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SummerCamp

Supplement to Jewish News February 11, 2013

34 | Jewish News | Camp | February 11, 2013

One day they will be applying to the same universities.

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Februray 11, 2013 | Camp | Jewish News | 35

Changing choices of camp

Jewish News staff

With down jackets and

mismatched mittens

spilling from our hall

closets, summer seems

like a long, long, way off.

It’s not though; for most of our chil-

dren, school is almost two-thirds over.

Which means we need to begin thinking,

NOW, about summer camp.

Today’s camps aren’t like those of 50,

30, or even 10 years ago. There are so

many more considerations in 2013, with

our technologically connected world that

straddles the line between safety and

interference, communication and com-

pulsion, and our smarter and savvier

children.

Do we want to send our kids to a

camp that has few modern, technological

amenities—cabins with outside

showers and a brackish lake for

swimming? (Will they even attend

a camp like that?) Or would “hotel

camp” or “school camp” be pre-

ferred? Day or residential? Close

or far?

If camp rules require kids to

leave their cellphones, games and

Facebook friends at home, but has

classes in computer video editing

and a way for you to catch glimps-

es of them online, would they—or

you—consider it? Will sending kids

to a Jewish camp make a differ-

ence to them, or does it just matter

to parents?

In this special Summer Camp sec-

tion of the Jewish News, we gain insight

into camps that are banning electronic

gadgets but embracing technology, and

we learn about donors and funds set up

to help offset the costs of Jewish camps

(FYI—the Simon Family JCC Camp has

some scholarships available).

This is the first of two special Summer

Camp sections coming your way. Keep

an eye out for the next one, in the March

25 issue of the Jewish News. That issue

will include our annual camp guide,

which will provide local and national

camp listings and contact information,

along with some suggestions on getting

ready for and choosing a summer camp.

Let the camp songs begin!

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Going iphone-lessCamps trying to ban gadgetswhile embracing technology

by Chavie Lieber

NEW YORK (JTA)—At a Jewish summer

camp in upstate New York, they’re giving

kids digital filmmaking classes and telling

them to leave their Nintendo Game Boys

at home. In Georgia, a camp is encourag-

ing face time with video pen pals rather

than time on iPods. In Wisconsin, a camp

has traded snail mail for scanned mail.

As technology oozes into every facet

of children’s lives, Jewish summer camps

are struggling with how to wean kids off

their gadgets—at least for the summer—

while using technology to improve the

camp experience.

“Once upon a time, kids were playing

cards at night, but camp is a very dif-

ferent place than it was 40 years ago,”

says Rabbi Paul Resnick, director of the

Conservative-affiliated Camp Ramah in

the Berkshires in Wingdale, N.Y. “Camps

need to keep up and evolve since technol-

ogy keeps changing on us.”

Many camps now have rules banning

gadgets such as cell phones, tablets,

laptop computers, iPods and gaming

devices. B’nai B’rith’s Beber Camp

in Mukwonago, Wis., has a no-screen

policy. Camp Morasha in Lakewood, Pa.,

bans any device that can connect to the

Internet.

But at the same time, camps are

using technologies to their advantage:

live streaming events so parents back

home can watch, using digital

programs to teach Hebrew,

uploading photos to the

Internet and replacing scan-

ning with snail mail to

instantly send the chil-

dren’s letters to their

parents.

Camps are

evolving as they

try to figure out

how to toe the

line between

enhancing their pro-

grams with technology

while giving kids a rustic camp

experience, Resnick says.

“Policies we implement one summer

could be totally different from the next

because we are still trying to see what

works,” Resnick says. “If you would have

asked me three years ago if I’d ever let

staff use cell phones in camp, I’d say

absolutely not. But last year we started

telling staff to text as a way of commu-

nication in camp, and it’s actually really

efficient.”

As a way to appeal to campers seeking

a more digital camp experience, Ramah

in the Berkshires recently added digital

filmmaking to its

electives alongside

traditional camp

activities such as

arts and crafts,

cooking and nature

courses.

Jodi Fleisig of

Atlanta, whose two

sons attend Camp

Ramah Darom

in Clayton, Ga.,

says live stream-

ing of the camp’s

Havdalah service was a highlight

of her summer. Through its

Facebook page, Ramah Dorom

invited parents and alumni to

celebrate the end of Shabbat

virtually alongside campers sing-

ing by candlelight.

“Watching my son during

the live Havdalah service was

like watching him through a

peephole—giving him the

freedom and independence

I want him to have

while still getting

to see him look so

free, so happy and so engaged,”

says Fleisig, who hosted a viewing party

at her home for the service. “It’s amazing

to see your normally shy kids who don’t

sing, don’t dance, literally come alive at

camp.

“Technology can be a wonderful vehi-

cle to watch your kids grow, and to know

that they are getting out of the camp

experience what you were hoping they

would gain without interfering with their

independence.”

Ramah Darom is looking into other

programs to live stream this summer,

including the camp play.

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At Beber Camp, parents can connect

through an app created last summer by

staffer Brad Robison that gives parents

access to camp videos, social media, sched-

ules and activities. Beber also uses a web

management company, CampMinder, to

enable kids to write letters home that are

then digitally scanned and uploaded to a

portal parents access through the camp

website. A unique barcode on the back

of each letter ensures that it goes to the

right account.

Camp Osrui, a Reform camp in

Oconomowoc, Wis., where teaching

Hebrew is a top priority, began using

the language program Rosetta Stone last

summer. Campers responded so well to

the program, enjoying the activity as a

game while learning Hebrew at a swift

pace, that Osrui is expanding its media

center for this summer, according to camp

director Jerry Kaye.

Osrui also plans to incorporate a new

digital pen pal program in which campers

will Skype with Israeli children to practice

their Hebrew and make Israeli friends. The

camp’s website currently offers an exten-

sive digital gallery that uploads some 500

photos of campers each day.

Not all camp officials are fans of pro-

viding information to parents in real time,

however.

“The problem with incorporating all

this technology is that I think camp should

be teaching independence, how to get

along on your own, and parents will

hear half-stories often if they are con-

stantly being updated by a phone call

or a photo,” Morasha camp director Ira

Spodek says.

Like many summer camps, Morasha

still is trying to figure out the good

and the bad of technology. Spodek says

the camp’s rule banning Internet-enabled

gadgets is becoming increasingly harder

to enforce with technology advancing

and filtering down even to the youngest

campers. He notes that some campers

will show up with two cell phones: one

to forfeit to the office, the other to use

secretly throughout the summer to con-

tact parents.

Ultimately, says Alan Silverman, direc-

tor of Bnei Akiva’s Camp Moshava in

Ontario, Canada, summer camp is about

giving the kids an experience beyond the

ordinary.

“We don’t allow any sort of cell

phones or gadgets in our camp, and

it’s not because we’re against them,”

Silverman says. “The goal is to show them

how much camp has to offer, with all

the nature and sports, that it’s better for

them to leave the gadgets behind for the

summer.”

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Photo courtesy Simon Family JCC.


Donors struggling to defray the rising costs of Jewish camp

by Gil Shefler

NEW YORK (JTA)—Spending the summer

at Jewish overnight camp once was a

spartan affair, often little more than a col-

lection of ramshackle buildings scattered in

the woods by a placid lake.

Those were the days.

“Today it’s all about the toys,” says

Rabbi Allan Smith, the former head of the

Reform movement’s camp network and a

46-year veteran of the summer camp busi-

ness. “You have a go-kart track, a climbing

wall, a swing, a Burma bridge.

“When I was a kid, 90 percent of the

camps were by a lake. Today if you don’t

have a pool you’re a loser. Kids don’t like

lakes, they’re dirty.”

Such amenities may make camps more

appealing, but they don’t come cheap.

Parents can expect to shell out

anywhere from $600 per week per child at

one of the less expensive nonprofit camps

to $2,000 per week at some of the pricier

options. For families already struggling to

cover the costs of Jewish education during

the school year, sending a child to camp

might be one expense too many.

In a bid to help defray the cost, the

Foundation for Jewish Camp has awarded

more than 43,000 grants to attend a non-

profit summer camp. The grants can be up

to $1,000 per family.

“We believe summers at Jewish camp

are an important component in one’s

Jewish identity,” says Jeremy Fingerman,

the foundation’s CEO. “Camp teaches a

joyful Judaism and becomes an important

building block for a Jewish future. We

believe families challenged economically

should not be penalized.”

The high tuition at Jewish camps,

which directors at the camps agree is

considerably costlier than at their Christian

counterparts, is cause for concern among

those who fear that a potent identity-

building opportunity is slipping away from

middle-income families.

For Debra Hollander of Shaker Heights,

Ohio, sending her children to Jewish camp

is a top priority, despite the costs.

“Our three kids go to secular education

schools, so for us Jewish camping became

even more important,” she says.

A 2011 study commissioned by the

Foundation for Jewish Camp lends cre-

dence to Hollander’s view of Jewish camps

as important shapers of Jewish identi-

ty. According to the study, Jewish camp

alumni are 30 percent more likely to donate

to a Jewish charity; 37 percent more likely

to light Sabbath candles; and 45 percent

more likely to attend synagogue.

“The analysis indicates that [camps]

bring, first of all, an increased inclination

to practice Jewish behaviors in their lives,

from Shabbat lighting candles to using

Jewish websites and to appreciate the

value of Jewish charity,” the study con-

cludes. “Secondly, they bring an inclination

to value and seek out the experience of

Jewish community, whether in the immedi-

ate sense of joining other Jews in prayer or

in the more abstract sense of identifying

with fellow Jews in Israel.”

The FJC, which has a mission to increase

the number of Jewish campers, is working

to identify ways for camps to reduce costs.

In recent years it has coordinated the sharing

of resources, encouraged the development

of alternative revenue sources and helped

camp directors improve their managerial

skills through a program the organization

likens to “an MBA in camping.”

One of the most important elements in

helping camps stay on stable footing, the

foundation believes, is boosting enrollment.

“Camps that are full are profitable and

reinvest back in scholarships,” Fingerman

says. “So there is a power in numbers, and

we’re working hard to get them full.”

Other organizations also have taken

steps to make camp more affordable,

particularly for less-affiliated families and

first-time campers who might be less sold

on the value of the camp experience. The

Avi Chai and Zell foundations jointly made

a $600,000 donation to Ramah to help the

Conservative movement’s camp network

attract first-timers.

“We’re calling it the Ramah Open

Door Program, where we’re opening up to

less Jewish-affiliated families,” says Rabbi

Mitchell Cohen, Ramah’s national director.

Paul Reichenbach, the director of camp

and Israel programs at the Union for Reform

Judaism, says a significant number of chil-

dren attending his movement’s summer

programs also receive scholarships.

While camp directors agree that the

costs of Jewish overnight camps are

high, they offer varying explanations as

to the reasons. Some say it’s the relative

abundance of staff—a ratio of one super-

visor for every two campers, according

to Cohen. Others point to the salaries of

directors, which average about $125,000

per year at nonprofit camps, according to

public tax filings. Directors at Jewish for-

profits can make even more.

Perhaps the biggest factor driving costs,

however, is the Jewish community’s relative

affluence and the resulting expectations.

“What [Jewish camps] provide may be

higher with regard to facility, to program

options, with regard to staff structure,”

Reichenbach says. “And we are dealing

with a community that has a certain expec-

tation for quality.”

Despite a growing recognition of the

importance of making tuition affordable,

Reichenbach predicted costs would con-

tinue to appreciate at a rate of two percent

to five percent each year.

“We live in the real world,” he says.

“Our practices have reflected the rise in the

cost-of-living index, the cost of energy, of

food, of transportation. We are doing the

best we can to stay even.”ADVERTISEMENT: Visit OneHappyCamper.

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JUMP INto your best summer ever!

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[email protected] capitalcamps.org

Each summer, we provide our campers an enriching Jewish

camp experience, full of fun, new skills and new friends, all in a safe, nurturing environment.

We invite you to join our Capital Camps family as we

celebrate 25 amazing summers!

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