46 | DECEMBER 7 • 2023 

canvas tote. Problem was, instead 
of the T-shirts, bathing suits and 
hoodies he left home with, it was 
filled entirely with hundreds of 
various-sized pieces of chocolate, 
multi-flavors of gum and variety 
packages of beef jerky.
 
ON THE ROAD
Getting to camp can be an 
adventure in itself, from a plane or 
train ride away to a multi-family 
road-trip caravan.
My children traveled in an iconic 
green Tamarack bus. As a child, 
my parents drove all four of us 
kids from our home in Southfield 
to Cleveland, in a brown-paneled, 
three-row station wagon with an 
over-the-seat, craft-and-snack 
table. The trip was just the start of 
the journey. Part Two was to catch 
the bus for Camp Shore in Aurora, 
Indiana, which later became Camp 
Stone, where our Detroit grandkids 

have been campers and staff and 
are among the many who attend the 
same Jewish sleepover camps that 
their parents and grandparents did. 
North America’s 153 Jewish 
nonprofit overnight camps of 
various denominations* focus 
on everything from photography 
and theater to video production 
and music. Some highlight 
programming for campers with 
special needs. 
This year, a group of Detroit- 
area teens and pre-teens attended 
a Jewish basketball camp in New 
York, complete with kosher food 
and Shabbat programming. 
Camp is the dawn of s’mores, 
campfires, color war, capture 
the flag and lifelong friendships, 
attested to with regular summer 
social media posts of decades-old 
photos garnering comments like 
“happiest place on earth,” and “best 
memories ever.” 
For some, being a camper 
becomes being part of the staff. For 
many years, a regular eighth-grade 
Hillel Day School assignment was 
to write what was titled: “Letter 
to Self,” filled with aspirations, to 
be returned to the students upon 
high school graduation. Even 
higher up than her educational and 
professional hopes, our daughter 
Kim wrote: “Dear Me. I’m going 
to be a counselor at Tamarack and 
eventually director with Shosh 
and “P.A.”” She didn’t become the 
director, but all three girls worked 
in various capacities at several 
Jewish camps.
With more than one-third 
of American Jews saying they 
attended an overnight Jewish 
summer camp (Pew Research 
Center study), for many it is 
the primary source of religious 
connection and Jewish identity 
with new traditions often brought 
home for family sharing. 
Camp is the site of independence, 
the place without school stress and 
cell phones, where kids learn about 

ABOVE: Staff 
member, Ari Schon, 
17, of West Bloomfield 
and Huntington 
Woods, at Camp 
Stone in Pennsylvania 
this past summer. 
RIGHT: Post-camp 
snack bag.

CAMP GUIDE

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