By: Rabbi Rick Jacobs
When I was about 10 years old, my mother signed me up for Jewish summer camp without my knowledge. I was not — as they say — a happy camper. I said, “I'm not going. I don’t want to do Hebrew school in the summer with a few minutes to make lanyards and an occasional swim in the lake.”
“You are going,” she said, undeterred.
And thank God for my mother’s insistence because without camp I may never have become a rabbi. And I know I am not alone. So many of today’s Jewish leaders, and so many more future leaders, first discovered the depth, joy, and purpose of Jewish life at camp.
A robust, vibrant Jewish community does many things to support the Jewish future. Day schools, immersive Israel trips, supplementary Jewish education, JCCs, PJ Library programs, Hillel centers, youth groups, Jewish day camp, Tot Shabbats — all these and more are vital parts of the Jewish communal experience. The Jewish future needs an ecosystem with many doorways, many pathways, and many kinds of Jewish communities that meets people where they are and help them grow.
But within that ecosystem, Jewish camp holds a unique and powerful place. Research and lived experience repeatedly reaffirm what generations of campers already know: Jewish camp is an undeniable cornerstone of lifelong Jewish identity, belonging, leadership, and joy.
Without minimizing the value and impact of other programs, it is essential for the Jewish world and especially the philanthropic community to understand that what Jewish camps across North America build isn’t just “a nice thing” in the summer. It's the engine that powers Jewish communal engagement in the non-summer months and one of the great sources of vitality, leadership, and connection for the Jewish people.
While creating the spiritual, program-rich, immersive Jewish experience is what camp leaders and professionals are experts in, the work ahead asks something larger of all of us: to invest not only in keeping camps open but in helping the whole field innovate, evolve, and lead. We need sustainable operations, future-ready facilities, deep benches of talent, and the courage to imagine what Jewish camp can become next.
The Challenges — and the Opportunity — are Real
The world around our camps is going through monumental traumas. Antisemitism is prevalent, and it's making not only us but those we engage and serve feel less safe in the world. Similarly, October 7, the war that followed, and the persistent violence and instability across the region is not only deep and enduring but has exacerbated the polarization that's ripping apart communities in our country.
While camps can serve as a balm and bulwark to the fraught world around us, this moment also asks Jewish camp to become more adaptive, more resilient, and more imaginative than ever before. That requires resources and a shared communal commitment to innovation. When fuel and food prices go up, camps feel it. When security is an added priority, camps prioritize it at any cost. When additional mental-health professionals are needed for our campers and counselors alike, camps add them to their roster. And when climate change necessitates anticipatory infrastructure or emergency repairs, it forces difficult cuts in already tight budgets.
Despite all these challenges, it is essential to prioritize building financially sustainable, responsible, and efficiently led camps that give us a place to experience — in real time — the vitality, the vibrancy, and the core of what Jewish life can be in our best moments. This is not simply about plugging budget holes but building capacity and strengthening one of the most effective platforms we have for Jewish identity, leadership, wellness, Israel engagement, and communal renewal.
The philanthropic community has already helped make Jewish camp possible for generations, and for that we should be profoundly grateful. Organizations like Foundation for Jewish Camp and JCamp 180, a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, beautifully lead the charge. But this moment calls for a paradigm shift. Transformational impact requires transformational giving. If we believe camp changes lives, then we must invest in it at the scale of that belief.
A Bridge into a Broader Jewish Future
Jewish camps across the ecosystem are home to North Americans and Israelis. Progressives and conservatives. Those who are Jewishly knowledgeable and those who are brand-new to all of it. Yet somehow camp communities create an unbelievably diverse and inclusive community.
That is why I want to be explicit: This is not a call to support only URJ camps, though I am profoundly proud of them. It is a call to strengthen all Jewish camps across all denominations because the whole ecosystem matters and every part of this field helps build the Jewish future.
Think, for example, of Israel. So often we put our stock in news headlines and rabbinic sermons, but what happens at camp is relational Zionism. It's about people from Israel creating strong bonds with people from North America, both campers and staff. It is not Israel as abstraction, slogan, or headline; it is Israel through friendship, music, Hebrew, shared meals, honest conversation, and real human connection.
In the Reform movement and in many camps across the Jewish world, we currently have more and more campers coming from homes that haven’t yet experienced the richness of synagogue life or early-childhood centers. They are coming to us as the first stop on their Jewish journey.
Rather than a cause for concern, this blank slate presents an opportunity. When we embrace all those first-timers, we provide them with an experience so meaningful that it becomes just the first step on their Jewish journeys, enticing them to dig deeper into their Jewish identities.
The Road Ahead: Building What Comes Next
To all of those who sent your children (or yourselves) to camp this past summer for the first, third, twelfth, twenty-fifth time: You are remarkable. You are leaning into a vision of a thriving Jewish future. We have generations still to inspire, and we’ve got years to build toward.
To those of you who are alums of camp or who have sent your children to camp or maybe never had the opportunity: You can help create this thriving future too. Camps need our financial support, now more than ever, and they also need our imagination, partnership, and ambition. Scholarships matter. Facilities matter. Security matters. Mental-health support matters. Talent pipelines matter. Endowments matter. Innovation matters. All of it is part of ensuring that this beautiful, experiential, connective space will not only exist but flourish for decades to come.
Support Jewish camps. Invest in the whole ecosystem. Change lives, and shape a more vibrant, resilient, inclusive, joyful, and connected Jewish future.
Rabbi Rick Jacobs is the president of the Union for Reform Judaism. This essay is adapted from remarks Rabbi Jacobs gave at JCamp 180’s annual conference in October 2025. JCamp 180 is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation that strengthens the long-term organizational effectiveness and financial sustainability of nonprofit Jewish camps.
