It’s a Friday evening towards the beginning of August and we’re at Shabbat services. We are sitting on benches outdoors, enjoying the soft light and warm air of an early, summer night in the Berkshire mountains. We’re surrounded by hundreds of Jewish children, most of them dressed in white. Some of those children have their arms around each other. All of us are singing together, the beautiful songs and prayers of the Shabbat evening service.
The infectious music, driven by energetic guitar and hand drum accompaniment, lifts our voices and hearts together. You can feel a palpable sense of connection, peace and joy in the air. Alternating with the Hebrew prayers, different children stand before the community to share thoughtful words they’ve written, artwork they’ve created, a dance or song they’ve prepared. There is a feeling of easy comfort here, the comfort of a strong, closely knit community, a wonderful family that is recreated every summer. We are at the Union for Reform Judaism’s (URJ) Eisner Camp in Great Barrington.
Amy and I were at camp on this particular Shabbat (along with other leaders of Beth El Temple Center) to accept an award recognizing the exceptional number of campers (21!) that BETC sent to URJ Eisner and Crane Lake camps this past summer. I am absolutely thrilled that so many of our families chose to give their children the gift of a Jewish summer camp experience, whether at one of our URJ camps or at one of the other, excellent, Jewish summer camps in our region. But I am especially proud and excited that we sent so many Beth El students to URJ camps. These are the camps we support through our Temple membership contributions. They are the Jewish summer camps that most share our worldview and values as a Reform congregation. They are the camps that exist primarily in order to extend, deepen and solidify what our children learn at Beth El during the rest of the year.
I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. Jewish, summer camp experiences are among the most powerful, formative and enduring Jewish learning we can offer our children. Along with active involvement in NFTY (the Reform youth movement for high school students) and a substantive, high school or college “Israel experience” shared with peers, camp is one of our most effective tools for creating adult Jews who are proud of, literate in and committed to their Judaism. I know this because so many of my rabbinic colleagues cite one or more of these experiences as the catalyst for their love affair with Judaism and their choice of career. I know this because among our Temple leaders are many individuals who have been powerfully shaped by one or more of these experiences. And I also know this because when I have the privilege of seeing our own, BETC kids at camp (including my children), I’m struck by their joy, their engagement, the fact that they feel so much at home in these 24/7 Jewish communities.
If you are interested in offering your child this experience (and I hope many of you are) or even if you’d just like to learn more about our camps, we will be hosting a presentation about our URJ camps at Beth El on Wednesday evening, October 24th at 6:00 p.m. Don’t forget to put it on your calendar now. In addition, you can check out the Eisner/Crane Lake websites.
Best of all, talk to one of the kids (or parents) who already are part of our URJ camp communities. This past summer, our Eisner/Crane Lake campers included: Annabel and Ben Banks, Ilan and Nili Barnoon, Mia Cohen, Della, Ezra and Max Copes-Finke, Valerie Fisher, Clara Frumhoff, Rachel and Elizabeth Harkavy, Eva Koplow, Noah Miller-Medzon, Shaina Morrel, Eliana and Shira Roberts, Maddy Shapiro, Anna Shuster, Becca Tananbaum and Rebecca Turner. These BETC kids were joined by Susan Morrel, Harriet (Torgerson) Braunstein, Jacob Kraus, Sarah Shuster, India Schotka and Abby Kraus, all of whom served on URJ camp staff or faculty during the summer. Special, honorable mention goes to Ari Silverfine, who again attended the URJ’s terrific, “6 Points Sports Academy” in North Carolina. For BETC kids like Ari, who really love sports but also would enjoy being in a Jewish camp environment, “6 Points” is a terrific, new option.
I apologize if I’ve missed anyone (always a risk when you start listing names). I know, for example, that we have kids who traveled to Israel with NFTY and/or camp this summer. I also know that some of our terrific, BETC kids attended other, Jewish summer camps that they adore (e.g., Camp Micah in Maine). I hope these folks will spread the word about their beloved camps and, perhaps, submit an article to a future Temple Bulletin so you can learn about those Jewish camps, as well.
But whichever camp you choose, it’s not too early to start thinking about the summer of 2013! And hopefully, when I’m at Eisner/Crane Lake next summer, I’ll see even more of our BETC kids sharing one of those wonderful, Shabbat services.
