Day Camp In The Spotlight For Jewish Communities

NEW YORK, Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The power of overnight camp experiences to turn Jewish youth into spirited and engaged Jewish adults is recognized by researchers and Jewish foundations. But day camps, which benefit from being local, cheaper and more ubiquitous than overnight camps, have been largely overlooked.

No longer. Moshava Ba'ir summer day camp represents a new model that combines excellence in day camping with joyous Jewish learning and growth.

The field-leading Foundation for Jewish Camp recently began exploring ways to add value to Jewish day camps. According to CEO Jeremy Fingerman, "Moshava Ba'ir excels in seeing day camp as a venue for broad Jewish engagement.  We believe Jewish day camps like this have immense value when it comes to Jewish education and continuity, and introducing the joy of Judaism experienced so powerfully at summer camps."

In 2010 Bnei Akiva, the nonprofit Israel-focused Jewish youth organization, opened Moshava Ba'ir in Paramus NJ, offering 5-10 year old children a day camp experience that weaves Jewish history and culture through a broad program of swim, sports, and arts. The camp was immediately a hit.

According to founding camp director Rabbi Menachem Hecht, "We have closed out registration every summer, and we're now at absolute capacity with 400 campers. We opened our second branch in Toronto three years ago, and we are frequently approached by day camps based out of community centers, synagogues, and day schools in the New York area and across the country interested in adopting elements of our camp model."

Camp parent Rachelle Schwartz says, "I love that my children come home excited not just about swimming and soccer and archery—but about David Ben Gurion and Theodore Herzl as well. Moshava Ba'ir engages them in Jewish learning and living through music, art, dance, drama, cooking, even yoga and fencing."

The camp sees its young adult staff and camp parents as its intended audience for Jewish growth as well.

"The 100+ camp counselors who work at Moshava Ba'ir each summer are the immediate future of the Jewish people, and we invest in their professional growth and in their development as Jewish leaders and community members," explains director of Bnei Akiva Rabbi Shaul Feldman,  

"Sending my children to Moshava Ba'ir is about connecting our whole family to a community of values that goes way beyond the 9am-4pm camp day," says Shira Hammerman, a camp parent who participated in Moshava Ba'ir family evening programs in the summer of 2013 and hosted camp staff members when the camp led Shabbat meals in the West Orange synagogue where her family prays.  

The day camp maintains a close relationship with Camp Moshava, a Bnei Akiva affiliated overnight camp in Honesdale, PA. Camp Moshava director Alan Silverman explains, "We train our staff together, we welcome day campers to overnights on our campus, and we offer joint discounts for splitting the summer. And many Moshava Ba'ir day campers continue their Jewish development at Camp Moshava." 

Moshava Ba'ir day camp, located in Paramus NJ, offers campers from 5-10 years old excellent swim, sports and arts in a safe and caring environment infused with Israel education and the Jewish values of Bnei Akiva.

For more information about Moshava Ba'ir:
Director, Rabbi Menachem Hecht
www.moshavabair.org
youtu.be/aKTc9t_-_YA
[email protected]
212-465-6536

SOURCE Moshava Ba’ir