Jewish Summer Camps are Meeting this Moment

Last month, I was on a train coming home from the airport. A woman sitting next to me was wearing a Star of David necklace. We made eye contact and both smiled. Then she asked me if I was Jewish. I said, “Yes, I am.” She responded, “I feel safer now that you’re here and I am not alone.”

She shared with me that her daughter goes to public school and that since October 7, she has felt alone and isolated. She experienced some forms of antisemitism and, in light of this, will attend Jewish camp for the first time this summer.

“My daughter Sasha needs Jewish community. She needs Jewish camp.” Knowing that their daughter will have a safe space where she can be Jewish with other peers and counselor role models gives her family hope during this dark time.

This exchange underscored what we already know to be true: Jewish camp creates safe and nurturing communities in which campers and staff can explore their Jewish identities. The parents, who don’t even go to camp, feel good and positive about their children being in these spaces. And we need these spaces now more than ever, for all Jewish families.

Each year, the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC), where I am fortunate to be the first-ever chief program officer, supports more than 300 nonprofit Jewish day and overnight camps across North America. Our camps are diverse in geography, movement affiliation (or lack thereof), and Jewish practice. The common link is that they all enable their campers and staff to grow and develop each summer, building lifelong connections and friendships in safe and loving Jewish communities.

Jamie Simon is chief program officer of Foundation for Jewish Camp.

Read the full blog in the Jerusalem Post.