Camp + Israel = [insert your story here]

Just like that, Summer 2018 has come to an end.

Many in our community are buzzing with all of the stories of new adventures, friends, and learnings from camp this summer. Counselors and staff are catching up on some well-deserved sleep after creating amazing programs for Jewish kids all over North America.

This summer was different — this summer was the first time there was a coordinated effort to ensure that the Occupation was talked about at Jewish summer camps.

Now we’re collecting stories that will help tell the story of the summer: in the months following the violence against Palestinian protesters in Gaza and in the 51st year of Occupation, how did American Jewish summer camps talk about Israel?

Here’s one story from Camp Ramah we’ve already collected:

“At camp this summer, I created spaces for campers to question what they have learned or not learned about Israel/Palestine. When we had a program where Israelis shared their experiences in the army, we brought people who told the campers that they don’t necessarily think they were fighting for anything they believe in. We had other people share how the army affected them psychologically. These perspectives were ones that the campers had never heard before.

We encouraged them to confront the idea of Palestine as a real place, not one from history they doesn’t exist anymore, not one that might exist in the future, but an actual place where people live now.

I did this all with the goal of deepening their connection to Israel/Palestine. I saw campers start the process I and many others went through after realizing that the story our Jewish educators told us about Israel/Palestine intentionally left a lot out. Showing them even a taste of the reality in Israel/Palestine was perhaps the most important thing I did as an educator this summer.”

Sylvie, Rosh Eidah (Age Group Head), Camp Ramah in the Rockies

You can submit your own story — as a counselor, camper, or parent — using this form. We promise to keep your information confidential, if that’s what you’d like.

We know that programs like Sylvie’s are a part of our community’s changing understanding of what it means to do “Israel education” for the next generation.

And yet, we also know that many in our community are still intent on keeping young campers and staff in the dark about what Israel’s 51-year long occupation means for Palestinians, Israelis, and American Jews.

For example, this summer eleven camps welcomed the Jewish National Fund (JNF) into their community, despite the overwhelming evidence that the JNF works to evict Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem and invests in settlements over the Green Line.

In another example, URJ Camp OSRUI was one of many camps that had campers participate in IDF army drills, conflating Jewish identity with militarism all while ignoring the Occupation.

Many of you — counselors, campers, and parents — have spent the past few weeks sharing camp stories with friends and family. And we want to hear those stories too! I know that camp can feel like a vacuum, and yet my own camp experience taught me that the “Jewish summer camp experience” transcends beyond the road and the lake.

That’s why we want as many stories as possible: so we can tell the story of the summer, both when the freedom and dignity of Palestinians and Israelis were upheld and when the Occupation was ignored.

You can submit your own story — as a counselor, camper, or parent — using this form. Again, we promise to keep your information confidential.

Together, we can work this year to make Kayitz 2019 even better.

PS. Know anyone who was at or had kids at camp this summer? Share this with them!