AUTHOR: Sarah Eisinger
As Jewish camps across North America wrap up their final weeks of family sessions, alumni weekends, and other gatherings, we are coming to the end of an incredible summer. Our days are getting shorter and Shabbat is coming a little sooner.
Like us, you wake up every day of the summer hoping that it unfolds happily and without incident; we share the collective relief that, overall, it was a wonderful summer! For our part at JCamp 180, our social media feeds overflowed with so much unfettered camp ruach. Imagine the privilege of scrolling your phone and seeing camp after camp filled with Jewish joy.
Our team visited nearly 80 overnight and day camps across North America this summer. We made a special effort to visit camps we hadn't been to in a while and took seaplanes, ferries, mountain roads, and everything in between to travel to our incredible day and overnight camps, near and far.
Harold Grinspoon Foundation (HGF) President Winnie Sandler Grinspoon joined me and JCamp 180 team members on a trip through the Catskills and Poconos, visiting seven camps in three days (Hello, camp food!). We loved our time with so many committed lay leaders, seeing the incredible diversity of the camps that the HGF invests in, and sharing experiences with their communities. One day, we Israeli danced with 100 campers and then later enjoyed a meal with more than 1,000 kids. Each camp plays a significant role in our ecosystem of choice, offerings, and observance. We are thankful to all the professional staff, lay leaders, and entire camp communities who welcomed us so generously on these visits. You opened your hearts and shared your precious summer time with us, and we appreciated the opportunity to enjoy just a bit of camp with you.
A few reflections emerged from our visits:
Climate change is pervasive. This summer felt like a turning point in climate change for our camps. Extremely dry conditions in Colorado brought the urgent threat of wildfire. In the Midwest and Northeast, extreme heat and wildfire smoke forced campers out of their bunks and into HVAC-controlled spaces overnight. Other programs cancelled activities altogether due to unsafe air quality. Elsewhere, camps managed algae blooms driven by rising temperatures, pivoted after windstorms destroyed facilities that couldn’t be repaired until the offseason, and worked through lightning protocols as extreme weather reshaped daily routines. One camp even went three-and-a-half days without power after an intense storm brought down trees and live wires.
What can be done about this? Unfortunately, there isn’t a single answer, but we know that camps need to actively adapt to changing conditions. In addition to rain-day activities, camps are now also developing “smoke-day” programming. And we now believe that air conditioning in sleeping and/or other indoor spaces is no longer optional; it is imperative for the health and safety of our camp populations. More climate adaptation is necessary to address a wide range of needs: water management, renewable solar energy, sustainable building and landscaping, waste management, and composting food waste. Climate touches all aspects of camp operations, and we are eager to see camps respond to it head-on. Over the coming year, we hope to share innovations and adaptations from the field.
There are lots of new dining halls across the field. If you’re considering building a new one, learn from incredible examples at Camps Chi, Tel Yehuda, Airy, and more that are transforming capacity and operations and note the things they can’t live without and mistakes they wish they’d avoided.
We saw innovation in facilities everywhere. Some innovations were “tiny”; we lost count of the number of tiny houses that had popped up to meet the surging demand for adult housing. The small structures can be built quickly and are cost-effective and high-quality. What a winning solution! We also saw innovative wastewater management systems and mini-splits in bunks to help cool spaces, lots of new sport courts and pavilions, and special spaces named for important donors. Keep on creating these magical new spaces and keep sharing them with us!
We spotted these tiny houses at Camp Chi
And of course, in spite of a challenging world, we saw camps full of children and young people thriving and fully living their Judaism. Your work matters, and taken together as a field, it’s a stunning example of commitment and kavod.
Where We Go from Here
As summer winds down, the work continues — for camps and for us. Planning, enrollment, and fundraising season pick up right away in the fall. And this November, we are looking forward to gathering again with leaders from camps across North America at our conference. For the first time ever, the event will be hosted at a camp, which will serve as a showcase and laboratory for learning. We look forward to seeing you at our conference and across the field at the Jewish Day Camp Gathering, at your board meetings and retreats, and later this winter at Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Leaders Assembly.
Harold Grinspoon and Diane Troderman join Rabbi Ed Gelb and campers at Camp Ramah New England
Harold turned 97 this summer and was able to share in the joy at two camp visits. He joined Shabbat services at URJ Crane Lake and he visited Ramah New England in Palmer, Massachusetts, where the idea for JCamp 180 first took hold more than 20 years ago. He is buoyed by visit camps and loved seeing them in action. Harold is beyond proud of the progress at these two camps and across the wider field. On behalf of Harold, Winnie and the entire HGF, we wish our camp colleagues and all of their supporters a restful and deserved end of summer and start of the holiday season.
L’hitriot,
Sarah and the JCamp 180 team
