By Betsy Herman
Nine years ago, I returned home from my first overnight camp, and my family no longer understood half of what I said.
Although I spoke English, I punctuated my sentences with so many camp-specific Hebrew words that my parents found it necessary to stop me several times a minute to ask for definitions.
I managed to calm down after a few weeks, thankfully before subjecting anybody less forgiving to my enthusiastic prattle, but the memories of my two summers at Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute remain fond to this day.
Perhaps because of my positive experience with Jewish camps, I was particularly disappointed to read a blurb, published in the Aug. 4 edition of the Chronicle, citing a study that found that twice as many Jewish children attend non-Jewish camps as Jewish camps.
According to the report, parents “cited high cost and lack of information as the primary reason” for not sending children to Jewish camps. The study also “cited a high correlation between Jewish camping and Jewish engagement.”
Of course, kids who attend Jewish camps don’t know that the experience will likely set them up for Jewish engagement later in life. For the kids, camp is simply a lot of fun, even the parts that sound less than exciting.
I remember looking forward to the twice-daily services at camp. In the morning, the singing woke me up more effectively than my daily coffee does now. In the evenings, services provided an opportunity to wind down and reflect on the activities of the day.
Shabbat at camp was the most special time of the week. I remember it as nothing short of magical, infused with a sense of calm and serenity that I’ve found nowhere else. The entire population of the camp dressed up on Friday nights. After services and a special dinner, we all attended “Shabbat Shira,” a song session full of energy and enthusiasm.
Although my days at OSRUI are long behind me, I found myself recalling them vividly when discussing camp with my young friends, Emily and Ellen Cranberg, who attended this year.
Eleven-year-old Ellen and 12-year-old Emily agreed that Shabbat at camp is extraordinary. “There are all these people in one room, and you just sing and sing until you can’t sing anymore,” said Ellen. She added that the food on Shabbat is especially good.
Emily said that the songs on Shabbat “really make you feel like you’re at camp…. It doesn’t feel like Shabbat [at home] at all. It feels a lot different.”
For me, those Friday nights spent at OSRUI are part of my most treasured memories. The experience of being surrounded by equally enthusiastic friends and peers, singing, dancing, eating and laughing, has never been equaled in my experience.
I can’t say for sure that my continued involvement in Judaism and the Jewish community stems from my two summers at OSRUI, but I do know that my camp experience led me to greater interest in Jewish issues, and made me want to maintain a higher level of Jewish observance outside of camp.
My wish is that all Jewish children can have the opportunity to attend a Jewish camp as I did. Jewish camping is an experience that can’t be replicated by a non-Jewish camp, neither at home nor later in life.
At the end of October, when I leave to spend seven months in Israel, I hope that my experience will be as uplifting and inspiring as my time at OSRUI when I was a teenager.
Betsy Herman is an intern with The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. A 2006 graduate in journalism and Hebrew studies of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she will travel to Israel in October to participate in the World Union of Jewish Students Arad program.
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