Camps and Summer Fun

Pennsylvania Jewish camp unites local couple

Allison Richter (nee Lachter) and Michael Richter at Capital Camps in Waynesboro, Pa. in 1991. (Courtesy Allison Richter)

As a kid, Allison Richter of Tucson spent many happy hours canoeing, shooting arrows, hiking and crafting at Camp Pearlstein, now called Camp Daisy and Harry Stein, in Prescott. Her parents never thought she would bring home a husband. She didn’t, of course, but those summers began a beautiful… Read more »

Horwitz mixes magic and mystery at local dinner theater

Ross Horwitz, who bills himself simply as “Ross the Magician,” has been practicing magic since he was 7 years old. He spent his early life in Chicago and attended a Jewish summer camp in Michigan, where he got his first taste of making the impossible possible from a camp… Read more »

Summer camps open bunks to transgender Jews

Camp JRF has embraced inclusivity since its founding, with activities that rarely divide up the boys and the girls. (Courtesy of Camp JRF)

WHIPPANY, N.J. (New Jersey Jewish News via JTA) — Bathrooms accessible for transgender children and staff are old news at Camp JRF, the Reconstructionist movement’s summer camp in South Sterling, Pa. Five years ago the camp posted signs on bathroom doors stating “This bathroom may be used by any… Read more »

Hydrate your way to a healthy summer

(Family Features) — Staying well-hydrated is especially important during the summer months, particularly in hot climates like the Sonoran Desert. Consciously replacing your fluid content becomes essential for overall health. “Every system in your body — from reproduction and digestion to circulation, mood and memory — depends on water,”… Read more »

New and improved Jewish camps for our Gilded Age

It's a bird... it's a plane... it's the new "trapeze center" at Camp Modin, the oldest Jewish summer camp in New England and the inspiration for the movie "Wet Hot American Summer." (Courtesy of Camp Modin)

(JTA) — At the oldest Jewish summer camp in New England, you can hike, swim, sail — and now fly through the air with the greatest of ease. The Camp Modin “trapeze center” is the first of its kind in North America, a “revolutionary” design with a “state-of-the-art inflatable… Read more »

Vaccines and Jewish camps: What parents need to know

Campers at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires in Wingdale, N.Y. (Uriel Heilman)

(JTA) — “All of a sudden, bottles of hand sanitizer appeared all over,” said Rabbi Jason Miller, looking back at 2009, when the swine flu craze reached Camp Maas, a Jewish summer camp in Ortonville, Michigan. “Staff members would stand outside the dining hall with bottles,” he told JTA. Aside from constant reminders… Read more »

Ramah camps a bright spot for Conservative movement, but 9 of 10 kids don’t go

The waterfront at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires includes a wide variety of inflatable toys and surf kayaks. (Uriel Heilman)

WINGDALE, N.Y. (JTA) – The sky is clearing after a damp morning at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, and kids are emerging from their cluttered bunks. An impromptu Frisbee game breaks out on the lawn, while down by the lake a counselor prepares the water trampoline and surf kayaks. On… Read more »

In Europe, a summer camp creates the next generation of Jewish leaders — and babies

Shabbat services and Jewish life are integral parts of the Szarvas experience. (Courtesy of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee)

SZARVAS, Hungary (JTA) — Escaping a sudden downpour in the summer of 2012, Andras Paszternak and Barbi Szendy ran to find cover inside an empty cabin at their Jewish summer camp, Szarvas, 100 miles east of Budapest. The two senior counselors, then 31 and 36, respectively, chatted as rain drenched the sprawling compound, where… Read more »

Ramah is beloved tradition for Tucson family

Tucsonan Lisa Goldberg’s connections to Camp Ramah in Ojai, Calif., run deep. She’s been a Ramahnik since she first attended camp when she was 8 years old, having “inherited” Ramah from her mother, Mimi Dinin Sisk, who was one of the first campers at the California location, and her… Read more »

Scholarships from local fund can help send kids to camp

The Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is accepting applications for scholarships to Jewish overnight summer camps for the summer of 2016. The need-based scholarship assistance is funded by the Mo and Frances Beren Family Scholarship Fund at the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern… Read more »

Local Jewish camps offer varied opportunities for summer adventures

CAMP J Grades K-12 • 1 and 2 week options, May 26-July 31 At the Tucson Jewish Community Center; now open to nonmembers. ACA accredited. Around the world theme with field trips, friendship projects, swimming, games, arts and crafts, music, dance, drama, sports, community service, science and Friday parties. Information:… Read more »

Jewish specialty camps booming across U.S.

Campers create a brochure for their proposed startup company at Camp Inc. (Courtesy Camp Inc.)

When his new camp opened last summer, Greg Kellner suspected he needed a morning ritual different from the traditional flagpole gathering at many Jewish overnight camps. Kellner, the director of URJ Six Points Sci-Tech Academy in Byfield, Mass., a Jewish science-themed camp in the Reform movement’s network, knew his… Read more »

Israeli-American romance bloomed at Tucson’s ‘Camp J’

Omri Margalit, an Israeli serving as a counselor at Tucson’s Camp J, with Tucsonan and fellow counselor Rachel Fox in 2009 (Courtesy Rachel Margalit)

For the Margalit family, the Tucson Jewish Community Center was the setting for a true camp love story: a Tucson camp counselor meets and falls for a visiting Israeli. Rachel Fox and Omri Margalit met at the JCC’s summer camp as teenagers serving as counselors. Rachel, a University of… Read more »

Local golf group makes mensches on and off the greens

Golf has long been considered a sport of luxury and expense, but a local organization has turned the game into a tool to teach children how to live life with specific ethical values. The First Tee of Tucson, the local branch of a national organization, provides children ages 5-17… Read more »

Local, national scholarships can help send kids to camp

The Coalition for Jewish Education of the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona is accepting scholarship applications for a Jewish camp experience this summer. Any student currently attending Tucson Hebrew Academy or a religious school program in Southern Arizona is eligible to apply for this need-based scholarship. Funded by the… Read more »

Generations of locals thrive at ‘Camp J’

Sara, Katie and Dylan Bluth (Courtesy Jeff Bluth)

For two local families, the Bluths and the Smiths, the summer camps at Tucson’s Jewish Community Center, fondly known as Camp J, mean much more than just fun for the kids. Their stories reveal the profound impact camp can make. For Jeff Bluth, it is exciting to see the… Read more »

Op-Ed: Why we encourage body talk at Camp Be’chol Lashon

At Camp Be’chol Lashon, which provides a space for racially and ethnically diverse Jews, discussion about appearance is the norm. (Courtesy of Be'chol Lashon)

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — Earlier this year, the Jewish overnight camp Eden Village garnered a great deal of attention for its “no body talk” policy, which camp leaders described as providing a “break from mentioning physical appearance, including clothing.” The policy, which aims to lessen the stress children feel about appearance, certainly has merit. But… Read more »