The Power of Jewish Camps: A Research Conference
Nov. 17–18, 2019
Chairs: Jonathan Krasner and Joseph Reimer
What makes Jewish residential camps such powerful educators of their campers and young staff?
At the 100th anniversary of the creation of Jewish educational camping, we took a step back and reflected on what we knew from the research on the power of these camps and what we could anticipate about their future directions.
"The Power of Jewish Camps: A Research Conference" brought together researchers and practitioners to focus on key elements of Jewish camp life:
- celebrating Shabbat
- using Hebrew language
- building connections to Israel
- raising voice in song
- to explore how Jewish camps learned from the past and imagining new educational possibilities.
Special thanks to the Journal of Jewish Education and the AVI CHAI Foundation.
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Participants
- David Ackerman, special education at UCLA.
- Sharon Avni, professor of academic literacy and linguistics at BMCC, City University of New York (CUNY).
- Daniel Brenner, chief of education at Moving Traditions.
- Sarah Benor, professor of contemporary Jewish studies and linguistics at HUC-JIR in Los Angeles, California.
- Judah M. Cohen, Lou and Sybil Mervis Professor of Jewish Culture in the Borns Jewish Studies Program at Indiana University and professor of musicology at the Jacobs School of Music.
- Jacob Cytryn, executive director of Camp Ramah; Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis.
- Sarah Eisinger, director of Harold Grinspoon Foundation.
- Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Professor of Jewish Education, Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education scholar, with joint appointments in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Education.
- Jeremy Fingerman, CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Camp.
- Sandra Fox, Jim Joseph postdoctoral fellow in education and religion at Stanford University.
- Meka Greenwald, Columbia University.
- Wendy Grinberg, director of education at Eisner Camp.
- Jonah Hassenfeld, program officer at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.
- Briana Holtzman, director of organizational development for Foundation for Jewish Camp.
- Laura Hyman, director of the Genesis program at Brandeis University.
- Joshua R. Jacobson, emeritus professor of music and director of choral activities at Northeastern University, visiting professor and senior consultant in the School of Jewish Music at Hebrew College and founder and director of the Zamir Chorale of Boston.
- Matthew Jadd, Hornstein Program, Brandeis University.
- Robin Kahn, director of education and teen engagement at Temple Israel, Natick, Massachusetts.
- Susan Kittner Huntting, Journal of Jewish Education.
- Maya Klareich, Brandeis University, Near Eastern and Judaic studies with a minor in anthropology.
- Marcy Kornreich, co-director of Camp Young Judaea in Amherst, New Hampshire.
- Jonathan Krasner, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Associate Professor of Jewish Education Research at Brandeis University.
- Jeff Kress, Bernard Heller Professor of Jewish Education at the William Davidson Graduate School, Jewish Theological Seminary.
- Jon A. Levisohn, associate professor of Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel of Jewish Education and Director of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University.
- Becky Marcus, Brandeis University, Near Eastern and Judaic studies and education.
- Evan Mazin, director at the Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Education, a department of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto.<
- Andi Meiseles, a veteran formal and informal Jewish educator in both the U.S. and Israel.
- Deborah Meyer, founder and CEO of Moving Traditions.
- Avi Orlow, vice president, Innovation and Education, for the Foundation for Jewish Camp.
- Alex Pomson, principal and managing director at Rosov Consulting.
- Riv-Ellen Prell, professor emerita of American studies at the University of Minnesota.
- Kiva Rabinsky, chief program officer at M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education.
- Joe Reimer, professor at Brandeis who teaches in both education and the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program.
- Stacy Eskovitz Rigler, supervisor of Jewish life at URJ Camp Harlam in Kunkletown, PA and the program manager for the JLife Network for the URJ Summer Camps.
- Celia Rothenberg is a social anthropologist who has carried out fieldwork with a number North American Jewish communities.
- Amy Sales, former senior research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University.
- Nicole Samuel, associate research scientist at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies at Brandeis University.
- Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and the Joseph H. and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University.
- Leonard Saxe, chair of the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program and director of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University.
- Susanne Shavelson, associate director of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University.
- Herschel Singer, project lead for the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.
- Amy Skopp Cooper, national associate director of the Ramah Camping Movement and the executive director of Ramah Nyack.
- Bradley Solmsen, executive director of Surprise Lake Camp.
- Debbie Sussman, past director of Camp Yavneh.
- Sarah Turk Karan, Brandeis University, psychology and sociology.
- Asya Vaisman Schulman, director of the Yiddish Language Institute and director of the Steiner Summer Yiddish Program at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.
- Seth Winberg, executive director of Brandeis Hillel, Brandeis University’s director of spiritual life and senior Jewish chaplain.