Why Every Jewish Child Should Go to Sleepaway Camp  

BY SAMUEL FIELDS

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In my generation, children deal with a wide range of challenges. Mental health struggles, issues in school, interpersonal problems with friends and family, and more. Growing up in an era characterized by mass overuse of technology and social media, there are few places where young people can find respite from the informational overload. Schools offer extracurricular activities and sports teams, but these programs never truly take the child entirely out of this unfavorable media environment. This is where the summer camp comes in. 

For just a few months out of the year, summer camps offer children the opportunity to escape from the stressful and seemingly endless stimuli in their daily lives. I believe that one of the best decisions a parent can make for their child is to send them to summer camp. The benefits of time spent in summer camp are vast; summer camp provides technology-free entertainment, physical and social activity, and the opportunity for a child to learn to live independently. Camp also enables a child to join and live within a new community, building a home away from home. 

Jewish summer camp plays an important role in the Jewish-American experience, and even more so since October 7^th. For American Jews, post-October 7^th reality has been harsh. We are dealing with resurgent Jew hatred on the right and the left, and in places we once believed to be safe and comforting. Handling these sad truths is even more difficult for children, and they deserve an environment to process their feelings properly and effectively, while enriching and strengthening their own Jewish identities.  

Today, the American-Jewish landscape is chock-full of various summer programs, but one of the most popular choices is sleepaway camp. Across the spectrum of Jewish denominations there are networks that support a wide range of camps, in North America and around the world. Each Jewish summer camp aims to create its own unique community, a place where Jewish children can be themselves, unapologetically.  

This summer, I was fortunate to work at Camp Stone in Pennsylvania. What I witnessed there has deepened my belief that attending a Jewish sleepaway camp is an essential experience for all Jewish children, one that could ensure the future of diaspora communities. Being at Camp Stone was like living on a kibbutz; every member of the camp shared responsibility for the community, down to the smallest of tasks. Being in camp is like being in a tiny, secluded world. There are no negative outside forces, and you are bound together like a large family. In a given day, there is not a single moment when you feel alone. 

In addition to their usual activities, campers are steeped in Torah learning throughout day. The common thread between every camper is their Jewish identity and their strong love for Israel. Campers in this environment are encouraged to develop a stronger sense of self alongside like-minded Jewish children, with passionate staff there to guide their journeys. Like all Jewish summer camps, Camp Stone is an experiment; what happens when you take Jewish kids from all different places and bring them together to operate a small village Jewish for eight weeks. The results are life changing. When each camper has a role in the success of summer, it gives them tremendous motivation to maintain the habits and mindset when it’s time to go home. The Jewish values taught in camp have significant staying power in a child’s mind, long after the summer ends.   

During our staff training speech, our camp director addressed the staff and emphasized why the work we were doing in a Jewish summer camp was so significant. “During your stays in camp,” she explained, “staff members and campers alike are trained to be defenders against the enemies that wish us gone. Our Jewish summer camps create small villages, small havens around the world, so that we go home, we express our Jewish pride more strongly than ever.” 

If you are a parent reading this, at some point in your child’s life, I encourage you to send them to camp, any Jewish sleepaway camp! I believe the experiences they will have there will prove even more formative than the experiences a child has in Jewish day school. There is a camp out there for every Jewish child, because every summer camp serves as a complete and safe Jewish home. When we join these communities, we are truly fulfilling Hashem’s command to create dwelling places for Him. Do some research and find a camp for your child – it’s a choice you will never regret.