Can you afford to send your child to camp next summer? Can you afford not to? Winter is almost upon us. Most kids have moved most of their after-school activities into gymnasiums, indoor soccer parks or perhaps the living room with a musical instrument....

Jewish summer camps and youth movements are a time-honored tradition—tens of thousands of Jewish teens participate. But a group of young Jews is calling out what they say is a “toxic hookup culture” in many of these institutions. In this episode...

I went to Camp Herzl in Minnesota for three weeks, returning on my 13th birthday. I hated it. I missed my family, objected to spending time outdoors and, as a Reform Jew, felt lost among my more religious peers. And yet, I strongly suggested that...

“What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘sex’?” Claire Perelman asks the men and women in their 20s and 30s seated around her, under a tent open on all sides – ​what’s known as the “Zen Zone” at Camp Nai Nai Nai.  “And...

Camp changed my life. Maybe that’s a little cliché, but for me it is entirely true. And I know the same is true for so many others who have attended or worked at summer camps throughout their lives.  Camp is a place where we are able to lean on...

A Jewish summer camp experience can build skills and character that last well into adulthood. For some kids, the camp experience was meaningful enough that it played a role in their decision to become a rabbi. Rabbi Daniel Bogard of Central Reform...

Apparently, I’m developing some skills that just can’t be reflected on a résumé, such as my near perfect ability to embarrass my kids. While I know that they don’t need me to hold their hands anymore when we cross the street, something in me...

(JTA) — Last year at this time, the message out of Jewish summer camps was one of doom and gloom. In April 2020, the Union for Reform Judaism announced that COVID would force a closure of its camps for the summer, affecting some 10,000 kids. In...

Spring is here and summer is fast approaching; with that, a longing and readiness to return to some degree of “regular” life. For many parents, that means making plans for summer camp and fortunately, St. Louis offers a multitude of options for...

When Mitch Morgan was growing up in the Brentwood School District, he was one of two Jews.The other was his younger brother, Sean. “Kids would ask us if we were ‘Hanukkah,’” Morgan recalls and laughs.He met his first Jewish friend at the Jewish...

Some camp directors this summer will have to decide in which cabin to put kids. Aaron Hadley, executive director of Camp Ben Frankel, has to decide where to locate an entire camp. The Jewish overnight camp typically takes place in southern Illinois....

Families and campers can experience Camp Sabra in a new way this summer — through all-inclusive Family Getaways. Weekly getaways feature a variety of activities and programs in an appropriately distanced environment while adhering to health and safety...