By Jordan Magidson, Nadiv Educator at URJ Camp Kalsman in Arlington, WA and Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle, WA. 

One idea that has been drilled into my head for the last four years is that no Jewish community is an island—or at least no community should be. Rather than hoarding our intellectual property we should be sharing it, collaborating with other Jewish organizations and learning from one another in order to create the best possible educational experience for our children. What I find unique about the Nadiv program is that it is one of the first national initiatives to begin building those bridges between Jewish organizations, recognizing that religion schools (that’s what we call it in my neck of the woods) and Jewish camps both have a lot to teach each and learn from each other when it comes to innovative and successful Jewish programming for kids.

My position as Nadiv Educator is pretty unique. I am only one of six Jewish educators who split their time between working in a school and working at camp and only one of two in this pilot that works in supplementary Jewish education. While there have been challenges, they have been minimal and hardly noteworthy. The benefits and opportunities for growth for the camp, the religion school and for me as an educator have been far more numerous.

When I am wearing my temple hat, I am thinking about what makes camp so successful and how we can start integrating that into our religion school. We send 140 students from Temple De Hirsch Sinai (TDHS) to URJ Camp Kalsman each summer. This gives us the opportunity to create a sense of year-long Jewish education for our students. With camp being located only an hour outside of Seattle, we have the chance to utilize this beautiful and uniquely Jewish setting to support what is happening in the classroom. We will begin by sending our 4^th-6^th graders to camp in May for a Shabbaton where we teach our students and their families about how we can address poverty in our community. Camp is a perfect setting for this as fighting hunger is a major goal of our camp community. This past year we donated roughly 1000 lbs. of food that we grew in our garden to a local shelter and we hope to double that this year. By utilizing program areas like the garden and farm, we not only teach our students about this big issue, but also literally get our hands dirty and show them how they can be change agents in our community. This will have a bigger impact than if we just stayed at our congregation. We are also, of course, hoping to garner more excitement about camp and encourage some first-time campers to try it out.

When I am wearing my camp hat, I am thinking about ways in which camp can continue to grow and be at the forefront of innovation when it comes to Jewish education. It is important that camp not simply rest on its laurels – just because something worked 20 years ago doesn’t mean it doesn’t need rejuvenating. This year at camp we are beginning to move to a fully integrated model of Jewish education, which will be a change from how we have done things in the past. It will bring a new energy to the education program. As Director of Education at camp, I am also aware that not every community I work with has the same resources available to them as available TDHS. That is why we are beginning to send out holiday recourse sheets to schools and families that will allow them to bring a little of the camp spirit into their homes. We are also going to start making available tested and approved all-school and family programming to our camp communities that would like to add more experiential programming to their schedules but may not have the time or resources to create them. This will be one way we can give all of our campers, not just TDHS campers, the ability to experience this year-long Jewish education.

All of this is just the beginning. April will mark one year in this very unique position for me. In this first year I have learned a lot and accomplished a lot. I know that in the coming years I will accomplish even more. David Berkman (Director of Camp Kalsman), Rabbi Daniel Septimus (Director of Congregational Learning at TDHS) and I are all very committed to creating endless opportunities for collaboration. I can’t wait to see where we go from here!

After the resolution of the Golden Calf incident Moses returned to the people with a new set of Tablets. While the first set were made by God, this time Moses made them himself. In addition at the end of Torah portion we read:

33 And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before the Lord that God might speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out; and spoke unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face sent forth beams; and Moses put the veil back upon his face, until he went in to speak with God.

This is the origin of the Michelangelo‘s depiction of Moses with horns of light. It is clearly also the source of why some people believed that Jews had horns. This is all secondary to the notion that this outpouring of light from Moses helped the Israelites see that their leader was inspired. We need our leaders to be inspired to be inspiring. There is something to the DIY ethos. We all need to have a sense of ownership in a project to be invested in its outcome. Where as in the first set of Tablets it was all about God, in the second set God had Moses and therefore the people’s buy-in.

Recently I was talking with Michael Wax an Assistant Director of Beber Camp about how he might inspire his staff to move the needle on what is an already a very good program at his camp. In my mind we need to find more ways to share our vision so that others share a sense of ownership. When we allow people to own their work they radiate their passion and joy. This attitude itself is infectious. This reminds me of one of my favorite poems, Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson. We read:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.
And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Moses’s beaming face gave permission for the Israelites to let themselves shine too. It seems that if we really want to move the needle we need to figure out how to let ourselves and those around us shine.

–Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow is the Director of Jewish Education at the Foundation for Jewish Camp

In this post-inauguration and post-election period for the United States and Israel, respectively, we are well aware that leadership styles, models and talents can vary greatly between individuals. In Parashat Yitro specifically, we are witness to the fact that the ability to listen, to hear and to convey ideas effectively are all traits of outstanding leadership.

In the chapters that precede the description of G-d’s revelation at Sinai, we read about Moses’ father-in-law and the instrumental role he played in establishing the legal system for the Jewish people in the wilderness. We are introduced to Yitro after he hears about all the things that “G-d had done for Moses and for Israel His people (Exodus 18:1).”

Yitro then brings Zipporah, Gershom and Eliezer back to Moses, and father-in-law and son-in-law soon reconnect as Moses recounts to Yitro the story of G-d’s power and the Exodus from Egypt. Finally – less than a day after being reunited – the unsolicited advice from elder to younger pours out.

In these moments, we see the mutual respect either has for the other and a model for great leadership. Yitro witnesses Moses serving as the lone judge for the people, hearing their disputes and then rendering his decisions. Then, no more than a verse passes within the text before Yitro intercedes, listens to Moses’ reasoning and then offers his own perspective.

He says, “This is not a good thing you are doing,” a gentle way of telling him that the whole manner in which Moses is going about this procedure is completely wrong (Exodus 18:17). It is not that his rulings or warnings to people are incorrect, as says the Midrash Sechel Tov (12^th-century commentary), but rather that the system is untenable both for Moses and the people.

Thus, Moses develops a new system – based on Yitro’s feedback – in which the responsibility is shared with other individuals and only the major disputes come before Moses.

Yitro’s suggestions are not earth-shattering; what is most impressive about this scene is his ability to witness the pitfalls of the current structure and to share practical solutions in a way that Moses can hear them. At the same time, Moses’ ability to place his ego aside, to listen to the perspective of an “outsider” and to implement changes based on that input show his dedication to doing what is best for the people and not to making his own name great.

Indeed, after having recently returned from a conference for the Foundation for Jewish Camp, the value of having genuine leaders who both listen to and share feedback has been on my mind a good deal. I had the fortune to work with educators of varied backgrounds, skill sets and professions (all leaders in their own right) as we modeled educational programs, critiqued one another and internalized the comments that were being offered.

In this small group of Jewish leaders, I perceived Yitro’s ability to diagnose a potential problem and Moses’ ability to listen to feedback, both in group sessions and in individual conversations. Most impressively, at the core of all of these conversations was the commitment to creating outstanding experiences and training programs for others – even if it meant rethinking, refining or changing one’s own program.

Leadership manifests itself in different ways, and thus it is hard to define one style, model or talent as the most beneficial. But as we learn from Parashat Yitro, the ability to listen, to hear and to convey ideas effectively cannot be overlooked in the conversation. These talents have the power to inspire and to bring about real change in the world.

- Rabbi Marshall Lesack is the director of education at Congregation Shearith Israel and a member of the Atlanta Rabbinical Association.

Each day, we have moments of light.  We have thoughts, ideas, and contemplations about ways to improve life.  We think about how we can help our family and friends.   We think about ways to make our jobs more meaningful or easier. We think about how to become healthier.  We think.  Not every idea is a good one.  We likely have more bad ideas than good ones.  Yet, rarely do we take the moment to reflect and determine its merit.

Human nature inherently pushes us to go and do.  Many of us attend seminars, trainings, workshops, meetings, conferences, etc.  The rooms buzz with excitement and ideas.  The hour long presentation was the best thing you ever saw.  You walk out the door energized.  You get back to your desk and realize you can’t articulate the ideas you left the room with just moments ago.  Shadows of your thoughts ruminate in your brain.  You try your hardest to put your thoughts on paper, but you can’t reach them.  It’s too late.  The moment of reflection has passed.

God teaches us reflection from the start of the Torah.  Each act of creation is followed by a recap and nod of approval.  The Yitro Leadership Program brings Assistant and Associate Camp Directors together from all parts of the US.  In a three-day seminar, not a moment is wasted.  We walk in and have agendas, workbooks, notebooks, and pens waiting for us.  The flip charts are placed at the front of the room near the PowerPoint projector.  There is a coffee table at the back of the room.  It’s time to work.  You look at the agenda, and it looks like any other schedule: three sessions before lunch, another four before dinner, and an evening program.  The agenda, however, doesn’t tell the whole story.  We revisit the content from our previous two seminars.  We look at the challenges facing our own camps today.  We build a frame, together, for what we are about to do.  We are learning as we share with each other best practices.  With each topic, we work through case studies, build skills, and develop benchmarks.

We are asked to flip to page one of our workbooks and jot down any revelations we’ve had.  The top of the page reads “Ah-Ha Moments”.  It’s a blank page in a workbook.  We are in session, but we are silent.  Many would look at this as wasted time and space.  This is intentional.  Reflection is critical to learning and development.  It underscores that which we have found most important.  It allows us to remember our thoughts at a later time.

Thinking back on our sessions, I had so many “Ah-Ha Moments”.  One of the most profound discussions and topics was about the way we train our staff.  Training is not a one week process at camp.  In fact, training is an ongoing process in life.  We coach, we teach, we cultivate, and we teach our staff to be better individuals.  We are in the business of role modeling. We are in the business of growing children into young Jewish adults.  What do we want our kids to Know, Value, and Do in their lives? These are the methods we use to train our staff as role models.

What’s an idea that you lost?  What do you wish you remembered?  What got lost between the meeting room and your desk?  Stop.  Think.  Reflect.  Write.  Imagine the good that can come from it.

- Dan Baer, Associate Director, Camp Interlaken JCC

As we enter 2013 and consider what the new year will bring, I see three important trends affecting our community today overall that need to inform our conversations and our plans – as Jewish professionals, lay leaders, and a community as a whole – as we move forward into this year.

First, we face the continued challenge of the affordability of living a Jewish life today. Many in our midst simply cannot afford to participate in the varied opportunities which are available. Great strides have been made and generous funders have stepped forward with scholarships and financial aid, and we are watching with heightened interest the progress generated by The AVI CHAI Foundation, PEJE, and Yeshiva University, among others, who are working hard to make day school education more affordable. But we still need to do more across the board to serve all segments of our community. We need to develop lower cost, more efficient offerings as well, targeting those in the challenged middle income brackets. The ongoing uncertainty of the economy requires our creativity and collaboration.

Second, our institutions need strengthening. We can accomplish this by better utilizing our communal assets and resources more effectively. Again, we see this trend evolving with successful models under development. The Nadiv program, which has created senior experiential Jewish educator positions that are shared by nonprofit Jewish overnight camps and Jewish day or synagogue schools, is but one new great example to address this need. Nadiv aims to enhance the quality of education at Jewish camps and schools in a sustainable way, create a new model for year-round positions for trained and talented Jewish educators, and model a new way to foster deeper collaboration between different kinds of institutions in the Jewish educational world. Individual organizations can benefit from asset sharing as well. The merger of Hazon, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, and Teva Learning Alliance is a recent illustration of this, but collaboration does not require complete fusion. For example, over several years the Foundation for Jewish Camp has worked in partnership with the Harold Grinspoon Foundation on several projects towards a mutual goal of getting more kids to experience the transformative power of Jewish summer camp.

Third, we feel a moral imperative to create more inclusivity within our community. Together we must address our ability to meet the needs of all Jews in North America to appropriately reflect its broad diversity. Many groups are tackling areas that need attention in different ways. For example, the Jewish Funders Network has taken on the task of guiding and supporting funders to make more educated decisions in supporting programs for Jews with special needs and physical disabilities; Keshet is an organization dedicated to the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Jews in Jewish life; and the field of Jewish camp has created overnight camps for Russian-speaking Jews and multi-racial Jewish families. We hope this is just the beginning.

Even as we work to address these three trends, I believe we should remind ourselves of the context in which we do so. We aim to create a more joyful Jewish experience for everyone. I hope we can all agree that “joyous Judaism” can help break down barriers and silos which confront us. The field of Jewish camp has done so successfully and provides a great example for us all. Camps inspire an expression of Judaism that is joyful, powerful, and sustainable. Camps put children on a Jewish path which stays with them for life.

May the new year bring us closer together as we reach toward our ultimate collective goal: building and securing a more vibrant Jewish future.

- Jeremy J. Fingerman, CEO, Foundation for Jewish Camp

My mind and heart were scattered yesterday morning as I figured out what to wear for Wear Your NFTY, Camp and Israel T-Shirt Day or, as I like to call it, wear your swag to work day.  I wrote several months ago about how camp is home to me.  And, in truth, over the years, several camps have become home to me.  I truly do believe that camp is magic and it’s important to me to support the idea of camp and its importance for our young people.  Even as I continue to develop a relationship with Jewish camp life as an adult.  NFTY, too, is an organization that is near to my heart.  Ultimately, I settled on my Camp Harlam Faculty t-shirt from this summer and a NFTY sweatshirt.  I chose that sweatshirt because it’s also a Netzer sweatshirt.

Netzer, is the international Reform Zionist youth movement, of which NFTY became a part several years ago.  Netzer stands for which stands for Noar Tzioni Reformi (Reform Zionist Youth).  I chose that sweatshirt because it didn’t only stand for NFTY, but because it also stood for the other place my mind and heart were, as the news began to come in faster and faster of the war that increasingly seems to be brewing in Israel.

For many Jews, myself included, Israel is like family…we don’t always agree with her, but we love her anyway. When she’s doing something that we disagree with, we speak out against her actions from a place of love. And when she’s being attacked, we support her and stand with her.

These past days, as hundreds of rockets have been fired into Israeli neighborhoods (in addition to the thousands of rockets over the past several years), Israel has responded by targeting terrorists and the leaders of Hamas and other terrorist organizations; dropping pamphlets over Gaza beforehand, and begging the civilians of Gaza to get to safety and move away from the areas that were to be targeted. 

Personally, I cannot just watch Israel be under attack, knowing that in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem there are sirens going off, and that rockets are attacking cities that I have been to and that I know people in, a city I’ve lived in, and not stand with Israel from wherever I find myself.

And so I found my heart (more than a little) torn yesterday, as I thought of my camp and youth group friends, many of whom I’m still friends with and I still think of as family, and my family of the Jewish people in Israel, in a land that I love.  It seemed almost silly to be wearing a camp t-shirt when I was reading horrific news.  But then I realized that it was because of that camp and that organization that I grew to love Israel in the first place.

It was at camp that I knew other Israeli kids and had Israeli counselors, it was with camp and NFTY that I first travelled to Israel in high school, and it was through NFTY that I had the opportunity to visit Israel a few summers later and work there.  It was through them that my relationship with Israel became real and became solid.  In many ways, I owe my love of Israel to the Reform Movement’s Youth Programs.  And I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in that.  Indeed, that’s part of the reason why I’ve done so much to bring those experience to new generations.  And as I express my love for camp and for NFTY and for Israel, I realize that all of those thoughts of love and hope and connection are intermingled in many ways.

So yesterday, knowing that for every message I read on facebook filled with hate towards Israel, many from people I respect, filled with opinions formed on half-truths and an anti-Israel biased western media, I came to realize that it was increasingly important for me to stand by the side of my other homeland.  To try to give facts and teach and inform and to stand up for what I believe is right.  To show them MY Israel, a place that I love for a reason.

And, yes, to pray.  To pray for all the fighting to be over. To pray for peace.  To pray for the healing of ALL people in that region, so that their children can thrive away from bombs and rockets, running through playgrounds and not crouching in bomb shelters.  To pray that everyone there, regardless of nationality or religion, can live a life of peace.

So yes, my heart is in the east.  And even as I hope and pray for peace, I fight for Israel, however little power I may have to do so from the middle of Texas, to use what I do have to speak up and speak out and to stand where my heart is.

Libi b’mizrach.

- Rabbi Elisa Koppel is the Associate Rabbi and Youth Director at Temple Beth-El in Hillsborough, NJ

As a camp director, one group that helps me “do my stuff” is my cohort of FJC’s Executive Leadership Institute (ELI).   Barely a year after we first gathered to begin our learning together, my fourteen fellow directors and I recently reconvened in New Jersey along with the fantastic FJC faculty and staff for the first time since the summer.  The room was filled with hearty hugs and warm feelings.  And then, once again, we got down to work.  We continued our skill-building in the areas of board development and fundraising.  We updated one another on the various “summer change” projects we each initiated at our camps – from what worked, to what didn’t, to what’s next.  We pored over various aspects of budgeting and financial management – the toolbox both for managing a budget month-to-month and for using financial data to communicate organizational priorities and health clearly and effectively.  We learned new ways to recruit and retain campers and families – from postcards with QR codes that can be scanned to link to an online summer photo or video, to online marketing efforts that are increasingly common in the for-profit and not-for-profit worlds, to year-round efforts to connect kids and their families with each other and with camp’s joyful Judaism.  We shared what we do, and had a friendly competition about how many of our ideas we could share with one another.  “You wrote 131 retention ideas on your giant post-its?  Ha – we have more!”  Brainstorming led to “a-ha” moments and then the increasingly antsy feelings of “I want to go home and get started!”

Some of us are technically “competitors” – some are even in the same geographic markets – so why has the spirit of collaboration been so palpable since day 1 of ELI?  It’s because we all believe in the value of Jewish camp to change lives, we all believe each kid in this world is unique and might find his/her true “home away from home” in a different place, and we all know that despite the ever-improving products we’re offering, the majority of Jewish kids still don’t attend Jewish camp!

As important as ELI has been for learning best practices and refining our nitty-gritty skills both as “mayors” of our seasonal outposts and as year-round executives with multi-million dollar budgets, it’s that community that FJC has created that has made ELI such a worthwhile endeavor.  The job of a camp director can sometimes be a surprisingly lonely one, even during the summer.  Now, because of ELI, I have a cohort of colleagues across the country, each of whom is committed to excellence for their camps and any of whom I would feel comfortable calling to discuss an issue.

But it’s even more than having an expanded rolodex and the comfort of knowing I can use it.  This summer, my fellow ELI Fellows joined me at camp.  Not physically, of course, but the next best way.  I could ask myself: How would Terry warmly welcome the waves of first-time parents and campers?  How might Lewis make a necessary change and communicate it to stakeholders?  How would Anne exhibit consistency when everything seems to be descending into chaos?  How might Noah listen to this camper or that staff member who might need some special attention?  Would Melissa be satisfied with the level of intention shown to our teen programs?  I believe leadership is most effective when it is by example – and because of ELI, I had with me the examples of fourteen other stellar camp professionals with whom I could empathize imaginatively throughout the summer.

ELI has reminded me that I alone am more than a “monophonic symphony,” and it has taught me that we each need a group to help us do our stuff.  “And we would play together, like fine musicians should.  And it would sound like music, and the music would sound good.”  Thanks, ELI 3.  Thanks, FJC.  And, for what I’m sure won’t be the last time: thanks, Harry Chapin.

- Josh Levine, Director of Camp Alonim in Brandeis, CA

During Yom Kippur we pray the “Al Chet” confession of sins ten times. We repeat again and again the phrase, “On the sin we have sinned…”.  While there is a lot to be said about the particular sins that we are trying to atone for with this prayer, it is notable that the prayer is not in the first person singular but in the voice of “we”.  While enforcing collective punishment can be unjust, taking collective responsibility is transformative. Before we can talk about repairing our own sins, we have to spend some time repairing our sense of being part of a collective. We might struggle to get into the rhythm and tunes of the High Holidays because we have spent the rest of the year listening to our own playlists. In many ways, we are all still bowling alone.  Judaism might have lost being sticky because society in general has lost its glue.

One of the amazing aspects of Jewish camp is that it is a special place where community really comes together. And this past summer, we saw examples of camps working together on new initiatives to further expand on that idea of community. First, URJ’s Henry S. Jacobs Camp (a Reform camp based in Mississippi) and Camp Darom (an Orthodox camp based in Memphis) came together to celebrate the 4^th of July (see story). We also saw a joint Maccabiah games for teens from the leadership programs of the North American Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY) and teens from BBYO (see story). An amazing Matisyahu concert at NJY camps (Camp Cedar Lake) gathered campers from URJ Kutz Camp, Habonim Dror Camp Na’aleh, and Camp Tel Yehudah (see story).  Through these camps, an amazing “we” is developing.

When I think about the “Al Chet”, it is easy to get stuck thinking about all the bad things that I did last year. However, when I look back on this summer, I am inspired. It is at camp that the kind of community that teaches us to speak in the first person plural is created. Camp is a place where all of the “me’s” can be transformed into a “we”. Together we can accomplish anything.

May we all have a very meaningful New Year.

•  eJewish Philanthropy: “Foundation for Jewish Camp Announces 2nd Cohort of Incubator Camps”
•  JTA: “Foundation for Jewish Camp announces four new specialty camps”
•  Acting Busy: “Foundation for Jewish Camp Announces 2nd Cohort of Incubator Camps”
•  The Times of Israel: “Foundation for Jewish Camp announces four new specialty camps”
•  Jewish Journal: “Foundation for Jewish Camp announces four new specialty camps”
•  Boulder Jewish News: “Second Group of Specialty Incubator Camps Announced”
•  Boulder Jewish News: “Startup Camp Inc. Scores Funding”
•  The Jewish Week: “Incubating Summer Fun”
•  JCCA Website: “Two New Resident Camps Receive Incubator Grants from FJC”
•  URJ.org: “URJ Founds New Specialty Jewish Summer Camp Dedicated to Science and Technology”
•  The Blog at 16th & Q: “Shabbat Surfing: What’s New?”

You can read more about the Specialty Camps Incubator and see the full descriptions of the camps on our website.