The temperature in Chicago may have been well below freezing, but summer was on the minds of the hundreds of Jewish professionals who came to the Windy City this week for a first-of-its-kind Jewish camp summit hosted by the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s JCamp 180 and the Foundation for Jewish Camp, writes eJewishPhilanthropy Managing Editor Judah Ari Gross.
The summit — really two conferences crammed together — offered discussions, panels and networking opportunities for both sides of the Jewish camp industry, from the practitioners to the funders who support them. Bringing together the two events, which are normally held at different times of the year, apparently maximized the number of attendees, with record high numbers for each.
This all comes as Jewish sumer camps have seen significant growth, surpassing pre-pandemic numbers — driven perhaps by the precipitous drop in Israel travel this past summer, as well as “The Surge” in Jewish engagement post-Oct. 7.
For the camp directors, board members and other staff, the summit provided an opportunity to discuss the nitty-gritty details of running a Jewish summer camp, from better cooperation with a board and more effective fundraising to responding to the practical effects of climate change and how to use artificial intelligence and data collection, as well as more far-reaching topics like how to cultivate leadership and deepen Israel education.
For philanthropists, bringing hundreds of Jewish camp professionals under one roof allowed them to more easily understand the field and find ways to support it. (Read more about this below.)
For the other stakeholders, it was an opportunity to consider the role of Jewish summer camps in the context of the North American Jewish community and the Jewish people more generally. On Tuesday, for instance, Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee; Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America; and Rabbi Elka Abrahamson, president of the Wexner Foundation, discussed the role of Jewish summer camps in developing Jewish leadership.
Julie Platt, JFNA board chair and immediate past board chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, held an onstage discussion with her son, actor and podcast host, Jonah Platt, about the role that Jewish camp has played in their lives.
JCamp 180 and Foundation for Jewish Camp partner for Jewish Camp Summit, leading to record attendance
For the first time, the two organizations held their normally separate gatherings together, as Jewish camps take on outsized significance with growing attendance.
More than 900 Jewish camp professionals joined together on Monday to say Shehecheyanu.
The prayer, signifying special occasions, marked a historical partnership between the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) and Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s JCamp 180 as the organizations partnered for a joint, four-day gathering, the Jewish Camp Summit, which ended on Wednesday.
In previous years, JCamp 180 held its annual conference in the fall, while FJC held a biannual conference in late winter or early spring. This year, to both save expenses and make it easier for attendees, many of whom journey to both, the organizations opted to hold a joint gathering with a common theme: scaling new heights.
The conferences still have separate identities. The JCamp 180 Summit, which focuses on fundraising, board engagement and strategic planning, ran first, from Sunday to Monday. It was followed immediately by FJC’s Leaders Assembly, emphasizing professional development, the Jewish/Israel experience at camps and growth. But there is plenty of overlap, with presenters from JCamp 180 presenting at Leaders Assembly and vice versa.
The joint summit led to both conferences clocking record attendance, with over 500 attending the JCamp 180 Summit and over 950 attending the Leaders Assembly (some 400 attendees overlap).
“I’ve been trying to push for this for the last 10 years,” Jeremy Fingerman, CEO of FJC told eJewishPhilanthropy. “Making it easier for the field.”
A larger summit also means more exposure for attendees to philanthropists, Andrea Wasserman, the founder and president of ABW Partners, who presented at the JCamp 180 Summit and whose firm leads the strategic planning process for FJC, told eJP.
These philanthropists are hungry to invest in initiatives that allow Jews to “wear their Judaism proudly” and “move the needle on ensuring a vibrant, vital, cohesive Jewish community,” she said, especially spanning Israel and the Diaspora.
The future of the partnership between JCamp 180 and FJC is currently being fleshed out, Sarah Eisinger, JCamp 180’s director, said. “We’re just getting started… We will be back in Massachusetts on our own next year. And I don’t know what will happen in two years,” she said.
The summit is held after a year of rising camp attendance, surging past the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. Last summer, nearly 190,000 attended an American day or overnight camp. There’s also been an increase in camp counselors, Fingerman said. “After being on the front line of the fight on campus, [counselors] decided they wanted to be in a positive, safe, Jewish bubble.”
While welcome, this increase of staff and attendees is straining camps, with FJC estimating that a quarter of camps are at or near full capacity. As demand jumps, “the long-term prospects and the challenges that are affecting the field are really the same, they just get more and more complex,” Eisinger told eJP.
Topics discussed at the summit included emergency preparedness, working with boards, building endowments, discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at camp, cultivating an inclusive experience and how camps can use artificial intelligence. There were also sessions allowing attendees to sing favorite camp songs, create arts and crafts, and participate in a massive game of “Who Knows One,” led by Micah Hart, the host of the “Campfires and Color Wars”podcast.
Camp is one of the last tech-free places for kids, yet there is plenty of potential for AI, Fingerman said, whether it be for parent communication or organizing photos. AI can also help campers stay bonded over the year, which he said is vital, because camp is not just a summer connection, it can build lifelong relationships.
One of the themes of this past summer was the relationships cultivated between American campers and Israelis. On a typical summer, 1,500 Israeli teens visit American camps, but this year saw an additional 1,500 coming from displaced communities. Twenty representatives from Israeli summer camps attended this year’s summit to discuss North American Jews having a reverse exchange, with American teens staying at Israeli camps in future years.
“There was a lot of anxiety going into [last] summer,” Eisinger said. “How we’re we going to get all these divergent populations together after this terrible year? And it was just much better than anyone had anticipated.”
This success led to FJC announcing a $1.475 million Teaching Israel at Camp grant on Wednesday, allowing 60 camps to hire an Israeli educator to create additional Israel programming. The grant is funded by Crown Family Philanthropies, UJA-Federation of New York, One8 Foundation, the Einstein Astrof Foundation and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.
Camp is the perfect safe place for attendees to hold tough conversations about Israel, Fingerman said. “You’re away from family. You have the ability to have one on one conversations or group conversations in a way that maybe you can’t do in other venues,” he said.
With increased attendance comes increased needs, including for updated infrastructure, whether it be for more bunks, a larger infirmary or to adapt to a changing climate. At the Leaders Assembly on Tuesday, FJC announced a $15 million grant, funded by Ruth and David Gottesman’s family foundation, to help over 300 camps expand their capacity and modernize their facilities.
Now is the time to invest in camps, Eisinger said. “I want to look back on this moment, this period since Oct. 7, in 50 or 100 years, and say it was a watershed moment for the camps. The camps welcomed Israelis. There was an incredible cross-cultural connection this summer at the camps, and it was a hugely healing experience for the Israelis [and] also the Americans, these young people who had experienced terrible antisemitism at their college campuses.”
Now, more than ever, camp is needed, Lee Trempeck, the CEO of Tamarack Camps, told eJP. It was a message laced throughout the summit, which was especially resonant because it brought together so many across lay leadership and professional staff.
“Just being together allows people the opportunity to share the emotion that we’re all feeling from the weight of the world,” he said.
Read the entire article, “JCamp 180 and Foundation for Jewish Camp partner for Jewish Camp Summit, leading to record attendance”, on ejewishphilanthropy.com.
Funding will support capital expansion projects for Jewish camps
CHICAGO — At its 10th biennial Leaders Assembly in Chicago featuring a record of nearly 950 attendees, Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) announced $15 million in new funding for its network of over 300 day and overnight camps from The Gottesman Fund to support capital expansion projects and field growth.
“For decades, Jewish camps have helped young people explore their Jewish identity, learn about Israel, develop their character, and make lifelong friends,” said Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp. “This new funding will facilitate field growth and enable camps to boost enrollment at a time when so many are seeking positive Jewish experiences and Jewish camp is playing an even more important role. We’re incredibly grateful to The Gottesman Fund for their generosity.”
Enrollment this past summer exceeded pre-pandemic highs, with nearly 190,000 young people attending a day or overnight camp across North America. While serving as a testament to the field’s recovery, high enrollment is stretching camps’ current infrastructure. FJC estimates that at least a quarter of its camps are operating at or near full capacity. Many have been developing plans to increase their ability to serve more young people, and additional support will be essential in helping them carry out these plans.
“One of our top priorities is enhancing and perpetuating Jewish life in the United States — and it’s hard to think of an experience that’s more formative for young Jews than camp,” said Diane Eidman, Director at The Gottesman Fund. “We’re thrilled to partner with Foundation for Jewish Camp to offer funding for capital improvement projects so that camps can enroll more campers, hire more staff, and deliver higher-quality experiences to every member of the community.”
With the generous support of The Gottesman Fund, FJC will be able to offer $15 million in funding for capital expansion projects through 2027, with individual grants of up to $750,000 per camp to cover up to 50% of the total project cost. The funding will focus on three areas where day and overnight camps have expressed their most pressing needs: approximately $5 million for staff and family housing to increase staff retention, approximately $7 million for program spaces to modernize infrastructure and bolster climate resilience, and approximately $3 million for camper bunks and home bases to increase capacity.
“This summer and beyond, we’re committed to ensuring that every camp has the resources they need to provide fun, safe, and meaningful experiences for tens of thousands of young Jews,” said Jamie Simon, FJC’s Chief Program and Strategy Officer. “We’re excited to share this opportunity from The Gottesman Fund for new staff housing, program spaces, and camper bunks with such a large group of diverse leaders at this year’s Leaders Assembly.”
About Foundation for Jewish Camp
FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 190,000 campers and counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is the only public 501(c)(3) charitable organization solely focused on Jewish camp. jewishcamp.org
About The Gottesman Fund
Founded in 1965, The Gottesman Fund is managed by members of the Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman family and is dedicated to enhancing and perpetuating Jewish life in the United States, providing significant support to domestic medical, educational, and cultural institutions, and supporting projects in Israel which improve the quality of life for its visitors and residents.
Over 900 Jewish camp professionals, lay leaders, advocates, and friends set to attend Leaders Assembly in Chicago
CHICAGO — Over 900 attendees, from Jewish camp professionals to lay leaders to a delegation from Israel, will gather in Chicago on December 9th to 11th, 2024 to shape the future of Jewish camp at Foundation for Jewish Camp’s (FJC’s) biennial Leaders Assembly — part of The Jewish Camp Summit that FJC is co-hosting with JCamp180.
Leaders Assembly will share new research affirming camps’ strong recovery from the COVID pandemic and recent success in helping young Jews feel more deeply connected to their identity at a time of rising antisemitism.
Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp
“We’re thrilled to welcome a record-breaking number of participants to our 10th biennial Leaders Assembly, all of whom recognize how Jewish camp helps young people develop their character and explore their Jewish identity,” said Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp. “With over 140 expert speakers, dozens of events, and three plenaries, Leaders Assembly will celebrate and elevate camp’s integral role in transforming the lives of young people.”
The three plenaries will focus on Scaling Belonging, Scaling Leadership, and Scaling Jewish Joy & Identity. Featured speakers include American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch; The Wexner Foundation President Rabbi B. Elka Abrahamson; President and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America Eric Fingerhut; Co-Founder of Character Strong Houston Kraft; Program Director, Jewish Community & Israel at Crown Family Philanthropies Wendy Newberger; workplace strategist, author, and podcast host Erica Keswin; Chair of the Board of Trustees Jewish Federations of North America and immediate past Board Chair of Foundation for Jewish Camp Julie B. Platt; and actor, advocate, and podcast hostJonah Platt.
“Jewish camp is the key to the Jewish future — from building positive Jewish identity to helping young Jews unplug and be present in a connected community. Among Jews who go on to become communal leaders, camp is the #1 experience they tend to have in common,” said Jamie Simon, FJC’s Chief Program and Strategy Officer. “We’re excited to bring together a diverse, talented group of leaders to delve into themes at the center of our field.”
Reflecting Jewish camp’s dual role as a place to have fun and learn, Leaders Assembly 2024 will also offer opportunities to engage in art, music, improv, sports, and more, as well as expert-led sessions on topics spanning from youth development to inclusion to Israel, such as:
“Making More Mensches: The Mechanics of Character Development at Jewish Summer Camp”
“Building Connections Between North American & Israeli Staff”
“Making Camp Accessible for Low to Moderate Income, Unaffiliated Families”
“Cabins, Carbon, and Climate Change: Reimagining the Camp Footprint”
“Life after Camp: Expanding Horizons for Adults with Disabilities”
Media interested in covering and attending any portion of Leaders Assembly can contact Alex Goldstein at agoldstein@ninetywest.com for more information about the Assembly agenda and logistics.
About Foundation for Jewish Camp
FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 190,000 campers and counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is the only public 501(c)(3) charitable organization solely focused on Jewish camp. jewishcamp.org
NEW YORK — New research by Rosov Consulting, sponsored by The Jim Joseph Foundation, reaffirms that Jewish camp is a “Powerful Jewish Learning Experience” that promotes community and individual growth. The report is the latest evidence showing how Foundation for Jewish Camp and its network of over 300 day and overnight camps transform the lives of young Jews by helping them grow and explore their identity.
Through a series of virtual focus groups, researchers interviewed 48 people between the ages of 25 and 35 who participated in some combination of Jewish camp, youth groups, campus life, and post-grad community. Nearly two-thirds of study participants attended camp at some point. Their reflections converged around the many life-long benefits of the Jewish camp experience, such as:
Jewish Learning
“I feel like there’s a lot of prayers that I know in my core because of camp and not necessarily because of Hebrew school and Sunday school.”
L’Dor Va-Dor
“All of the camp songs that you’d sing on Shabbat… you take with you for the rest of your life. And I have a son who goes to Jewish preschool now and he is singing these songs, and we sing them together in the car…”
Independence, Joy, and Friendship
“I gained the value of joyous Judaism, social connections… just having a community of people that you get to just be with, [is] just amazing.”
Connecting to Jewish Identity
“Camp really helped me understand the importance of Jewish community and continuing involvement with the Jewish community after my bat mitzvah. If it weren’t for camp, I would not have done Hillel in college. I would not have joined Moishe house.”
“I really feel connected to my summer camp. I think it has given me the foundation to feel at home in a lot of different Jewish spaces.”
“50 years ago, I first attended Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, and it changed my life. It’s gratifying to hear so many participants in this new study detail how it changed theirs,” said Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp. “We’re grateful to The Jim Joseph Foundation for all of their support, and to Rosov Consulting for illuminating the long-lasting, wide-reaching benefits of Jewish camp.”
“These are very positive outcomes that show how five organizations are integral in creating a vibrant Jewish communal ecosystem throughout key life stages for the young Jews they serve,” wrote Stacie Cherner, Director of Research and Learning at the Jim Joseph Foundation, in an opinion piece for eJewishPhilanthropy. “The Jim Joseph Foundation is eager to engage in more cross-portfolio evaluations to build our base of knowledge and understanding about shared outcomes across the field.”
The study zeroed in on common outcomes among Jewish experiences from camp to college and beyond, such as helping young people find and become part of the Jewish community, achieve personal growth, and form deep and lasting friendships. At the same time, the study highlighted the opportunity for exploration as a particularly strong element of the camp experience.
“Camp, as already noted, is a place to stretch, to experiment and to explore new experiences, in Jewish and personal terms. This is the theme to which alumni consistently returned most often when talking about camp,” said Rosov Consulting in the study. “They recollect experiencing joy and Jewish learning, and they celebrated the friendships formed, but it was the personal growth they experienced thanks to being given the space to explore that exceeded all other outcomes.”
Belonging, leadership, joy, and identity — four of the core building blocks highlighted in the new study — will be central themes at FJC’s 2024 Leaders Assembly, which will convene over 800 Jewish camp leaders and advocates from around the world on December 9th to December 11th in Chicago. Rosov Consulting will be present to share more detailed findings from this study.
FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 180,000 campers and counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is the only public 501(c)(3) charitable organization solely focused on Jewish camp. jewishcamp.org
The Shimon Ben Joseph Foundation, commonly known as the Jim Joseph Foundation, (the Foundation), is committed to the legacy of its founder, Jim Joseph, z”l. The Foundation was established in 2006 as a private foundation, classified legally as a California Public Benefit Corporation. The Foundation is devoted exclusively to supporting Jewish education of youth and young adults in the United States.
About Rosov Consulting
Founded in 2008, Rosov Consulting is a professional services firm helping foundations, philanthropists, and nonprofits in the Jewish communal sector meet their goals, assess progress, and make well- informed decisions to enhance impact. Working at the nexus of the funder and grantee relationship, our expertise includes evaluation and applied research, strategy development, launching new philanthropic initiatives, and systems coaching. We utilize our range of life experiences and knowledge to best serve our clients.
NEW YORK — On World Mental Health Day, which aims to raise awareness of mental health issues and mobilize action for solutions, Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) is providing resources to support the well-being of staff, campers, and their families.
Over the past five years, FJC’s flagship mental health initiative, Yedid Nefesh, has enabled more than 100 day and overnight camps to hire mental health professionals, train counselors, integrate wellness programming, and more. This summer, camps allocated extra resources and care to support Israeli staff and campers, such as hiring Hebrew-speaking therapists. Yedid Nefesh mental health professionals coach counselors and staff, and FJC’s research demonstrates that this kind of training for staff leads to better support for campers. 96% of overnight camper families believe their camp supported their child’s mental, emotional, social, and spiritual well-being — a statistic that FJC’s annual Camper Satisfaction Insights surveys show has steadily climbed over the past few years.
“Amid a long-term rise in mental health challenges for young people and new trauma and grief in the wake of October 7th, FJC is committed to ensuring every member of the camp community has the support they need to thrive,” said Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp. “On World Mental Health Day, FJC is proud of all that our network of camps and mental health professionals do to address mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health.”
Overnight Campers at Camp Northland-B’nai Brith
Thanks to an influx of resources, Jewish summer camps are taking an increasingly active role in supporting the camp community not just during the summer but also throughout the year. A growing cadre of camps are retaining mental health professionals part- or full-time even after summer is over, providing workshops for parents or speaking to campers in the run-up to camp.
“When we first opened up applications for grants to support mental health, more than 90 camps applied for just 30 spots,” said Jill Goldstein Smith, Director, Programs at Foundation for Jewish Camp. “The groundswell of interest spoke to an urgent need. We’re thrilled that thanks to the generosity of The Marcus Foundation and other partners, we’ve since been able to expand financial and programmatic support to more than 100 day and overnight camps. Moving forward, we’ll need new, additional partnerships so that we can serve more camps and meet rising mental health needs.”
In addition to The Marcus Foundation, FJC has received support from UJA-Federation of New York, The Jewish Communal Fund of New York, and The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles for its Yedid Nefesh initiative.
FJC has spearheaded innovative approaches to ensure camps can hire enough qualified professionals despite a worldwide shortage of youth-serving mental health practitioners. The Mental Health Graduate Student Fellowship, for example, builds a pipeline of qualified professionals at Jewish camps by tapping into the pool of talent looking for summer opportunities to expand their skills through work in the field.
FJC’s 2024 Leaders Assembly, which will take place December 9th to December 11th in Chicago, will convene camp mental health professionals in-person, and feature close to 20 sessions focused on mental, emotional, social, and spiritual health — including deep-dive trainings, peer-led conversations, camp-specific research practicums, and more.
FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 180,000 campers and counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is the only public 501(c)(3) charitable organization solely focused on Jewish camp. jewishcamp.org
Eleven months ago, Hamas murdered our daughter while she was dancing and celebrating life at a music festival in Re’im, Israel.
At 6:50 a.m. on Oct. 7, Gili messaged us that something was going on. She told us not to worry. More texts. Gunshots. She was hiding, warning friends to stay away from the area. At 9:14, she wrote: “Until now I wasn’t afraid. Now I’m scared.” By 9:35, we later learned, the terrorists found her. Within five minutes, they murdered Gili and nearly 30 other young people at point-blank range — a fraction of the 364 people who were killed at the festival.
The brutality with which Hamas murdered our Good Life Gili, our radiant, wonderful girl, at just 24 years old, echoes the evil of the recent execution of hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Carmel Gat, Alexander Lobanov, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi and Almog Sarusi. Five of these six beautiful souls were at the Nova music festival, like Gili. All of their families are processing the worst news of their lives.
It’s the news we received three days after Gili’s last message, after we frantically headed south to find her, after we pleaded on Facebook for more information — “OUR GILI IS STILL MISSING” — after each passing hour drained the possibility that she would stumble through the front door and into our arms.
We spoke at Gili’s eulogy, like the hostages’ families did at theirs. And yet there were no words. There are no words. When we now watch videos of Gili, sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry and most times our joy and our grief are not oil and water, they do not separate, but blend into a new, strange taste of life.
As Gili would say: “Why one or the other when you can have both?”
Gili, for whom 24 hours in a day was never enough, took so many roles. An adventurer, she worked three jobs to save money for the dream trip she took to South America. A listener, Gili sat for hours at a time with each of the lone soldiers — those without family in Israel — which whom she worked in the Israeli army.
After Gili’s death, we have found new roles ourselves.
We are gardeners, tending to the flowers on her grave and watering the seeds of her memory.
We are archivists, collecting thousands of photos and videos of our daughter; compiling hundreds, often unsolicited testimonials about the ways she shaped people’s lives.
We are messengers, talking about Gili with whomever will listen: Gili, with a conquering smile and an infectious laugh, “Guppy” to her campers, who took the coffee kit in her backpack to the mountains, the desert, the sea, who gave her heart to everyone from children with special needs to the store cashier.
More than anything, we miss Gili. The faint thrum of our constant grief can balloon in pitch and intensity when we least expect it. Waiting at a traffic light. Or at the supermarket, where our tears condense like the dew on the carton of milk we just removed from the refrigerator. When we’re awake or asleep, in every activity and every moment, we miss our girl. There is no life after Gili. Our only path into the future is with Gili.
And so we share Gili with others. They share her with us. We find her in unexpected places — the group of girls who got a common tattoo in her honor; the memories of a stranger she met on a Colombian beach. And we make pilgrimages to the places she loved the most, which brought us 6,000 miles over the ocean this summer to the United States to visit summer two camps, Tel Yehudah and Ben Frankel, that Gili called home.
The authors with the Star of David that Gili and her friends built at Camp Tel Yehudah as a parting gift. (Courtesy Orna and Eldad Adar)
As we walked through Camp Tel Yehudah, a Young Judaea teen leadership summer camp in Barryville, New York where she worked in 2019 and 2022, there was Gili in her old room with the world map and desk she brought. There was Gili on the roof that she watched the sunset from, even though it was (technically) forbidden. But more than anything, we felt Gili’s presence in the young people at camp, who captured the message she’d want to send to American Jews right now.
On one Saturday night, we saw 400 young Jewish American campers dancing on the grass to Israeli songs. They jumped. They sang along. Those who knew her there told us that Gili was always the first to get up and dance. Her confidence helped others overcome that initial, collective moment of awkwardness.
This dance session reflected two of the things Gili cared most about: close relationships between American and Israeli Jews, and the joy of life.
When she was 17, Gili first came to the U.S. in 2017 to share Israeli culture with American Jews at Camp Ben Frankel, an overnight summer camp in Illinois. If she messed up in English, one of her friends told us, she’d laugh and say: “You know guys, I’m really smart and funny in Hebrew.” Gili channeled that same passion for cross-cultural connection working with American lone soldiers back in Israel.
Gili’s warmth melted barriers of language and distance until young campers felt part of one community. Gili never believed in a blank-check relationship with Israel, the kind that says always support and never question. She did, however, see the bonds between American and Israeli Jews as inviolable and fragile: ties that cannot be denied yet must be nurtured with joy, music, dance, food and more.
Today, as some young American Jews drift away from Israel, we ask them to remember that Israel is also Gili. It is Gili dancing at the Nova music festival, living a normal life in her early 20s, trying to figure out what career path she’ll pursue. Young American Jews should remember that they don’t have to choose between loving Israel and criticizing it: they can have a complex relationship that includes both.
Those kids dancing on the grass that Saturday radiated joy. At her funeral, we made a promise to Gili and to ourselves: “We will not surrender to sadness, we will sanctify joy. This is your will, Gili, our beloved.”
Many times, forward is a bog, and we sink with each small step. Every day when we visit Gili’s grave, we see our charismatic girl inscribed across a headstone, a juxtaposition that feels like a contradiction. What does our daughter, always so full of life, have to do with a grave?
We try to take care of her, even though she was the one who often took care of us — staying awake until 3 a.m. when we were out late to make sure we were okay. We replace her memorial candle. We gather leaves that have fallen. We search for buds, signs of life, on the trees we planted in her honor.
We search for life ourselves. We go to the theater and sports events. Months after an unimaginable rupture, we remain enveloped in an endless stream of love. Gili’s friends come to light the eighth candle of Hanukkah. Kids at Ben Frankel approach and ask if they can hug us.
There will never, ever, be an end to the grief. But there is, there must be, a continuity to the joy.
Five years ago, Gili and her friends built a giant Star of David out of wooden planks as a parting gift to Camp Tel Yehudah. To the right, in one photo, stands Gili, sporting denim shorts, a black long sleeve, sunglasses, and as usual, a smile. Pummeled by rain and snow, the structure was expected to remain intact for less than a year. Half a decade later, the Star of David stands tall.
Who would have thought Gili would be gone instead?
The two of us take a photo in front of the Star of David during our visit to Tel Yehudah. We try to smile. One of us wears a T-shirt with that favorite slogan of Gili’s: “Why one or the other when you can have both?” We grasp onto its wooden planks as if we are touching our daughter, and in a way we are, because in her 24 years Gili created so much that outlasted her.
And she continues to be the catalyst of so much good: A new research center in Gili’s name at Israel’s Geha Mental Health Center will aim to prevent suicide and save lives. A new trail in the town of Lapid, full of trees and flowers, is being built in her name. At her old high school, a new garden with benches and tables will provide spaces for kids to sit and talk, reflecting Gili’s love of nature and willingness to listen.
A few months ago, Gili’s friends created a sticker of her. They asked to bring our Gili, whom they described not as a ray of light but as the sun itself, to nature sites in Israel, to guest houses in South America and East Asia, to inscribe her on their guitar cases, to carry her to all the places she might have visited.
Like us, Gili’s friends want to share her light with others. We humbly ask, for our daughter, that you search for a sliver of joy wherever you can find it right now and share it with whoever you can.
The Farash Foundation is launching Project Campfire, a new initiative which makes it possible for Rochester-area Jewish children to attend Camp Seneca Lake for free.
The Farash Foundation expects to commit $16 million to Project Campfire over the next nine years.
Through Project Campfire, Jewish children in grades three through nine and residing in Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, Livingston, Orleans, Genesee and Yates Counties will receive a “campership” to fully fund one session of attendance at Camp Seneca Lake.
Campers from outside the Rochester area can continue to apply for subsidies through the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s One Happy Camper program. The foundation will continue to support their Magic of Camp initiative that provides subsidies for Rochester children attending other Jewish overnight camps.
“When I think about Jewish camping, I think about the energy — the ruach – the spirit — that comes alive in a space where kids can proudly embrace their Jewish identity and experience our traditions in a way that is welcoming and joyful,” said Jennie Schaff, CEO of the Farash Foundation. “Through Project Campfire, we are thrilled to provide this opportunity to even more Jewish youth, fulfilling Max and Marian Farash’s lifelong commitment to building a vibrant Jewish community here in Rochester now and into the future.”
This week, we bid farewell to a true prince among us — a mensch in every sense of the word, a ray of sunshine who embodied the spirit of community in every fiber of his being. We lost not just a valued colleague and cherished friend, but the heart and soul of our community — a one-of-a-kind happy camper, Julius “Julie” Eisen z”l.
In organizational life, it has always been about the people — the ones around the table who lead with both vision and compassion. Julie first took his seat at the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s table in 2004, and over the past two decades, he did much more than simply occupy that space. He infused it with his boundless optimism, curiosity, creativity, and an infectious positivity that lifted us all. Julie wasn’t just part of our board; he was the heartbeat of our mission, a constant reminder of why we do what we do.
Just 10 months ago, on October 5, only two days before the world changed for all of us, we shared a special visit with Julie and Susan Eisen in their sukkah. It was an afternoon tea that now feels like an exquisite memory. As we gathered in person and on Zoom, current and former FJC board members reflected on Julie’s profound impact personally and organizationally, and several themes emerged:
• His fresh insights, unwavering encouragement, and positive energy were a constant source of inspiration and motivation.
• He welcomed and mentored each new board member, offering guidance, perspective, and support.
• He set the tone for every gathering, never hesitating to jump into the circle, to dance, to celebrate, and to remind us of the true essence of camping.
• Julie was a steadfast partner for our professional team, bringing wisdom, passion, and an outlook that always saw the light, even in the darkest times.
Julie spoke of his deep belief in the transformative power of camp:
• “No other activity gets as deeply into the soul of a young child as Jewish summer camp. It’s the most enduring, the most enjoyable, and nothing has a more positive, long-term impact.”
• He told us, “Sometimes when I can’t sleep, I think about my time at camp. I find a sense of peace, a joy that things will work out.” His days as a happy camper stayed with him throughout his life, a constant source of comfort and joy.
• Julie believed in the ripple effect of our work at FJC, saying, “You never know how your actions will lead to impact. Because of what camp did for me, I followed my heart… I believed in our mission and I am very proud of how FJC has really made an impact.”
About 12 years ago, Julie joined me on a visit to one of the new specialty camps launched by FJC, Eden Village Camp, an organic, sustainable farming camp in Putnam Valley, N.Y. We were captivated by its organic garden, where small plots represented each of the 12 Hebrew months. During Av, rose bushes flourished, symbolizing both the thorns of sadness, adversity, and destruction observed during the mournful fast day of Tisha b’Av and the comforting rosebud that represents the promise of joy and happiness of the Jewish day of love that follows on Tu b’Av.
Even when faced with heartbreaking loss or difficult challenges, Julie embodied renewal, love, generosity, and menschlichkeit and remains a sterling model for us all. We feel blessed and grateful for all he did for our Jewish world.
In our profound sadness, we overcome the thorns and we cling to Julie’s light — his positive outlook and energetic spirit. His legacy, like a rosebud in full bloom, will forever be part of our camp community. We will carry forward his unwavering belief in the power of camp, the joy it brings, and the lives it transforms.
Julie Eisen was, and will always be, our very happy camper.
Jeremy J. Fingerman has served as CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) since 2010. Jeremy, a former board Vice-Chair of JPRO (the network of Jewish communal professionals), received the 2023 Bernard Reisman Award for Professional Excellence from Brandeis University. He and his wife, Gail, live in Fort Lee, NJ and have a son and a daughter who recently gave birth to their first grandchild in Jerusalem.
From Israeli hostages remaining in captivity to the rising fever of global antisemitism, the heartbreak of Oct. 7 and the days since feels endless. We cannot ignore this pain. But neither can we let ourselves drown under its weight. Now is the time to embrace joy, and the hundreds of Jewish camps in full swing across North America are teaching us how.
Right now, over 180,000 campers and counselors are filling their days with fun and friendship, creating Jewish memories that will last a lifetime. I know this because 50 years ago this summer, in Wisconsin’s remote northern woods, I began to forge my Jewish identity in a camp community infused with Jewish joy.
At Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, I felt embraced at Friday night services on the shores of Lake Buckatabon, where golden sunsets refracted off the water, through the pine trees, and carried our community into Shabbat. I whispered, laughed, confided, and cried in the sacred space of my bunk. In that spartan wooden cabin, I met some of my closest friends, including one who, more than 49 years later, recently celebrated with me at my grandson’s bris.
I recognize that this summer isn’t normal. All of us, and all of our camp communities, continue to struggle with the trauma and grief that began on Oct. 7. Many of the over 25,000 college students serving as counselors have experienced antisemitism on campus. Close to 3,000 Israeli shlichim and displaced Israeli teens are spending time at camp after a long stretch of war.
Yet camp proves that we can pursue joy in tough times without denying that times are tough. As young campers in the mid-70s, my friends and I weren’t immune to the turbulence of Vietnam, the Yom Kippur War and Watergate, just as today’s campers aren’t immune to the world around them. But camp provided me with a reprieve, a function it’s serving for young Jews today even after Oct. 7.
Early reports from this summer reveal that camps are effectively navigating their roles as places to have difficult conversations, communities of in-person connections, and bubbles that offer respite. Little of the tension and rancor of campus has spilled over into our camp communities.
Camps aren’t just showing us the power of joy. They’re teaching us how to pursue it: by disconnecting from technology and the news and connecting to our creativity and one another.
My experience at camp was tech-free because in the 1970s, there wasn’t much tech from which to be free. But even today, camps are dialing down the noise of the outside world. They’re acting as islands of in-person interaction where young people addicted to screens can rediscover their attention, directing it inward toward their feelings or outward toward people and nature.
Like Shabbat, camp reminds us that disconnecting does not mean disengaging from community. It’s the opposite: we disconnect so that we can be more present with loved ones. In this regard, Jewish camps reveal and model the importance of sacred, communal spaces.
Over the past nine months, many Jews and Israelis have been mocked or dismissed for bringing up their pain, no matter their politics on Israel. These young people, like all of us, need opportunities to heal around people they are confident will accept them. Camps have long reported that shared Jewish identity enables campers and staff to explore complex emotions and opinions in a way they can’t anywhere else — and the same has been true this summer so far.
In a time of communal crisis, camps are also reaffirming that sometimes we need to remove our fingers from the pulse of the world’s trauma. Instead, we can listen more closely to our breathing and the birds by the lake. We can cheer and stomp in frenetic song and dance sessions. And we can step into new roles that expand our character, whether it’s growing as a communal leader or discovering a love of theater, both of which I took part in as a camper 50 years ago.
In their emphasis on tech-free spaces, the wonders of nature, in-person community, and fun activities such as sports, ceramics, hiking, sailing, and drama, camps provide a roadmap for pursuing joy, especially in difficult times. This isn’t a joy that papers over our problems. Rather, it replenishes the strength we need to tackle them.
NEW YORK — As summer camps across the country spotlight kindness during this year’s Camp Kindness Day, Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) is spearheading research to help camps transform young people into compassionate leaders. In summer 2024, FJC provided grants of approximately $15,000 to five camps to join the second cohort of its Character at Camp Initiative.
Character at Camp is a three-part initiative combining research, programs, and communication to further understand how Jewish camps develop young people’s character and provide resources that empower camps to expand on their existing success. Run by FJC and funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the initiative began with a landscape survey of 120 camps in FJC’s network to understand which character strengths Jewish camps emphasized most. One trait stood out in particular: Kindness.
“Kindness, or chesed, is a core Jewish value that’s woven into every aspect of the camp experience — from programming to informal interactions in bunks,” said Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO of Foundation for Jewish Camp. “On Camp Kindness Day, FJC is proud of all the work the more than 300 camps in our network do to develop young people’s character, and are excited to build on that success through the second cohort of our Character at Camp Initiative.”
The camps in the second cohort are spread out across Pennsylvania, California, Georgia, and Canada and include BB Camp (Manitoba), Camp Havaya, Camp JCA Shalom, Camp Mountain Chai, and Camp Barney Medintz. Character at Camp funding supports various initiatives at these camps, including camper, family and staff surveys, staff remuneration, and the integration of additional leadership roles for staff to be ambassadors of character development practices.
“We’ve known from multiple sources that Jewish camp offers a transformative experience for young people. But Character at Camp is enabling us to dig deeper and understand how camps nurture young people’s growth,” said Nila Rosen, Director, Learning and Research at Foundation for Jewish Camp. “By studying how camp experiences and camp relationships influence youth development, we are gaining new evidence about the importance of camp and the practices at camp that nurture the growth of compassion and kindness.”
Last summer, at URJ Crane Lake Camp, campers and counselors worked on a Kindness Mural Project, splashing “Spark Kindness” in bright orange letters. At Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, one camper spoke of a culture of mutual support — from assisting each other with Torah readings to cheering on friends at basketball games. A group of “Virtue Ambassadors” at Camp Laurelwood suggested that they “observed moments of kindness every day, in every place at camp.”
At FJC’s 2024 Leaders Assembly, which will take place December 9th to December 11th in Chicago, the Character at Camp Initiative plans to reveal the latest data on character development and to release a short documentary led by filmmaker Hannah Roodman, featuring footage from one of the camps in the initiative’s second cohort. Next year, FJC’s Character at Camp Initiative aims to publish data and findings in a peer-reviewed journal.
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About Foundation for Jewish Camp
FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 180,000 campers and counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is the only public 501(c)(3) charitable organization solely focused on Jewish camp. jewishcamp.org
CHICAGO, IL – The Secure Community Network (SCN) and Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) today announced a new initiative to enhance the safety, security, and resiliency of Jewish camps across North America. This groundbreaking initiative will jointly leverage SCN and FJC’s expertise and networks to deliver a national camp security program that ensures best-practice guidance, trainings, and other resources to ensure a safe and secure environment for campers and staff.
To launch the initiative in preparation for this summer’s camp season, SCN will host regional security workshops for all participating camps starting in early May, working collaboratively with Jewish Federations and other partners in the camp environment. These virtual workshops, led by SCN’s Regional Directors and the national network of Jewish security professionals, will provide camp leadership with essential tools and knowledge needed to continue enhancing their security preparedness.
Building on existing relationships and partnerships with various camp movements, throughout the 2024 camp season and in years to come, SCN, FJC, and the camp movements will ensure updated points of contact, provide guidance materials, conduct staff training, perform walkthroughs and threat, vulnerability, and risk assessments (TVRAs), and offer support to help camps navigate the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP) to secure funding that helps harden their facilities against attack.
To lead this critical Camp Security Initiative, SCN is welcoming Jim Tarasca as its Director. Tarasca brings extensive experience in security management, having most recently served as the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office after serving in various roles over a 25-year career in the FBI, including his role as assistant special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division of the New York Field Office and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
This position is funded in full by a challenge grant offered by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation and an anonymous donor. Both funders care deeply about the future of Jewish camping and understand security is essential to the success of camps, particularly in a post-October 7th threat landscape.
“We greatly appreciate SCN’s increased efforts and investments to support our field, especially in preparation for the upcoming summer,” said FJC CEO Jeremy J. Fingerman. “Connecting Jewish camps to SCN’s Regional Security Directors – in addition to local Federation security programs – offers them access to expertise and resources that will make a meaningful difference for camp security and safety this summer.”
“We are thrilled to collaborate with FJC on this critical initiative as well as other partners – from individual camps to our Federations,” said SCN National Director & CEO Michael Masters.” By working together, we can build upon our successful track record of enhancing safety and security measures in Jewish communities across the country and extend that level of protection to both day and overnight camps to ensure campers can focus on being campers.”
Since 2021, SCN has directly supported dozens of camps and helped Jewish camps secure over $2.1 million in NSGP grants. The Camp Security Initiative represents a significant expansion of these efforts. For more information about the Camp Security Initiative and how to get involved, please contact the Secure Community Network or Foundation for Jewish Camp.
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About Secure Community Network: The Secure Community Network (SCN), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, is the official safety and security organization of the Jewish community in North America. Founded in 2004 under the auspices of The Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, SCN serves as the central organization dedicated exclusively to the safety and security of the American Jewish community, working across 146 federations, 50 partner organizations, over 300 independent communities, and other partners in the public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors. SCN is dedicated to ensuring that Jewish organizations, communities, life, and culture can not only exist safely and securely, but flourish. Learn more at securecommunitynetwork.org.
About Foundation for Jewish Camp: Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) fosters excellence and accelerates innovation at 300+ Jewish day and overnight camps across North America by developing adaptive talent, deepening immersive learning experiences, and driving field growth. FJC supports camps in their effort to provide a lifelong connection to Judaism and elevates Jewish camp on the cultural and philanthropic agenda. Learn more at jewishcamp.org.
Camp professionals from across North America engage with a Post-10/7 reality
[Israel] — At the end of February for two weeks, nearly 50 Jewish camp professionals, along with Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) staff members, embarked on an educational trip to Israel organized by FJC, in partnership with The Jewish Education Project.
Camp leadership came to bear witness to the impact of the events of October 7th and their aftermath, including meeting with Israelis directly impacted by the attacks, alongside shlichim (emissaries) and members of the Jewish camp community in Israel.
“We want camps to see the landscape in Israel and that region and the significant impact since 10/7. By sending camp directors during this time of great conflict, FJC aims to foster understanding, promote education, and build connections between communities,” Jamie Simon, FJC’s Chief Program Officer, explains. “We hope to provide a first-hand perspective allowing camp directors to create programs, enhance dialogue, and uncover learning opportunities for their summer camps and the thousands of children they will serve.”
One of the primary goals of the trip is to provide camp professionals with the necessary skills and confidence to navigate conversations about Israel today. By connecting with those living in Israel, camp professionals will be better prepared to inspire and engage their camp communities with authenticity and empathy.
The connection of Jewish camps to the events in Israel cannot be understated. Camps host thousands of Israeli shlichim and campers each summer. Multiplied over decades, the connections run very deep. Indeed, the trip aims to highlight the role of Jewish camps in the broader context of global Jewry. Through meaningful interactions and observational learning, camp professionals will gain a deeper appreciation for their camps’ potential to foster connections and cultivate a sense of belonging while explaining the ways of the global Jewish community.
“Foundation for Jewish is committed to supporting the camps beyond this experience,” Simon said. “Through education, partnerships and grant making, we are working with camps so they have the resources they need to be successful this summer.”
The Jewish Educators Trips to Israel is seeded through a generous grant from The Jim Joseph Foundation and is powered by The Jewish Education Project and The iCenter in collaboration with The Jewish Agency. FJC was able to secure support from the UJA, and an anonymous donor to make sure all camp professionals would be able to take this important excursion.
About the Foundation for Jewish Camp
FJC advocates for over 300 day and overnight camps that provide nearly 180,000 campers and counselors each summer with a meaningful, personal, and lifelong connection to Judaism. FJC is the only public 501(c)(3) charitable organization solely focused on Jewish camp. https://jewishcamp.org/
About the Jewish Educators Project trip For over 100 years, The Jewish Education Project has been supporting educators to build strong Jewish communities. Originally The Board of Jewish Education, The Jewish Education Project provides professional development and other resources to educators in early childhood centers, congregations, day schools and yeshivot, youth programs, and emerging spaces. https://www.jewishedproject.org/
It sounds like an obvious idea, elegant in its simplicity, but like most elegant, simple ideas, it took a very long time for anyone to realize it.
In the beginning, a century or so ago, Jewish camping had been something that generations of Jewish parents had used to provide their children, most of whom were growing up in cities, with an escape to the country, to become Americanized, to have a chance to breathe, and to give their beleaguered parents a chance to breathe too. It was more or less a fresh air camp for Jews; the point was not to stress their Jewishness but to teach them how to escape it, or at least to cordon it off.
Over time, that changed.
A history of Jewish camps in North America can trace the way those camps adapted to the Depression, the post-World War II world, and the vast societal changes that followed, faster and faster and terrifyingly faster. But there’s one part of that change we’d like to focus on now. It’s the change that we can trace to the efforts of one couple, Elisa Spungen Bildner and Robert Bildner of Montclair.
The Bildners were honored last month not by a Jewish organization — certainly the couple has been showered with recognition by Jewish groups— but by a more general camp-world body, the American Camp Association. They were given the Hedley S. Dimock award for “their extraordinary leadership, generous philanthropy, and significant impact on the field.”
“We’re happy to have received the award, but what is remarkable to us is that a non-Jewish organization took an interest in Jewish camp and seemed to understand the power of camp as a way to transmit values — in this case, Jewish values,” Ms. Bildner said.
“We understand that faith-based camping has not been growing — but Jewish camping in contrast, has been,” Mr. Bildner said. “A wonderful aspect of this award is that it is a recognition that we are doing something important.
Campers and staffers gather for services at Camp Harlam in Kunkeltown, Pennsylvania. (All photos courtesy of the Foundation for Jewish Camp)
(A note: The camping world classifies Jewish camping as belonging to the faith-based part of the movement, although faith is just one of the criteria involved in Jewish camping, and its importance in relation to culture and other kinds of Jewish identity varies from camp to camp.)
“There are so many kinds of camps in this country — Boy Scout camps, all sorts of secular camps — that emphasize so many different kinds of skills, sports, and interests, and Jewish camp is a subset of that,” he continued. “A camp that promotes a cultural and religious identity as we do is singular. It is different.
“When campers are playing baseball or tennis or in arts and crafts, it is all infused with Jewish values and ethics.”
On the other hand, he said, “Jewish camp also is camp, and we strive to improve the camps as camps per se.”
Both Bildners are gratified by the award because “it’s recognized the leadership of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, which over the last 25 years has brought together families, professionals, funders, and the Jewish community in general to recognize how important camp is to our Jewish future,” Mr. Bildner said.
“Jewish camp is one of the institutions that obviously is working,” he added. “And it’s had an extraordinary result, bringing together hundreds of thousands of campers and families, and raised many millions of dollars for professional training and for the camps themselves.”
So that’s where Jewish camping is now. How did it get there? And what do the Bildners have to do with it?
Elisa and Rob Bildner grew up in different parts of the Jewish world. “I’m a product of Ramah Wisconsin,” Ms. Bildner said. “From that camp, I have an appreciation for camp, a real fondness for it.” Mr. Bildner, who is from West Orange, is the son of Joan and Allen Bildner, the CEO of Kings Supermarkets; his parents also founded Rutgers University’s Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life and were major and active philanthropists whose generosity funded many local programs and institutions. He went to a camp that “was filled with Jewish campers and counselors, but it was not Jewish.”
They both loved camp. She was able to get an appreciation of Jewish life from the experience; he was not, but he had a lot of fun there and appreciated its seductive charms. Both felt camp’s immersive atmosphere, where friendships matter immensely, and the outside world doesn’t particularly loom.
Robert and Elisa Spungen Bildner speak at the 25th anniversary of the Foundation for Jewish Camp.
When they married and had children, the Bildners sent them to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.
In 1990 or so, both Bildners were Wexner Fellows, selected to be part of a group of Jewish lay leaders, people with clear leadership potential, who were trained and challenged as leaders. “We came away from that program imbued with the idea that we were all charged with doing something specific to improve Jewish life,” Ms. Bildner said.
“Rabbi Herb Friedman, of blessed memory, who set forth that charge, talked about how often institutions are created in the Jewish community, but they don’t necessarily excel. Our challenge was to look at the institutions and decide who we want to work with to help.
“We’d both had very good experiences at camp, so when we drove away from that conference, we looked at each other and talked about how camp is a tremendous way to inculcate a love for Jewish life,” she said. “We were disappointed with the quality of some of the aspects of Jewish camps.”
“Jewish camping hadn’t been in the spotlight for a long time,” Ms. Bildner continued. “There are many portals into Jewish life, but we felt that not that many people recognized how important camp could be. That’s not to say that there wasn’t great work going on in camps, but there wasn’t a lot of funding for them, and there wasn’t a lot of interaction between them, except within the denominations.” If one camp came up with a good idea, that idea was not shared.
They talked to their friend Skip Vichness, who later became the chair of the Foundation for Jewish Camp. Like the Bildners, he lived in Essex County and was very active in local and national Jewish life and philanthropy. “He was the well-known owner of private secular camps,” Ms. Bildner said. “When he became chair, he said that when Jewish families decide to send their kids to Jewish camps rather than to his camps, he’d know that the foundation had achieved what it wanted — for the camps to excel.”
“We found that many of the camps were not excelling,” Mr. Bildner said. He was surprised by the lack of communication between them. “When we convened the field, we assumed that everyone would know each other,” he said. “But they didn’t.”
Jewish camp “wasn’t seen as an entrée into Jewish life, so little philanthropic money was going into them, except from selective donors,” Ms. Bildner said.
Campers intent on capturing the flag thunder across Camp Ramah.
“Early on, we had several potential donors come to some of the Ramah camps,” she continued. “They were interested in camp as a route to Jewish education. They came into the camp, saw some people doing Israeli dancing, heard a discussion of some political issues involving Israel, saw some signs in Hebrew. It was lunch time. We said, ‘Let’s have lunch in the chadar ochel.’” The dining room. “They said, ‘No. We’re leaving. We don’t see any education here. We just see Jewish kids having fun in the woods. This is not education.’”
So they had to confront the idea that fun and learning are mutually exclusive.
“Our mission was to motivate people to see Jewish camp as a transformative experience,” Mr. Bildner said. “To get federations and philanthropists to establish the foundation and professional teams.”
In 1998, they established the foundation, after figuring out ways to appeal to donors and make clear that fun and transformational experiences can happen at the same time, in the same place, because often they’re the same thing.
“We’d like to shout out to Edgar Bronfman, because he was one of the first founders to say that he was in,” Mr. Bildner said. “In terms of getting attention in the Jewish community, it is important to attract some of the key large donors. And we also want to shout out to the Jewish Funders Network — I’m a past chair, but also because of who we met through that group. And although it took a lot of work at first to convince the Avi Chai Foundation, they embraced Jewish camp and commissioned academic studies to document the impact.”
After many meetings with many donors, visionary and otherwise, the foundation was established, and Jewish camping began to take off.
The foundation now supports more than 300 camps across North America. From the beginning, it “encompassed camps at all ends of the Jewish world,” Ms. Bildner said. “When we first started, we gave relatively small grants. We looked at each camp and saw what it needed.
“We are an enormous tent. We range from the very far left to the very far right, from Chabad to the Workers Circle, with camps from every denomination. When you go to one of our leadership meetings, you see the most Orthodox to the most secular.
“Many years ago, we were at a secular Jewish camp. It was entirely nonreligious. We saw that the bunks were named for Jewish heroes. They lit candles on Friday night — but they didn’t call them Shabbat candles. Their activities were not at all religious, but they were very cognizant of Jewish history and culture, as was reflected in the bunk names.
The sheep isn’t quite sure about the campers at Camp Ramah in Northern California.
“As we were leaving the camp, a woman came running after us with a huge black portfolio, and she gave it to us. She said, ‘I’m sure you won’t give us money, but this is my master’s thesis about the power of Jewish camp. I will tell you that given my family, there is no way that I would have considered myself Jewish but for Jewish camp.
“The camp got the grant.”
The Bildners are particularly proud of the FJC’s One Happy Camper program, which gives a scholarship to a child going to Jewish camp for the first time. There are no means tests for that scholarship.
Paying for camp always can be a challenge for families who want to send their children but can’t afford it; the foundation works on creative ways to help. “We take on the challenge to find the funds for every Jewish family who otherwise could not afford camp,” Mr. Bildner said.
The foundation also has established a leadership program for camp directors, assistant directors, and counselors. Its range of programs, listed on its website, jewishcamp.org, is astoundingly wide-ranging.
“We have to make the field aware that we have to support the umbrella movement” — the Foundation for Jewish Camp — “as well as local camps,” Ms. Bildner said. “They are not in conflict with each other.
Even before the pandemic, children and teenagers were dealing with increased levels of mental health challenges, most likely caused at least in part by the new pressures posed by social media. Camps were affected by those challenges. They were severely affected by the pandemic, which forced kids inside, spending time alone staring at their images on their screens and considering how they couldn’t live up to their assumptions about how much better everyone else was than they were.
Camps also were affected financially by the pandemic; even nonprofits need income, and no campers means no money coming in. “The foundation has raised money to provide mental health professionals and find therapists,” Mr. Bildner said. “But for the Foundation for Jewish Camp, there would not be any Jewish camps after the pandemic,” Ms. Bildner said. “Without help, many camps would have folded.”
Kids have fun in the lake at Perlman Camp in Lake Como, Pennsylvania.
“When we started the foundation, there was no central address, no leadership, no spokesperson for the camps,” Mr. Bildner summed up. “That is what the foundation has become.
“During the pandemic, we focused on the foundation to keep Jewish camping alive. Now we have to look at the issues, from security to education to the challenging conversations about Israel that every institution in the Jewish world is having.”
“Jewish camp is a moving target, just as Jewish life in general is now,” Ms. Bildner said. “Of course Israel is on the list, along with mental health. And we know that the secular world offers a lot of things that Jewish kids want to do over the summer, so we have to do extraordinary things to attract them.
“That’s specialty camps,” Mr. Bildner said. “In 25 years the foundation has done some amazing programs.”
Camps have to be marketed, the couple said. “How do we compete with the market?” Ms. Bildner asked. “We can’t be off in our corner. We have to be cognizant of what the market offers, and be equal if not better than it.”
It helps that they come from the business world, and that Ms. Bildner is a lawyer. “We are very conscious of how we engage with customers to get them to change their behavior,” Mr. Bildner said. “We have always looked at camp through that lens. It is a market. We have to identify what young people are looking for.
“Jeremy” — that’s Jeremy Fingerman, the foundation’s CEO — “was the CEO of Campbell Soup,” he continued. “When we look at potential board members, we look at it as we’d look at a board in a for-profit company. What can someone bring that would move the needle?”
Jeremy Fingerman, the foundation’s CEO, lives in Fort Lee. He went to the foundation after a successful career as a business leader, culminating in his leadership of Campbell Soup and then of Manischewitz. He’s also a former Jewish camper, the father of Jewish campers, and deeply involved in Jewish life. His job at the FJC is the logical endpoint for his training, knowledge, convictions, and passions.
Campers respond to a counselor at Camp Tawonga, right outside Yosemite National Park in California.
He is deeply impressed by the Bildners’ work for Jewish camp. “The JFC basically became their fifth child, which they nurtured and nourished,” he said. “In the early days, they carried FJC, and then they got Edgar Bronfman and the Avi Chai, and then the momentum started.
“Most founders completely step away from the organizations that they start,” he continued. “Elisa and Rob have continued their generous philanthropic investment for 25 years now. That doesn’t happen often. And they continued to make connections and to advocate for the field.
“The Bildners stayed with the foundation not as chairs, but because it is their child. I remember that when we celebrated FJC’s 18th anniversary, I said, ‘Your child is getting to be an adult,’ and we laughed. In the early days, their child needed more attention from them. As it went into its teens, it became more self-sufficient, and now at 25 it is self-sufficient, but it still has a connection to its parents. And the parents are proud of it.
“Their presence enriches the work of the foundation. It gives it history. The Bildners got recognition for the field, and the people who have worked in the field for many years know that there was no field before they unified and galvanized it.”
It also professionalized the field.
All those reasons “are why the American Camp Association chose to recognize them,” Mr. Fingerman said. They also recognize that 300 nonprofit Jewish camps working together have helped the broader field of camping to grow.
“The association told me recently that other faith-based camp movements have started to falter. They don’t have the kind of unity and organizational power that Jewish camps have, and that can help a field overcome covid.
“Camp on its own is an incredibly powerful experience in developing an individual,” he said. “It helps them learn independence, problem-solving, and teamwork. There’s nothing to top it. And that’s just the benefits of any camp. Add to it the benefits of a joyous Jewish community….
Dancers perform at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires in Wingdale, New York.
“That’s what the Bildners recognized back then — that Jewish camp has a power that other parts of the Jewish community didn’t necessarily recognize.”
Mr. Fingerman tells two stories, but it’s really one story, about connections.
“In early 2010, before I joined, a recruiter called me. Because the Bildner family owned Kings, and I was at Campbell Soups and then Manischewitz — I made the first certified kosher soup at Campbell, vegetarian vegetable soup — they had connections, and they called around.” They were in overlapping businesses.
And then of course there were the Jewish world connections. “They introduced me to Lisa Eisen, who is now the co-president of the Charles and Lynne Schusterman Foundation. They didn’t realize that we were in USY together. She was from Louisville and I was from Cincinnati; we were both in USY’s central region, CRUSY. And Eric Fingerhut, who was regional president of CRUSY before me, was president of Hillel and now of the Jewish Federations of North America,” and so they have overlapping interests and work together. (Mr. Fingerman also was international president of USY, a highly prestigious position for high-school seniors.) “It’s one of the wonderful things about working on a national scale. You run into people and reconnect with them.
“In camp, you build up a lifetime of friendships.” One of his closest friends came from Ramah Wisconsin. “Oh my God, it’s 50 years ago,” Mr. Fingerman said. “Rabbi Lee Buckman. He lives in Israel, and he’s still a very close friend.”
There’s a lesson in those names. “You make connections at camp, and those connections are sticky. They’re glue.” They’re with you for life.
“Kids need that more than ever,” he continued. “Before October 7, I said that we need it because kids have to get off screens.
“Now, the summer enrollment and staffing trends are very strong. It’s going very well. We think that it’s because camp is seen as a safe space, especially for college students,” who staff the camp and whose education is as important to camp leaders as the younger kids’ is. “College kids can leave the tension and drama on campus and come to a safe space. Yes, there will be discussions about the situation, but they are going to their second home in order to reconnect and recharge.
Campers enjoy the lake at Camp Ramah in the Poconos in Lakewood, Pennsylvania.
“Enrollment in Jewish camp has reached within a percentage point of prepandemic levels,” Mr. Fingerman said. “We think that this summer will be even stronger.”
One result of October 7 is likely to be a reduction in the number of shlichim, the Israeli counselors who make up a significant part of many Jewish camps’ staffs.
“We are working on contingency plans if some of them are still in the army,” he said. “How do we help camps overcome that?
“I think we usually get more than 1,500 shlichim from the Jewish Agency alone, and they connect the camp community to Israel.” He has more connection stories — when he was in Israel in December, his group went to help staff a barbecue for IDF soldiers near the Gaza border. “I met an officer, a reservist in the tank corps, who had been a shaliach in Camp Kinder Ring for eight years. He said he has four kids now, and he’s taken them to camp.
“And last Sunday, I was at a big dinner honoring the CEO of the federation there, Jacob Solomon, and I was sitting next to a woman who worked for the Jewish Agency. I told her that story — and it turned out that she knew him, because she had gone to that camp.” Everyone is connected, and everyone is connected to Israel, all through camp.
Toward the end of February, the FJC sent a group of nearly 50 professionals to Israel, in partnership with the Jewish Education Project. It’s also convening a summit on mental health issues at the Marlene Meyerson JCC in Manhattan this week. “Mental health issues have only become more pronounced because many camp communities have lost shlichim” in Gaza, Mr. Fingerman said. “Some were taken hostage; some have been released, some have been killed. The trauma has hit everyone.
“We have provided grants to 102 camps. That’s about a third of our network. We have given grants for at least three years of funding for an incremental health professional. That means that if you are a camp that has three mental health professionals, our grant allows you to have a fourth.”
All in all, looking at all the challenges that these last few terrible years have thrown at all of us, at the challenges inherent to growing up in this, our world, and to the extra challenges newly posed by growing up Jewish, we see that camp provides a refuge. A place where kids can grow, learn, laugh, and have actual, for-real fun.
Or, as Mr. Fingerman puts it, “Jewish camp works. It’s the connector. It’s the glue. It develops a strong Jewish identity. It develops leaders. It gives campers the independence, the skills, and the competency that are generic to all camps, and then you get the Jewish part on top.” It’s the icing on a particularly wonderful cake.
