by Beth Steinberg
American parents plan their kid’s summers sometime in November. Junior, who’s had a fabulous time at camp the summer before, comes home and after a few sad-eyed weeks at home bemoaning his loss of independence, his bunk buddies, and even the singing of Birkat Ha’mazon, Grace after meals, after every meal, is signed up by happy parents who look forward to their summer freedom almost as much as the aforementioned kid. The fact that camp can also be a place of important Jewish values is one that many parents increasingly take into consideration when choosing a camp and as studies bear out, the results in adulthood are compelling; synagogue affiliation, attachment to Israel and even lighting Shabbat candles. All this from 8-weeks together at camp; Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox camps.
In Israel, where 8-week, overnight camp is still a novelty, parents begin to think about the summer sometime after Pesach, as they sweep away the matzah crumbs and the successively warmer spring days remind one of the approaching ‘chofesh ha’gadol’ or ‘big vacation’ as it’s called in Hebrew. Most families choose some sort of ‘kaytana’ or day camp, too often not much more than fancy babysitting, staffed as it is by inexperienced and insufficiently trained teens who shepherd their 20 or so kids from place to place and activity to activity, with measured enjoyment over the course of a long and hot, summer day. Religious considerations are rarely taken into consideration except to insure that the program matches your family’s observance which almost always means separate girls and boys programs in Orthodox circles.
By the age of Bar/Bat Mitzvah, most kids say ‘enough,’ choosing to stay at home with the TV and the computer. Parents give in – it’s cheaper in any case, or so it seems until your kid is old enough to manage a solo voyage with friends to the mall and movie theater. There are specialty camps and short-term programs that may interest your child and be a worthy educational addition to your your child’s development but many of them are expensive or not available in every area and often out of the reach of the average Israeli wage-earner. Israelis, who are focused on keeping their children happy, healthy and somewhat spoiled because of looming army induction at age 18 and the inherent parental fears, aren’t thinking about camp and what it can do for their kids.
They’re certainly not thinking about the notion of camp as a place where lifelong friendships are made – where one’s spiritual and emotional self are encouraged to mature and one’s development as a caring young Jewish leader of a greater community is nurtured and encouraged. And that’s really too bad.
Israelis do value volunteerism and youth movements, not so dissimilar to camp, right? In theory, yes but in practice, not. Kids have a choice of youth movements with which to affiliate but many of them suffer from not enough adult mentorship. Teens run elements of the program almost entirely on their own – they learn by doing. In the abstract, a noble concept. In reality, local branches are disorganized and given the yearly aging in and out of leadership roles, programming tends to be underwhelming. Kids have fun and feel a sense of belonging but it could be so much better. Maybe the model needs some rethinking.
The camp experience is one of extreme community building for a short and intense period. While an overnight camp offers a focused approach, day camp isn’t such a terrible option, especially if it’s what the locals would like and can afford. In 2007, I co-founded, Shutaf, an inclusion camp and year-round program in Jerusalem. Our aim is manifold, from offering a well-planned, fun and educational experience to an under served population – kids and teens with special needs – to creating a robust and powerful atmosphere of togetherness and Jewish community caring for all our participants – with and without special needs.
Sure it would be nice to have a Shabbat together or even an overnight for the older kids but our budget doesn’t allow for such niceties and even more so, more than 65% of our parent body can’t afford the modest tuition of nis500 or about $150 for a week of day camp which includes busing. Our mantra is ‘return to the fundamentals.’ That is, design a great but ultimately simple program; arts and crafts, music, drama, sports; train and prepare our staff, mostly post-army students in their 20’s, and steep the program in Jewish values of inclusion and acceptance, so that every kid, from every walk of Jewish life and observance – we have religious and secular kids at camp – walks away with a new sense of what it means to care about each other.
Initiatives such as Shutaf need support. Israeli kids live pressured lives in over-crowded and often violent classrooms – both in secular and religious schools. Summer time means 8-10 long, unstructured weeks – a disaster for the whole family, especially those with greater risk factors such as poverty and disability. American Jewish camping innovated something very special for generations of young American Jews. How could the model be adapted for Israel and thoughtfully used as a departure point for helping develop the next generation of caring Israelis, united together despite religious, socioeconomic and cultural differences? It’s an Israel that might well be that beacon we’ve all been yearning for.
Beth Steinberg, is the co-founder of Shutaf, inclusive, year-round programs for kids and teens with special needs in Israel. Write to her at beth@campshutaf.org. Subscribe to the Shutaf blog, Conversation about Inclusion, and share your thoughts.
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Beth,
Your article is right on regarding the benefits of overnight camp and points out an important need amongst Israeli youth. You ask how the American model can be adapted to Israel and in fact, it already has been. There is a growing trend in overnight camping in Israel – albeit still in it’s early stages. My partners and I started Camp Kimama Israel in 2004 and for several years now we have been providing a fabulous overnight camp experience, complete with kabbalat Shabbat services and birkat hamazon, not to mention all the other activities you would see at an American camp, to about 750-800 mostly secular Israeli children and their peers from around the world each summer. Our initiative has also inspired the creation of other overnight camps. As far as we are concerned, competition is good and we hope more entrepreneurs will follow our example.
I am familiar with Shutaf and know it to be a fabulous program. And, last summer, Camp Kimama helped launch Camp Sunrise Israel, a day camp for children suffering from cancer and their siblings.
As you mention, existing programs, whether day-camp or overnight can be expensive by Israeli standards. Unfortunately, that is the reality given expenses in Israel. The real need is scholarship funds like those provided in the US for Jewish camping. We have started a scholarship fund called “I-KICK – Israeli Kids in Camp Kimama” to help bring Ethiopian Israeli children to our camp. The question in my view is in addition to increasing the number of quality programs in Israel, how do we make more people aware of the need for scholarships and encourage them to fund them?
Evan
Beth,
I applaud your article since I know first hand what the power of camping can do for the child and the entire family. As a former camp director and the program director of the Master’s degree in Camp Administration and Leadership program at Touro University Nevada (completely online), training camp professionals is the first important step to insure quality programs.
Israel has a different culture than North America and therefore needs an Israeli style of camp that will include the greatest number of Israeli campers. However, having well-trained and safe camps run by caring adults who understand how to parlay the experience into something magical with life-long impact is something I hope we can all strive to create.
Thank you for bringing the issue to light in your article.
Beth-first of course I applaud your efforts and am happy Evan Moooney put forth a comment because I see Evan as the guru in Israel Jewish camping.
Living in America, I went to camp, and having sent my children to residential camps( not Jewish, long story), I do not think I could even imagine a summer with no camp! My Dad used to say I would drive a taxi at night in order to send my children to sleep away camp; and it is true in America even poor children go to camp. I would hope there would be a way in which to collaborate and partner with existent camps like the ones JNF provides( for shorter periods); I also wonder about collaborating with UJC ( or wjatever it is called) or synangogue movement. Why not a co-sponsored URJ Camp in Israel? Why not Ramah camps in Israel. These are new next BIG IDEAS and I highly recommend beginning a conversation. Its a precursor to going into the IDF perhaps? I know for certain that camps build strong minds, excellent values and teach kids to energize and motivate thrmselves without Mom and Dad on the sidelines. Good luck. email me and lets start a dialogue-sherri morr
morrshe@yahoo.com
Evan, Sherri and Cheryl,
Thanks for the cogent and positive commentary. I thought of Kimama as well as B’nai Akiva’s Kibbutz Shluchot program but convincing Israeli parents to fork over the bigger funds necessary for camp programs won’t be easy, especially when most aren’t looking for an 8-week program. That may change and in any event, a different model isn’t a bad thought either, right? Shorter camp sessions will be less expensive as well as more accessible, certainly as an introduction.
For us at Shutaf, we’ve focused on an entirely different population – kids and teens with special needs who could only dream about a program such as Kimama. Many of our kids have never had the cultural experiences that typical kids have – whether because of poverty, cultural backgrounds or disability. Our aim is to open open the worlds – both to the non-disabled one out there as well as help their families realize that they’re not alone, that we’re all a greater community of caring individuals. That’s different than a typical sports camp – that’s okay. How to make camp really possible and successful for them along with their typical peers is the mission of Shutaf.
Day camp is a good answer for lots of kids especially those with special needs. I’d like to push local agencies to realize this and help make spaces available that would be appropriate and accessible – another problem locally.
And as for Evan’s point that we have to find a way to build endowments and encourage funding, he’s right. The good news is Israelis are giving more muscularly than before. The bad news is that it could take another generation to get through the notion of Jewish camping to them. We need the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Jim Joseph Foundation to step forward and help spearhead a real camp initiative here – all models, for all kids.
Thanks and please be in touch beth@campshutaf.org
Hi all. Beit Yael, The Center for the Advancement of the Blind in Safed (Tsfat) has been offering summer sleep over camps for Israel’s vision impaired children for over 30 years. Orginially children were billeted in the homes of local residents but once we had a building (1987) with a dorm, etc. all took place here. The camps are usually five days – Sunday to Thursday and many children have actually grown up with us. During Chanukah we had a program for those who are now mostly over 30 who had attended camps but had not seen each other for a very long time. What a great time they had getting re-aquianted.
As we all know acquiring funding used to be much easier than it is today and like you we are finding that even small amounts when asked of Israeli parents are hard for them to come by. Not only must they pay the camp fees, they must also outfit the child as many do not have the type of clothing that might be needed at camp. One mother had never let her 10 year old son out of her sight during summer holidays and only sent to him to us with great trepidation. Yet when she called him sometimes several times a day he was too busy with his new friends to talk to her and in fact, he returned for a second week.
We can accept 16 – 18 children at a time and they have come from all segments of Israeli society. They have a great time as they participate in all kinds of activities just the same as sighted kids. We have even taken them berry picking on the Golan in the right seasons.
Good to know what others are doing in the area of summer camps for Israeli kids. Yes, I loved summer camp myself and while some of my children also enjoyed the experience, not all of them did. For more info on our programs, check out our website http://www.beityael.org
All the best,
Rena Cohen
Rena,
Back to last week’s discussion. We need real funding and real thought of how, where and what’s the best way, in order to provide quality camping for a greater segment of the Israeli population – special needs and typical.
Beth