We are now into the final month of summer and I hope all our kids are enjoying their vacation from school. Along with many of you, I am a strong proponent of Jewish camps and I hope if your child is at camp this year that you have chosen one of the many camps geared for informal Jewish education and experiences. Camping is so enjoyable, in fact, that we often overlook its record in inculcating Jewish identity. Particularly for non-Orthodox Jews, the total immersion experience of summer camp is often the greatest single variable leading to lifelong Jewish commitment. The effects of camping on Jewish identity are profound and well-documented.

Why is it that camp — generally associated more with fun than with serious learning — is so powerful an educational format? Operating on a 24 hour 7 day a week basis, camp offers not only substantial formal contact with campers, but also a myriad of informal "teachable moments" when young Jewish children are uniquely accessible, and real life context make learning uniquely memorable. A dispute along the first-base line in a softball game may offer the opportunity for an unforgettable, impromptu lesson on not only sportsmanship, but lashon ha-ra, the transgression of evil talk, as well. A swim lesson may provoke a discussion of Lenny Krazelburg, the U.S. Olympic backstroke champion whose training schedule was influenced by his Jewish sensitivities — leading to an enhanced sense of pride in the camper’s Jewish identity.

There is broad agreement in the Jewish community about the power and importance of summer camp as a transformational educational experience for our young people. A quality Jewish overnight camping experience is a powerful force for building Jewish community involvement. Summer camps provide a fun learning environment for Jewish youth that is often an ideal setting for instilling Jewish values and positive feelings about being Jewish.

There is considerable debate among Jewish camping professionals about who should be the primary focus of Jewish camping. Many camp directors express the desire to raise the quality of Jewish programming, but have concerns about whom to target, as Jewish life becomes more complex and different levels of Jewish programming appeal to different families. On one end of the spectrum, some believe that the Jewish camping experience should be focused on marginally affiliated families that need Jewish identity building the most. This group believes that it is unrealistic and unproductive for camps to create an atmosphere that is so intensively Jewish that it will frighten off potential campers who are less observant. They feel that camps should attract campers from marginally affiliated families and motivate them to want to continue participation in Jewish life.

At the other end, some believe that the place of Jewish camping is not to provide outreach to the marginally affiliated, but to provide rich and powerful Jewish identity building for those they consider most involved in Jewish life. The purpose of camp for this group is not to accumulate factual Jewish information, but to provide Jewish motivation. The special power of overnight camping resides in its ability to control the atmosphere twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and to make every moment of every day a Jewish moment. One director insists that to offer camping with less than total Jewish intensity is to squander the power of camp.

These diverse opinions are not mutually exclusive. The broader the spectrum of camp options, the greater their ability to attract diverse constituencies. Thankfully, those in our community have the option for both types of camps.

Because of the concentrated and compressed camp environment, a friendship formed over a week at sleep away camps is often closer and more enduring than one formed over many months at school. The importance of this in Jewish identity formation should not be under-estimated. When kids form circles of camp friends, they often stay close for life. This means attending one another’s bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, and other simchas. It ties them into the Jewish life cycle, and the positive emotions they have for their friends, and becomes associated with Judaism. It behooves us not to let the summer camp experience wane when camp ends and our children return to school. Keep their Jewish activities and lives growing by getting them involved in Jewish youth groups and connecting with our synagogue.