As I’m writing these words, summer’s fading fast. School has started for most of our students; tan lines are beginning to fade; average daily temperatures are going down; the baseball season is moving towards its annual climax and football’s started. However, before we let go of the summer completely, I want to make my annual pitch for our wonderful URJ camps generally, and for Crane Lake & Eisner camps, in particular.
If you are blessed with children, it’s not too early to start thinking about what they will be doing next summer. Perhaps, you’ll give them the incredible gift that 21 children from our congregation received this past summer. As Susan Morrel wrote in last month’s Bulletin, we are extremely proud that 21 Beth El students attended not only Eisner and Crane Lake camps in the beautiful Berkshires but also the exciting, new 6 Points Sports Academy in Greensboro, North Carolina and the terrific, Kutz Camp teen leadership program in Warwick, NY. By the way, this impressive number of Beth El campers doesn’t even include counselors, counselors-in-training and arts specialists from our congregation (among whom, I’m proud to say, is my son, Jacob!).
Why choose a URJ summer camp experience? There is absolutely no better way to extend and deepen our children’s love for Judaism, their Jewish identities and their sense of what it means to be part of the larger Reform movement. What URJ camps provide that even our terrific religious school, youth groups and NFTY region can’t provide is the experience of living 24/7, for weeks at a time, in a remarkably creative, energetic and fun, liberal Jewish community. And because those communities are composed of Jewish children from our sister Reform congregations and groups of very talented, young adult role models, these URJ camps have a unique gift for strengthening and shaping our children’s Reform Jewish identities as well as their Jewish knowledge, skills, confidence and commitment. I have witnessed this phenomenon over and over again—not only as a Rabbi and a longtime camp faculty member but also as a dad. In our family, Eisner Camp has been at least as important for our children’s Jewish growth as their excellent day school educations, their beloved NFTY and Israel experiences and, of course, the strong community in which they’ve grown up here at Beth El.
If you are interested in learning more about our camps, there are several things you can do. Easiest of all is to explore the camps through their websites. You’ll find information about all of our camps (and our Israel programs, too!) at http://www.urjcamps.org. To learn more about Eisner & Crane Lake camps, go to http://eisnercranelake.urjcamps.org, for 6 Points Sports Camp, try http://6points.urjcamps.org and, for Kutz Camp, go to http://kutz.urjcamps.org. By the way, at the Eisner/Crane Lake site, you’ll also see information about Camp Chazak (housed at Crane Lake), a new, seven day, Jewish summer camp program for students (9-13 years old) with social developmental delays. In addition, to discover more about any of these camps, you can talk with Susan Morrel or me. Among other things, we can connect you with families in our congregation who already have made URJ camps part of their children’s lives. And if you have a 2nd-5th grader who might be a candidate for Eisner/Crane Lake, you can have them attend the upcoming weekend for first time and prospective campers on October 14th-16th.
I realize that the summer of 2012 may seem pretty far away at the moment. And I know that many parents are just getting used to having their children back at school and may not feel quite ready to think about next summer. Still, I encourage you to begin exploring these wonderful camp resources now. For many of our children, they will be a life-changing blessing.
-Rabbi Jonathan Kraus
