Camp Beit Sefer

Research about Jewish demographic patterns, all report that attending Jewish camp correlates to higher percentages of people who continue to live Jewishly as adults.   

Why does camp work so well?  

The immersive nature of being somewhere Jewish where secular and religious activities are happening side by side and within strong relationships seems to provide a more experiential environment in which to learn and enculturate Jewishly. 

The Rabbi gave two presentations today to Beit Sefer students and parents about Jewish summer camp opportunities in our area, and how to finance going.   Additionally, many of our students wore their camp T-shirts to Beit Sefer today.  (Yay!)

With Jewish camp in my mind, I walked through the school today noticing how many of our activities and how much of our programming provides a camp like feel to our Beit Sefer program.  

First, the large number of teenagers in each class, provides a whole new layer of relationships to each classroom.   (No new photos of the madrichim here, but many, many if you look at previous posts.) 

There are opportunities for team building or interpersonal games like Gaga and the interesting Lava game that Becca was playing in her class.   

We eat together! (snack photo on the right)

The students have varied experiences like Art, Music, Hebrew Through Music and Reading Buddies. 

Even within the classes, the students participate in activities that you could find at camp.  For example, this was the second week in a row that a class baked challah!  

These students are decorating their menorahs and very excited to describe their designs!

We hope that by investing in relationships and shared experiences our students feel a sense of belonging in this community and to the larger Jewish community.