Discussion about this post

User's avatar
ohhihellothere's avatar

Wow wow wow.

I went to a Jewish summer camp for probably about 7 consecutive years of my childhood, and I was absolutely obsessed with camp. It felt like a totally separate universe I entered each summer, for a little over a month, which felt like a lifetime. 

It's an experience I reflect on a lot as an adult, as there were so many oddities surrounding the experience, and it was SO impactful on my development. 

It's also something I think about for a similar reason as one that the author stated - I've done a lot of reflecting on the urgent zionist propaganda that was infused in so many of my experiences of Judaism as a child, and the extreme political conservatism tied up in a nationalist identity more broadly. Detangling the cultural, religious, and political teachings and experiences of Judaism is complex for a lot of people as they grow up and become more critical of what their families and institutions taught them. Some of those teachings are ideas I now find totally appalling and in complete opposition to my worldview, but they were positioned as being fundamental to Jewish identity. The economic piece was huge in my experience too - I grew up in a Jewish community that was very proud of wealth accumulation, and wore class status on their sleeve both literally and figuratively. I felt a lot of shame around "not being really rich". (so wild)

For me, all this ultimately resulted in my feeling totally and completely alienated from my Jewish identity, even though it defined my schooling as a child (I went to a day school!) and my summers (I went to a Jewish summer camp!). I grew up with SO MUCH Jewish tradition, and it is not AT ALL a part of my life in any way anymore. I feel okay about that, but I do wonder if things would have turned out differently if some of those formative features were different...if there was less unquestioning zionism, less affluence and materialism, less social and political conservatism around gender and sexuality, etc. 

Re: the part about romance/sexuality/marriage simulation at camp - We lived in "villages" based on age, separated by gender. Then, eventually, you ended up in a co-ed village in your final year, which I believe was the summer before 9th grade? We had two counselors who were dating in this co-ed village - I will never forget them, even as so many important details of my childhood drain from my brain as I age. Their names were Bryan and Haley (I think.). We did a "mock wedding" for them as a real event. It is SO bizarre to me looking back on it, and I am so struck to learn that "wedding simulations" were a common event at Jewish camps! Ahh! This is something I've always been like, "...well that was weird" remembering back on, but it was actually a typical Jewish camp thing?! 

God, I have so many thoughts about Jewish summer camp. Hello to any other Tamarack campers who read the AHP newsletter.

EDIT with additional thought: It occurs to me how interesting it is that for older generations, Jewish camp was perhaps supposed to make me more connected to my Jewish identity and more likely to carry it on, and yet it ultimately did the opposite (though in the immediate sense as a child, it was effective). My experiences at Jewish camp and Jewish day school actually made me feel more alienated from the Jewish community in the long-run. I know it's something I could explore now as an adult in different contexts and environments, but just thinking about "the goal" of camp...it backfired for me completely.

Expand full comment
Andrea's avatar

This post is absolutely speaking my language. I went to Ramah Poconos for four years, followed by two at USY summer programs, and every bit of this scholarship rings accurate to my experiences. I liked the Slate excerpt too when I saw it. I definitely noticed the tacit encouragement of teenage heterosexual romance and felt very weird about it as a nerdy queer kid. The politics were also markedly notable, definitely including those camp Tisha b'Av observances! I'll be getting the book - the only debate about it in my household is whether it's an ebook just for me or a print book to share with my spouse.

Expand full comment
32 more comments...

No posts