Summer camp is an informal but powerful part of girls’ education in contemporary Orthodox society. It is generally accepted that camps are so effective in transmitting educational values and knowledge because of their emphasis on experiential learning. In addition, sleepaway camp settings often offer ideological choices that may not be available in terms of Jewish educational settings locally. Most important, they can be very empowering both for female campers and staff because of the leadership opportunities that they provide— opportunities that are not present in other parts of the Jewish community.
I spent sixteen summers attending a Jewish summer camp, initially as a camper and eventually serving as head of the camp. From childhood through emerging adolescence and adulthood, camp was a time that I looked forward to throughout the year. Although my modern Orthodox Jewish family remained consistent in terms of Jewish observance and values, my formal education brought me to schools that spanned the religious spectrum—from a school where I was considered a fanatic for observing the laws of Shabbat and kashrut to a school where I was told by my classmates that I was not tzenuah because I had arrived to my first day as a third grader in sandals without socks.
My parents sent me to a modern Orthodox camp in the hopes that I would turn out in their image of a modern Orthodox Jew. The particular summer camp I attended not only provided me with a Jewish educational experience that was consistent with my family’s values, but also allowed me a familiar religious setting for eight years, from the second half of elementary school through high school. Through these years—and afterward, when I became a staffer—camp has been a place where I felt I could grow and improve myself religiously, spiritually, physically, and intellectually.
Camp as a Learning Experience
As a camper, camp was a place of refuge where I found religiously similar friends. I learned about Jewish history and Jewish texts while having fun with my friends. After returning home, I brought that excitement to my formal education. Sitting in a classroom, I felt engaged learning about the walls falling down at Jericho, for example, because I could recall blowing a kazoo at camp to make the cardboard walls of Jericho actually fall down.
Camp as a Leadership Experience
As I got older, I developed my leadership skills as I became head of a fire pit on a campout and color war captain, positions that I had dreamed about as a young camper. The camp that allowed me these experiences, Camp Stone, recently celebrated its fortieth anniversary. As a part of the anniversary, I was asked to write an article about what I had gained in my role as head of camp. Instead, I chose to write about my first summer on staff at camp as a member of the sports staff.
At that time, I was seventeen and eager to have a summer of fun. I had figured that I would be able to relive some of my experiences as a camper without the rules. Little did I know that even though this summer would indeed be a lot of fun, it would also serve as a major growth experience. It was the first time that I had to evaluate the minute details of my life on a daily basis. I had to consider what campers would see in the way I dressed, talked, and walked—I had to try to see myself as others would see me. This led to a process of self evaluation whose importance I cannot overemphasize.
That summer, I also realized how important it is to use every moment of one’s time in a productive manner. The entire staff and camp were interdependent; the members of the staff picked up the garbage, built bunk beds, learned Jewish texts together, and were involved in creating an ideal environment for the campers. In this process I was able to bond with the other staff members in a lasting way as friends, colleagues, and fellow lay leaders.
Camp as a Feminist Experience
I did not realize how extraordinary my camp experiences were until I contrasted them with my life outside camp, where I attended a single-sex school and college. Although I held leadership positions beginning in elementary school and continuing through high school and college, I underwent an “awakening” during my senior year of college, when, as student council president, I was told by my male counterpart that I was not welcome in the related college’s beit midrash. Soon after graduation, I was dismayed to discover that my male colleagues, who had the same amount of experience and credentials as I did, were being paid at least $20,000 more than I would be earning in a day school setting. The synagogue that I attended would not allow women to make announcements and, on Simhat Torah, would allow women to dance with a Torah only in the basement, while the men danced freely upstairs. I came to realize that camp was the only place where I did not feel the glass ceiling that was sadly ever-present in my Orthodox schools, jobs, and synagogues.
Camp as an Empowering Experience
I have spent a great deal of time researching the establishment and development of girls’ camps in the United States. (See “For Further Reading” following this article.) Although camp accounts for only a small fraction of time in the calendar year, the personal and social growth that can occur during this short time period may have long-lasting results.
Orthodox girls and young women who are not being properly engaged as leaders in their home Jewish communities may find that their camps are the only Jewish setting in which they can be more fully empowered. Camp can be a unique environment where halakha is observed, but where the informality and stage of life of its leaders may allow for certain leadership opportunities, including employing women as heads of divisions and the camp as a whole.1
Moreover, a benefit of the isolation of a camp setting is that it is not necessarily subject to all the elements of the greater society and, as such, a camp may specifically reject aspects of the larger society, including sexist, racist, or materialistic notions that may be pervasive outside the camp setting in magazines, on television and in shopping centers. Camps are faced with a choice: they can reaffirm stereotypes by limiting campers and staff members to their stereotypical gender roles, or they can demonstrate, through expanding gender roles, that the stereotypes are flawed and should be rejected.
To serve as good role models to the campers, camp staff members are often encouraged to take a step back and reflect on who they are and how they are perceived. Staff members, ranging in age from eighteen to twentyfive years old, are at the stage in life when they can use their work experiences as a way to develop their identities and value systems. As such, a heightened sense of self-awareness may bring counselors to embody those behaviors or values that they have reflected on and attempted to demonstrate to their campers.
An example of this evaluative process is in the area of body image. The Jewish Women’s Foundation of New York has partnered with The Foundation for Jewish Camp to publish Beyond Miriam, a manual for camp directors that addresses girls’ issues, including body image, eating disorders and cutting. In the manual, there are suggestions from psychologists that staff overcome their own body image and self-confidence issues in order to provide positive role-models to their female campers. Ways of doing this include having staff “make a list of women you admire…stop weighing yourself…concentrate on things you do well…value your dollars…voice your opinion… be a role model.. [and] break the barriers.” In advising staff to “value their dollars,” the manual suggests, “Look at your budget and be sure the money you spend reflects the person you are, not the person society wants you to be.” These words of advice encourage contemplation, individuality, and “breaking the barriers.” In embarking on this journey of self-evaluation and determining whether their thoughts and values align with their actions, camp staff not only improve themselves as role models, but are able to develop themselves as confident, self-assured leaders.
For many reasons, camp has served as a place that gives a voice to Orthodox women and girls. This past summer, I spent time researching the female staff experience in the Jewish summer camp setting with an emphasis on egalitarianism and empowerment. Although my research is not yet complete, one of my initial observations was how empowering the Orthodox summer camp has been for its female staff, most of whom had attended the camp as campers. These women were expected to attend daily minyan, including ma’ariv; study in high-level shi’urim, deliver divrei Torah and shi’urim, and serve in many other capacities equally alongside their male counterparts. Women were equally represented in camp leadership and staffing at large.
Although my interviews highlighted the sense of responsibility and empowerment felt by staff members, I wonder how the experiences, skills, and values gained from the camp setting will translate into their home communities. Even though I am confident that camp is a setting in which feminist and/or egalitarian values are allowed to flourish, I question how we can ensure that these camp values are transferred into our schools, synagogues, and home communities.