(JTA) — As swine flu swept through the United States in the late spring of 2009, Jewish summer camps took some drastic measures. One set up a quarantined area where some 45 infected kids and counselors lived apart from the rest of the camp. Another took every camper’s temperature twice a day and sent children…
Have You Seen This Mensch? Yasiel Puig, an outfielder for the Cleveland Indians, spent the day on Monday visiting Camp Simcha, an Orthodox Jewish summer camp dedicated to helping children and teens who deal with cancer and blood disorders. It was Puig’s first day off from work in three weeks. In order to keep his…
In “Remember That We Suffered,” a song in the musical theater-based TV show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” a rabbi character played by Patti Lupone laments on behalf of Jewish educators everywhere, “I mean, would it be such a crime/for the Beastie Boys or Haim/to sing it in their songs one time/’Remember that we suffered?’” HAIM — the…
(JTA) — The newly passed California state budget includes a number of priorities backed by Jewish legislators, from rebuilding summer camps burned in wildfires to the construction of a new Holocaust museum. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the $214.8 billion budget on Thursday. The budget includes funds for health care, child care and combatting homelessness,…
I watched Roman across the camp’s dining hall, surrounded by a group of jeering boys. He was the other “Russian” at camp, but we had never actually spoken, intuitively certain that any contact would intensify their taunts. “Look at the two gross Russians. I bet they wanna make out, ew!” they’d probably say. I imagine…
(JTA) — Sixteen Jewish camps in North America have been awarded grants to increase accessibility for campers and staff with disabilities. The grants are part of the $12 million Yashar Initiative, a program of the Foundation for Jewish Camp funded by The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. The Yashar Initiative was designed to address the…
(JTA) — Kutz Camp, the Union for Reform Judaism summer camp for teens and an incubator for modern spiritual Jewish folk music, is closing. URJ President Rabbi Rick Jacob made the announcement in a statement Wednesday, citing competition from other programs. The camp celebrated its 50th anniversary on July 4, 2015. The summer 2019 session will…
(JTA) — Two camps that suffered major damage in the wildfires that have raged in Southern California sent a message addressed to the “camp family”: We will rebuild and we will endure. On Sunday evening, the leaders of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles and the camps it runs, Hess Kramer in Malibu and Gindling Hilltop, said that although…
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