and gender expression. This camp
is really an opportunity to look at
affirming identities of lots of dif-
ferent kids, and I think that’s really
exciting,” said Gaela Mintz, director
of camper care at Machane Lev.
Added Mintz: “I work a lot with
little kids, as young as 3 and 4, who
have a range of identities that are
not necessarily cisgender [relating
to people who identify with their
birth gender]. There are some little
kids who know very early on that
they don’t fit in to the gender binary
that our society sets up.
“We are appealing to those kids,
as well as those who may
not even have a label
for their identity, but
who recognize that
our typical camps
are very gender-
segregated —
boys’ cabins, girls’
cabins — and
realize they can’t
participate in the
basic programming
that is set up at those
camps because of that bar-
rier of gender.”
Machane Lev will have all the
trappings of a regular camp, includ-
ing drama, dance, arts and crafts,
swimming and water skiing, but
will also include experiential Jewish
and Israel education. The staff will
receive extensive training and will
be chosen to represent a cross-sec-
tion of the LGBTQ community, says
Mark Kachuck, who will be program
director of Machane Lev.
Machane Lev will also have a
director of queer programming, who
has done a lot of work both as a Jew
and as a queer and trans person.
The goal is to fuse together all the
sexual and gender identities.
Machane Lev works within the
Young Judaea philosophy and vision
of being pluralistic and celebrating
Jewish life. The goal is to make this a
Jewish LGBTQ national camp, where
kids from all backgrounds will be
welcomed.
For more than 100 years,
Canadian Young Judaea has been
following its mission to provide
high-level Jewish and Zionist experi-
ences, while celebrating the diverse
backgrounds and identities of all
chanichim (campers).
“Our existing summer camp net-
work will continue to open its doors
to any and all Jewish campers. We
know that the addition of Machane
Lev will provide an open space for
the affirmation and celebration of all
sexual identities, gender identities
and gender expressions in a Jewish
setting,” Epstein said. •
For more information about Machane Lev, contact Jen
Levy at jen@youngjudaea.ca or call (416) 781-5156,
ext. 221.