Jewish Family Camp
FJC is excited to announce seven Jewish overnight camps across North America that were selected to participate in the inaugural cohort of JFAM, the new Jewish Family Camp initiative. This groundbreaking program, funded by the Maimonides Fund, provides overnight camps with financial and programmatic support to launch or expand their family camp offerings to provide meaningful and exciting Jewish experiences for families with young children.
This pilot program is designed to help camps reach families beyond their current camp and alumni families with the goal of providing them with a joyful connection to Judaism and Jewish community meaningful and communal Jewish experiences to young Jewish families, especially to those less engaged in day-to-day Jewish life. Camps will plan each family camp experience in partnership with area organizations that work with these populations. Over the course of the five years of this initiative, each camp will build their capacity and outreach to serve upwards of 50 families each family camp experience, with the cohort as a whole serving over 1,000 young families annually by the end of the initial JFAM pilot period.
Each of the participating camps will offer three new and different family camp weekends or immersive holiday experiences each year for up to five years, beginning in 2022. Camps will receive resources to pilot this initiative, including training, capital funding, staff capacity funding, and family subsidies. Following the initial start-up period, each camp will have the logistical and financial structures in place to sustain these programs.
View the family facing page for JFAM
Participating Camps
Camp Laurelwood
Camp Laurelwood is a place where traditions and values mean something. Laurelwood is not just a collection of buildings, fields and lakes. Laurelwood is a place to find yourself, a place to have new experiences, learn new skills, make friendships that last for a lifetime and feel – perhaps for the first time in your life – like you are part of something bigger than yourself – something that only campers, staff and alumni know.
Camp Mountain Chai
Camp Mountain Chai, a JCCA affiliated camp, opened its doors to Jewish children from San Diego and other southwestern communities in 2006 and creates a community to inspire a love of Jewish living through fun, friendship, discovery, and exploration. Through unique outdoor experiences in the San Bernardino National Forest, camp fosters a strong sense of responsibility, self-reliance, independence, and self-worth. The accessible programming cultivates meaningful Jewish experiences and nourishes a strong affection to the land, people and culture of Israel. Camp Mountain Chai creates year-round opportunities to strengthen and develop interpersonal relationships.
Camp Tawonga
For over 90 years, Camp Tawonga has served as a leader in Jewish camping, fostering in children and families a deep connection to nature, community and Judaism. Camp Tawonga runs programming for children, families and young adults at their campsite next to Yosemite National Park and in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Camp Tawonga believes that a loving, inclusive Jewish community gives children a chance to gain self-confidence, explore their spirituality and discover the truest versions of themselves. Tawonga’s four-part mission has fostered high self-esteem, enduring community, tikkun olam and positive Jewish identity. From programming to training staff and championing inclusion, their mission guides everything they do. Camp Tawonga embraces differences, learns from each other and welcomes everyone.
Camp Zeke
Camp Zeke is the first and only overnight camp where kids celebrate healthy, active living through fitness, cooking, sports, farm-to-table gourmet food, and joyful Judaism. Everything at camp is based on a set of core values, including being kind to others, building character, taking care of our health, and welcoming new members of the community. As campers grow in the camp community, they gain skills and the inspiration to lead lives of strength, confidence, and vibrant good health. Camp’s joyfully Jewish community is rooted in the belief that fitness, good nutrition, and kindness are essential for realizing each person’s full human potential.
Tiyul Adventure Camp
Tiyul Adventure Camp is a specialty nature and farm camp located in Reisterstown, Maryland on 180 acres of land surrounded by a forest and a running creek. Campers explore the wonders of the land while learning various wilderness and earth skills, farm tasks and farm-to-table cooking. They push their boundaries on the adventure ropes course and rock climbing walls. Through song and stories, campers connect to themselves as individuals, each other, and Jewish spirituality.
URJ Greene Family Camp
URJ Greene Family Camp takes the magic of camp and translates it into a year-round experience. Greene offers an expanded menu of fun, immersive Jewish experiences, 365 days a year. Both summer and year-round programs are rooted in the values of being an individual, making meaningful and worthwhile relationships, respecting your peers and yourself and the community of the Jewish people. These timeless, universal values form the backbone of every program and makes Judaism relevant, accessible and meaningful. Inspired by the magic of camp, each program fosters a love of Judaism while connecting campers and families to the local and global Jewish community.
URJ Olin-Sang-Ruby-Institute
For seventy years, the OSRUI Community has created a fun, supportive environment where campers can explore, challenge themselves, and develop their passions. Kids of all abilities and backgrounds strengthen their Jewish identities while surrounded by beautiful facilities and expert staff. OSRUI is a place where each community member is safe, able to enjoy all camp has to offer, and has the opportunity to become the best versions of themselves. From the youngest of our campers to the staff, every person who spends a summer at OSRUI returns home a wiser, more self-confident young person and a bigger part of our community and more connected to the Jewish community. OSRUI is also a year-round home for many retreats and Jewish programs.