September 10, 2017, 10:00 pm
WASHINGTON — A number of Jewish camping organizations wrote to US President Donald Trump urging him to keep in place a program that grants visas to foreigners who work in summer camps. Read full story
Category Archives: Press
A camp tries to reinvent the Hebrew language, so transgender kids can fit in
By Julie Zauzmer August 11
Sam Newman starts a cheer after lunch at Habonim Dror Camp Moshava on Monday in Street, Md. The campers rewrote their cheers this summer to use special gender-neutral Hebrew plural nouns. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
When Zev Shofar, a 14-year-old from Takoma Park, started going to Jewish summer camp seven years ago, the children all learned the Hebrew words to introduce themselves. “Chanich” means a male camper; “chanichah” means a female camper.
But what if Zev didn’t feel male or female — neither a chanich nor a chanichah? Read more ….
Jewish Teens Learn Lessons of Zionism
MAY 4, 2016
By: Liz Spikol | JE Staff
Participants in Ein Zo Agada gained a newfound appreciation for Israel and discussed why they care about it.
“If you will it, it is no dream,” Zionist leader Theodor Herzl wrote in 1902.
More than a century later, Herzl’s words — translated into Hebrew — served as the inspiration for an auspicious gathering of educators and Jewish teens called Ein Zo Agada (“It Is No Dream”), which took place on a recent Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.
The event was conceived by leaders of two Zionist youth movements — Habonim Dror and B’nei Akiva — and motivated by a single question: “What are the needs of Jewish teens?” (Article no longer in archive)
An evolving experience
Friday 22nd, January 2016 Written by Mira Sucharov
On a little corner of Gabriola Island lies an enclave of old-style Jewish utopianism. Modeled after a kibbutz, campers (chanichim) and counselors (madrichim) talk about heady topics like radical justice, equal worth, unionization, socialism and Labor Zionism.
They learn Hebrew, engage in physical labor and debate topics like whether O Canada adequately addresses the reality of First Nations, the fate of the Palestinians, and how to make a radically inclusive society within Israel. It’s Camp Miriam, part of the network of Habonim-Dror camps across North America. Among the founders of the camp was my grandmother, Marian Margolis, and I spent one memorable summer there as a counselor in 1990. Read more …
Hike, swim, fix the world: Kids mix it up at Gilboa camp
by dan pine, j. staff
Summer camp for Eliza Smith includes more than the typical swimming and s’mores around a campfire. It also includes discussion of Middle East peace and cleanup duty in the bathrooms.
That’s how they roll at Camp Gilboa, a Jewish summer camp in Southern California to which the 15-year old Berkeley High School junior has returned every year since she was 8.
Located in the San Bernardino Mountains, Gilboa encompasses 40 forested acres where campers age 8 to 17 — many from the Bay Area — can hike, make artsy crafts and engage in other typical summer camp activities. Read more ….
Mentoring and Grants Helps Camp Gesher Thrive
Lila Sarick, Staff Reporter, Wednesday, June 10, 2015
JCamp180, a philanthropic organization based in Massachusetts, is the reason why Ontario’s Camp Gesher has brand-new cabins and a much more sophisticated board of directors. Read more ….
Hatikvah Slate calls ZOA charges ‘hysterical’
NEW YORK (Press Release)–The U.S. Area Elections Committee chair has found that there is no basis for the request made by the ZOA to disqualify the Hatikvah progressive Zionist slate, established for the upcoming World Zionist Congress elections in the United States. Ironically, the ZOA is attempting to delegitimize the ideological heirs of those who established the state of Israel and since that time have helped sustain the Zionist dream. Ameinu, Partners for Progressive Israel, Habonim Dror and Hashomer Hatzair, the organizational members of the Hatikvah Slate, have presented a platform that represents today’s mainstream peace and democracy camp of Israel. Read more …..
Habonim Dror Hosts Rabin Exhibit
By: Amishai Gottlieb, © 2014 Jewish Exponent
Anyone who happened to pass by the library at the Jewish Community Services Building in Center City on Nov. 13-14 was virtually transported to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
In memory of the anniversary of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s murder on Nov. 4, 1995 by a right-wing Jewish activist, three Habonim Dror youth movement counselors — all college-aged — set up an exhibit in honor of the late leader. Article no longer in archive.
ABOVE Dan Shahar (right) does a trial lecture for fellow exhibit leaders (from left) Adi Goldberg, Hila Huber and Ross Weisman. Photo by Amishai Gottlieb.
Camp is Time Off for Technology
KRISTEN MOTT CJN Staff Reporter
February 28, 2014 10:30 am
With cellphones, iPads and computers, children are constantly plugged in to technology. But when it comes time to attend an overnight summer camp, unplugging from technology is crucial. “The whole idea is socialization and actually talking to people face-to-face and not texting or ignoring them, so we can build community,” said Shelley Goldwater, the executive director of Habonim Dror Camp Tavor, a Jewish overnight camp in southwest Michigan. “They’re so addicted to being on computers and such that they don’t even know what to do with themselves.”
Camp Tavor has always had a “no technology” policy in place for campers. Camp staff have access to computers to plan activities and are allowed to bring their personal cellphones to camp, but are not allowed to use their phones around the campers. Read more ….