sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page i “How Goodly Are Thy Tents” sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page ii sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page iii “How Goodly Are Thy Tents” SUMMER CAMPS AS JEWISH SOCIALIZING EXPERIENCES Amy L. Sales and Leonard Saxe Brandeis University Press in association with The AVI CHAI Foundation Published by University Press of New England Hanover and London sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page iv Brandeis University Press in association with The AVI CHAI Foundation Published by University Press of New England, Lafayette St., Lebanon, NH © by Brandeis University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Sales, Amy L. “How goodly are thy tents”: summer camps as Jewish socializing experiences / Amy L. Sales and Leonard Saxe. p. cm.—(Brandeis series in American Jewish history, culture and life) Includes bibliographical references and index. ‒‒‒ (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Jewish camps—United States. 2. Jewish religious education—United States. 3. Judaism—United States. 4. Camp counselors—Training of—United States. I. Saxe, Leonard. II. Title. III. Series. . .Ј—dc 2003020815 sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page v Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life JONATHAN D. SARNA, Editor SYLVIA BARACK FISHMAN, Associate Editor Leon A. Jick, The Americanization of the Synagogue, – Sylvia Barack Fishman, editor, Follow My Footprints: Changing Images of Women in American Jewish Fiction Gerald Tulchinsky, Taking Root: The Origins of the Canadian Jewish Community Shalom Goldman, editor, Hebrew and the Bible in America: The First Two Centuries Marshall Sklare, Observing America’s Jews Reena Sigman Friedman, These Are Our Children: Jewish Orphanages in the United States, – Alan Silverstein, Alternatives to Assimilation: The Response of Reform Judaism to American Culture, – Jack Wertheimer, editor, The American Synagogue: A Sanctuary Transformed sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page vi Sylvia Barack Fishman, A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community Diane Matza, editor, Sephardic-American Voices: Two Hundred Years of a Literary Legacy Joyce Antler, editor, Talking Back: Images of Jewish Women in American Popular Culture Jack Wertheimer, A People Divided: Judaism in Contemporary America Beth S. Wenger and Jeffrey Shandler, editors, Encounters with the “Holy Land”: Place, Past and Future in American Jewish Culture David Kaufman, Shul with a Pool: The “Synagogue-Center” in American Jewish History Roberta Rosenberg Farber and Chaim I. Waxman, editors, Jews in America: A Contemporary Reader Murray Friedman and Albert D. Chernin, editors, A Second Exodus: The American Movement to Free Soviet Jews Stephen J. Whitfield, In Search of American Jewish Culture Naomi W. Cohen, Jacob H. Schiff: A Study in American Jewish Leadership Barbara Kessel, Suddenly Jewish: Jews Raised as Gentiles Jonathan N. Barron and Eric Murphy Selinger, editors, Jewish American Poetry: Poems, Commentary, and Reflections Steven T. Rosenthal, Irreconcilable Differences: The Waning of the American Jewish Love Affair with Israel sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page vii Pamela S. Nadell and Jonathan D. Sarna, editors, Women and American Judaism: Historical Perspectives Annelise Orleck, with photographs by Elizabeth Cooke, The Soviet Jewish Americans Ilana Abramovitch and Seán Galvin, editors, Jews of Brooklyn Ranen Omer-Sherman, Diaspora and Zionism in American Jewish Literature: Lazarus, Syrkin, Reznikoff, and Roth Ori Z. Soltes, Fixing the World: Jewish American Painters in the Twentieth Century David Zurawik, The Jews of Prime Time Ava F. Kahn and Marc Dollinger, editors, California Jews Naomi W. Cohen, The Americanization of Zionism, – Gary P. Zola, editor, The Dynamics of American Jewish History: Jacob Rader Marcus’s Essays on American Jewry Judah M. Cohen, Through the Sands of Time: A History of the Jewish Community of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands Seth Farber, An American Orthodox Dreamer: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Boston’s Maimonides School Amy L. Sales and Leonard Saxe, “How Goodly Are Thy Tents”: Summer Camps as Jewish Socializing Experiences sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page viii sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page ix To Daniel Saxe, an extraordinary camper, and Leila Sales, counselor par excellence. sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page x sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xi CONTENTS List of Figures and Tables xiii Acknowledgments xvii 1 Introduction 2 The Landscape: A Census of Jewish Residential Camps 3 Camp is Camp 4 Candy, Not Castor Oil: Jewish Education at Camp 5 The Fresh Air of Judaism: Jewish Life at Camp 6 The Counselor as Teacher and Friend 7 Valleys and Peaks of Staff Development 8 Building a Better Tent Notes Glossary References Index sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xii sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xiii FIGURES AND TABLES Figures 2.1 Camps by Region 2.2 Camp Capacity by Camp Type 2.3 Percentage of Campers Returning from Previous Years by Camp Type 7.1 Percentage of Returning Staff and New Hires by Camp Type 7.2 Percentage of International Staff by Camp Type 7.3 Level of Observance at Camp Compared with Home Practices Tables 2.1 Types of Jewish Camps 2.2 Extent of Camps’ Geographic Draw 2.3 Geographic Draw by Camp Type sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xiv 2.4 Percentage of Jewish Campers by Camp Type 2.5 Camp Capacity and Jewish Campers Served by Camp Type 2.6 Number of Jewish Staff by Camp Type 2.7 Cost by Camp Type 2.8 Percentage of Camps Incorporating Religious Practices by Camp Type 2.9 Percentage of Camps Incorporating Shabbat Practices by Camp Type 2.10 Percentage of Camps Incorporating Jewish Educational and Cultural Activities by Camp Type 2.11 Percentage of Camps Incorporating Israel/Zionist Activities by Camp Type 3.1 Camp Site Visits 3.2 ACA Accreditation Standards 4.1 Aspects of Formal and Informal Education 4.2 Examples of Camp Curricula 6.1 Counselor Survey: Number of Jewish Counselors by Camp Type, Region, Position 6.2 Percentage of Jewish Bunk Counselors by Camp Type 6.3 Jewish Educational Background of Camp Staff 6.4 Percentage of College-Aged Young Adults Ranking Jewish Values as “Very Important” 6.5 Jewish Counselors’ Relationship to Judaism 6.6 Factors in the Decision to Work at Camp this Summer xiv | FIGURES AND TABLES sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xv 6.7 Bunk Counselors’ Motivation for Choosing the Particular Camp for Summer Employment 6.8 Summer Salaries for Counselors and Other College-Aged Young Adults 6.9 Actual and Estimated Counselor Earnings 6.10 Camp Staff Summer Goals 6.11 Percentage of Counselors Ranking Learning Goals as “Very Important” by Camp Type FIGURES AND TABLES | xv sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xvi sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xvii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In August , the American Jewish community was electrified by the an- nouncement that Senator Joseph Lieberman, an observant Jew, had been selected by Democrats as their nominee for Vice President of the United States. For many Jews, the nomination signaled the breach of one of the few remaining barriers to their full acceptance. Senator Lieberman’s Jew- ish observance was especially meaningful. By keeping kosher, observing the Sabbath, and speaking openly about his religious beliefs and God, he had declared to the world that being a practicing Jew was not incompat- ible with holding high public office. American Jews have achieved great professional and financial success, but this success has seemingly come through assimilation and the loss of distinctiveness. Senator Lieberman’s unapologetic, “upfront” Judaism was symbolic of how Jews could be fully Jewish and still be successfully American. We heard news of the nomination while en route to a site visit of a Jew- ish camp in the Northeast. Our summer had been spent traveling from one end of the country to the other in order to visit and study a variety of residential summer camps. The camps we studied were established pri- marily to provide a healthy summer environment for children. But we dis- covered that, as Jewish camps, they also provided settings with great power to socialize young campers and staff members. This book is about these camps and how they work their “magic” as socializing institutions. sales00fm.i_xxii 11/3/03 3:18 PM Page xviii Many of the issues we studied are not that different than issues atten- dant to the American Jewish community’s reactions to Senator Lieber- man’s emergence as a national political figure. They concern the possibil- ity of creating a generation of Jews who care deeply about their Judaism yet also hold a world outlook and function successfully as American citi- zens. And they concern the challenge of transmitting Jewish religion, cul- ture, and pride to a younger generation that has increasingly fewer Jewish role models and influences. The questions that drove this study, however, are not solely parochial. They also relate to America’s enduring social question of how simultaneously to be a “melting pot,” to sustain religious and cultural diversity, and to build a society free of discrimination. Motivated by these questions, we immersed ourselves in the study of Jewish summer camping. Armed with notepads, laptops, questionnaires, bug spray, and flashlights, we left the confines of our academic offices and headed out to the countryside to uncover the magic of camp. Our research quickly took on a structure and tone mirroring that of our subject mat- ter. Camps are intentional communities dedicated to fun and committed to development and learning.