According to the Foundation for Jewish Camp, there are over 345 nonprofit Jewish camps across North America. After Michael and David Shabsels, who own a Jewish summer camp empire, declared bankruptcy last month, more than 30 sleepaway and day camps across America stood at the precipice, but as bids for camp sites come in, a vision of their future is forming, with many camps being purchased by their current operators — and another by a famous media mogul.

At least one of five possible sales is to a Jewish nonprofit and another is to a group backed by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who aims to purchase Mohawk Day Camp in Westchester County, N.Y., the camp his children attended, which includes a $1.2 million performing arts center, a $250,000 playground, a $50,000 kid-sized train, eight in-ground heated pools, two concrete roller-hockey rinks, a petting zoo and waterslides.

The bids that have come in are so-called “stalking horse” bids, meaning they set the floor for where auctions begin. The final sales are set for July 28. 

The shifting camp landscape was caused by the New York-based Shabsels brothers racking up over $344 million in debt, which they are accused of double pledging. In June, after the brothers defaulted on roughly $200 million in bond payments to Israeli investors — with over $34 million of the bond also going missing — they declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey, both personally and under their umbrella group, Simad Holdings.

The brothers owned 25 for-profit overnight camps and eight day camps, operating out of 30 properties, with over 20 of their camps catering towards Jews or having Jewish programming.

The average cost to attend one of the brothers’ camps is roughly $9,000 per season, with some topping $17,000.

The camps are: Camp Achim in Catskill, N.Y.; Camp Lokanda in Glen Spey, N.Y.; Mohawk Day Camp in White Plains, N.Y.; Kiwi Country Day Camp in Carmel, N.Y.; SHMA Camps in Swan Lake, N.Y.; Camp Echo in Burlingham, N.Y.; Camp Malka in Greenville, N.Y.; Camp Chateaugay in Merrill, N.Y.; Camp Mesorah in Guilford, N.Y.; Camp Green Lane in Green Lane, Pa.; Summit Camp in Honesdale, Pa.; Camp Chen-A-Wanda in Thompson, Pa.; Island Lake Camp in Starrucca, Pa.; Camp Lavi in Lakewood, Pa.; Pine Forest Camp, Lake Owego Camp and Camp Timber Tops in Greeley, Pa.; Rolling Hills Country Day Camp in Freehold, N.J.; Willow Lake Day Camp in Lake Hopatcong, N.J.; Country Roads Day Camp in Manalapan, N.J.; Eagles Landing Day Camp in East Brunswick, N.J.; Meadowbrook Day Camp in Long Valley, N.J.; Indian Acres and Forest Acres in Fryeburg, Maine; Camp Med-O-Lark in Washington, Maine; New England Golf Camp in Belgrade, Maine; Camp North Star in Poland, Maine; Camp Wekeela in Hartford, Maine; Camp Waukeela in Eaton Center, N.H.; Windsor Mountain in Windsor, N.H.; Club Getaway in South Kent, Conn.; Blue Star Camps in Hendersonville, N.C.; Banner Day Camp in Lake Forest, Ill.

On Wednesday, Zaslav’s Grandview Ventures made its bid for Mohawk Day Camp for $68 million. The auction is for the camp and the Mohawk Country Day School, a preschool that operates on a shared 40-acre campus.

“This is a personal family investment that reflects our lifelong belief that summer camp can be a wonderful part of a child’s growth, and Mohawk’s history as a successful camp experience for so many kids, including our own,” a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson said of the sale.

According to a December 2025 appraisal, the Mohawk Day Camp was attended by 1,900 campers in 2025 and is valued at $85.8 million with a projected 2026 income of $22.85 million. To attend, tuition ranges from $6,000 for three weeks up to $13,100 for seven weeks. 

Zaslav, like the Shabsels brothers before him, would not be running the camp. His children, now grown, attended the camp before he became CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery, when he was an NBC executive living in nearby Rye Brook, N.Y.  

In addition to the bid from Zaslav’s group, last Tuesday, Simad Holdings struck a $7 million deal to sell Camp Achim in the Catskills to its current acting manager and on Thursday, struck a $12 million deal for Camp Echo in Burlingham, N.Y., with Jewish mental health nonprofit Ohel Children’s Home and Family Services Inc.

On Friday, Simad agreed to sell Camp Chen-A-Wanda in Thompson, Pa., for $17 million to Eleven11 Holdings LLC, a group formed under Jon Grabow, who has co-owned and directed the camp since 2008, and made an $18.15 million deal for Camp Lokanda in Glen Spey, N.Y., with 18 Lions LLC, a group formed under Ronen and Dana Gabbay, who have co-owned and directed the camp since 2008.

The camps involved in the auctions serve some 20,000 campers and are running as planned this summer, as the bankruptcy court approved interim financing. Insiders tell eJP that many other nonprofit entities are set to bid on the camps. 

Auction paperwork for every camp except Camp Echo shows that when sales are finalized, buyers need to “maintain existing Campers attending Camp during the 2026 Camp Season” and do their best to “re-enroll Campers who attended Camp during the 2026 Camp Season for the 2027 Camp Season, except to the extent any of the foregoing would no longer be age-appropriate.”

But for Camp Echo, paperwork says, “The parties acknowledge that Buyer does not intend to continue the 2026 Camp Season operation under the existing brand, and Sellers shall have no obligation to maintain, enroll or re-enroll campers for Buyer’s benefit.”