Judaism at Camp: Part 1

When you meet someone who attended an overnight summer camp chances are the camp they attended was Jewish. Even if the camp wasn’t officially Jewish, most often the campers who attend are from Jewish households.[1] It certainly isn’t a coincidence that going to summer camp is a Jewish phenomenon, but as someone who has no background in the history of Jewish summer camps, I can only guess that it has something to do with our parents, or our grandparents wanting to celebrate our Jewish heritage after the Holocaust. Our grandparents would ship our parents away so we can learn, share and experience Jewish ideas and culture, and no we are going to camp for the same reason.  The continuity between generations is beautiful, and camp is the perfect place to carry on that intergenerational connectivity, Jewish or not.

As we all know, Yavneh has highlighted the centrality of Judaism, while also marketing it as a typical overnight camp. As I like to say to people who have never heard of Yavneh before, “We do summer camp with a big Jewish twist,” and usually people understand what I mean. To highlight my point, this is a list of Jewishly -relevant activities or programs that occur at Yavneh every day: Mifkad, Tfilot, Birkat x3, Kitah, Optional Mincha Maariv, and often a chinuch peulah. This does not even include Shabbat when the whole day is structured around Jewish programming. For someone who comes from an unobservant home or from a background with minimal Jewish education, Yavneh seems infused with Judaism at every possible nook and cranny.  However, for someone who attended Solomon Schecter/Gann Academy/Maimonides the transition from Jewish observance at home to that of our camp is quite natural. Because of this discrepancy, there is constant push/pull between teaching about our heritage versus engaging those who already know these traditions  backwards and forwards

While considering the Jewish culture at Yavneh, I have thought of four things that we do really well and four things that I think either are lacking or need improvement. I would like to begin with a quote by Josh Basseches who has aptly put into words what I also feel about the Judaism at camp: “I think when it comes to Judaism as a broad, category the things that Yavneh does well far outweigh the things that it doesn’t. If someone asked me what has been the single biggest thing that has shaped your Jewish identity I would respond, ‘Camp Yavneh.’  I did USY, and I grew up in a somewhat observant family, and these were all amazing experiences, but camp is the place where Judaism is the closest to me. It’s not because of kitah or how much I've learned about facts about Judaism nor because I learned t'fillot at Yavneh or didn't learn t'fillot at Yavneh, but it’s because of the intangibility of the spirituality that exists every summer. That is what Judaism means to me, and that is what I hold on to.”

NOTE: This post will be divided into two. I will give one example of something Yavneh does well, and one example of something Yavneh doesn’t do so well. Next week I will post the 6 remaining categories.

The Good

Informal Education/Kitah- Getting kids to sit down and learn during the summer, when all they really want to do is run around and socialize, is one of the hardest things that teachers and counselors have to do. However, once we are able to overcome the initial distress of having a kitah or chinuch peulah, the learning that occurs is fantastic. At least over the past few years that I have really paid attention, the teachers that Yavneh hires for the summer session are fantastic. Of course everyone has their own personal experience,[2] but for the most part they know how to engage the campers and stimulate good conversation and learning. Never in my life would I have guessed that at Yavneh one Shabbat afternoon this past summer, five of my kids would be late to lunch because they were learning text. I am certainly not saying that this is typical, but the fact there are teachers out there who know how to create these positive learning environments is extraordinary. In addition, when roshes and counselors have the opportunity to  program for their respective aydot, they are able to incorporate topics relevant to their campers interests. The success of teaching often relies on how well the teacher knows his audience – nobody knows these campers better than the counselors themselves.

The Not So Good

Prayer- Just like learning, getting kids to engage in prayer everyday is challenging. However, unlike our educational program, I think we fail to provide a good method of achieving meaningful prayer. To be honest, going through the full Shacharit service every day is a drag for everyone. Unless you grew up in a home in which it was required to pray regularly everyday,this is a very difficult activity for many campers to get used to incorporating into their daily schedules. Trying to grapple with the real meaning of prayer takes years of experience and practice, and cannot be learned sitting in a hot room with your friends fidgeting just as uncomfortably next to you. I understand that some parents want their kids to daven regularly or learn how to lead the prayers, but when everyone is either spacing out, talking with friends, or asleep, and the same 10 kids in each minyan are the Shalichei Tzibor, it does not foster a health environment for practice or learning. In order to make use of these forty five minutes every morning, we need to be change our methods  and break out of our old, antiquated system of “sit and repeat.” I don’t care if this is not what Jewish synagogues are doing in their congregations - we need to engage the kids, not push them away. Rather than having our teachers walk around and watch the kids pray, lets have break out sessions 3 days a week to learn about different topics in prayer. As I said previously, we have fantastic teachers, and we should utilize their talents in all realms of learning, including Tfillot. What is my proposed schedule? Have Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays in the breakout sessions. Have Tuesdays (only because of trip day) and Thursdays be regular davening and on Thursday make sure someone is prepared to lead an engaging conversation about the parsha. Leave Fridays (Iyun Tifilah ) and Saturdays as is, even though Shabbat mornings also drag as well. One step at a time.

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[1] Unless of course it is a Christan camp.

[2] If you have a different experience, please comment. (Really, if you have a different opinion about anything I write in this entry or any others, please comment!)

[3] I have a whole theory about the feeling of magic at camp. If you want to know what it is, check back in a few weeks for an upcoming blog entry.