I love camp. I went for the whole summer starting before I turned 8. First, to Camp Pembroke, where I was named Outstanding Lower Camp Athlete in 1979, and then for seven glorious summers to Camp Yavneh, where I was co-captain of the (losing) Maccabiah team in 1986. One of the first things I did…
Ruben Arquilevich is a Jewish summer camp guy. He says his life was shaped by Jewish summer camp. Over the past three decades, he’s been a camper, a counselor, a professional staffer and the director of a Jewish summer camp. He met his wife at Jewish summer camp. He sent his kids to Jewish summer…
I let myself cry today. For weeks during the shelter in place, I’ve been emotionally stuck in turmoil. You see, I’m an overnight Jewish camp director. This was to be my eighth summer on staff at Camp Newman and my 16th overall at Jewish camp. On May 31, we were to begin training staff for…
(JTA) — All Reform Jewish summer camps will remain closed for the 2020 summer due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned. Related story: He made the call to cancel summer camp for 10,000 kids. Here’s what he has to say. The landmark decision, made Thursday afternoon, will affect 16 overnight…
(JTA) — Thousands of parents and children have been asking the question for months, with increasing anxiety: Will the coronavirus cancel summer camp? Three Jewish overnight camps, from the Conservative Ramah movement, are set to announce their decisions this week. Ramah in Wisconsin, Colorado’s Ramah in the Rockies and Ramah Darom in Georgia are scheduled…
What will happen to camp this summer? Ever since the world started shutting down in response to the rise of coronavirus, this has been a nagging question across the Jewish community. Camps have understandably been reluctant to make any decisions one way or another, and not just due to the desperate hope of emerging from…
Let there be camp. That is what I pray to I’m-not-sure-who each night of this pandemic. With every announcement like Thursday’s that school in New Jersey will stay closed at least until May 15, with every email message like the one I got last week saying “Eben’s Bar Mitzvah has been moved to Zoom,” with…
(JTA) — The staff at Ramah in the Rockies got a rare bit of good news on Tuesday: Just days after applying for a grant designed to help small businesses weather the coronavirus-induced financial crisis, the Jewish summer camp had been approved. The organization had applied for the grant, made available as part of the…
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