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Archive for March, 2011

Methodology Madness

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Posted in Developing Professionals, Education and Educators, FJC Programs, Guest Bloggers, Research on March 23rd, 2011 by alicia - No Comments »

If any of you are like me, March Madness has taken over your day and you are frantically checking your NCAA basketball brackets, sneaking peaks at game scores throughout the day. This past fall I started the University of Washington – Foster School of Business’ part time MBA program, and was fortunate enough to receive a grant through the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Robert and Elisa Spungen Bildner Fellowship. Fortunately for me, and for my bracket, I just completed a semester of “Statistics Analysis for Business,” but it was not my basketball bracket where I have most utilized the last quarter of studying. For the last few weeks there has been much talk about the impact of Jewish summer camp. This is likely a result of the CAMP WORKS study released by FJC earlier this month.

As a full time camp professional, I am always thrilled with anything that supports the work that we do. Any tool which shows Jewish summer camp as integral in the foundation and growth of a child’s Jewish identity and, further, indicates increased involvement in the Jewish community and ongoing Jewish life, is a welcome tool for us to share with parents and community members. If this had been published three months ago, I probably would have said to myself, “Here is a great article to share with families about the success and importance of Jewish Summer Camp.”

Instead, at the beginning of March, I poured over the report with a whole new perspective. I looked at the findings not only through the eyes of an Assistant Camp Director but, also, as a person who was just about to take her final stats exam. The night before the study was released, my class focused on multivariate statistical analysis, looking at the importance of isolating specific variables and controlling for the potential effect of others. I heard myself explaining the methods in conjunction with the results of the CAMP WORKS study with great excitement. The strength of the findings was not the qualitative idea that camp is great, but rather the ability to quantify what we all felt. Jewish Camp works and it’s all in the numbers.  The ability to combine and quantify gives exceptional weight, not only to the study, but in effect, to the success of Jewish Camp.

In the FJC’s Yitro Leadership program, our cohort spent a lot of time drilling down into the details of our camps’ programs and missions. We explored the methods of infusing the day to day of camp with intentionality and supported each other in developing meaningful additions to the culture and offerings of Jewish Camp. Now, just two quarters into my MBA program, I am excited that I have already found ways to seamlessly apply my coursework to, well, work and understand methodology from a different angle.

- Briana Holtzman, Assistant Director, URJ Camp Kalsman

A Lonely Jew at South By Southwest Interactive

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Posted in Uncategorized on March 22nd, 2011 by Joelle Asaro Berman - No Comments »

The following will be the first in a three-part series on Joelle Asaro Berman’s South By Southwest’s Interactive experience. Joelle serves as Communications Manager at the Foundation for Jewish Camp.

South By SouthWest Interactive Logo

It’s become clear over the past several weeks that South By Southwest’s Interactive (SXSWi) conference has exploded onto the public’s radar. Everything from a 40% uptick in this year’s registration, to major news outlets doing on-the-scene reporting, to even my parents hearing about it, indicates that this event has indeed become the go-to, seen-and-be-seen gathering for techies, web developers, VCs, startups, marketers, and online media folks.

But as I attempted to do some networking, it hit me: A search on the conference’s online registrant directory told me that I was one of only two Jewish communal professionals in attendance, out of over 19,000 total attendees (not including the small handful of Jewish bloggers present).

As a community that is explicitly interested in “innovation,” I couldn’t help but wonder why more Jewish organizations weren’t falling over themselves to send their people to this gathering.

At SXSWi, big things happen. In the past, companies like Twitter and Foursquare used SXSWi to launch onto the world stage. Now, they are considered indispensable platforms for social media and engagement. In 2009, both Dell and Facebook launched new products, and this year, Blake Mycoskie, founder of Tom’s Shoes, previewed the company’s new focus: a One-for-One sales model, above and beyond shoes.

When I think back to the dozens of Jewish conferences I’ve attended, there’s always a very vocal expression of how we need to “look beyond” what’s happening in the Jewish world to see what the new thresholds are for innovation, technology, creativity, and possibility.

On the other hand, I have to give credit where credit is due: Jews made a big splash at this year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC)—and major props to the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and Lisa Colton of Darim Online for leading this. Everything from pre-conference trainings to a Shabbat gathering made the 70+ Jewish professionals at NTC a visible force, and allowed our community some real exposure to the big trends and conversations percolating in the nonprofit world (see some relevant takeaways via Charles Lenchner of Repair the World here).

What’s next? What about the for-profit world, the start-up world, the Fortune 500 world?

The fact remains: we’re always hunting for the next big “innovative” idea. We’re always trying to be on the cutting edge, and we constantly sell ourselves as such to philanthropists, the press, and our constituents. NTC is a huge step in the right direction—and maybe SXSWi could be next. It will certainly take more than two of us to translate our learnings into real progress and communal change. Granted, SXSW is an investment—but then again, so is true innovation.

-Joelle Asaro Berman, Communications Manager, Foundation for Jewish Camp

NEXT up in this series: Major themes of SXSW–What can they mean for our community?

Reform Jewish Camping: The Essential Question

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Posted in Education and Educators, Guest Bloggers, Research, Why We Love Camp on March 8th, 2011 by alicia - No Comments »

The following post is from the Union for Reform Judaism blog, written by Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, the President of the URJ.

We echo Rabbi Yoffie’s sentiments about Jewish camp and have heard many similar stories over the years.

If a URJ camp is not for you, please visit our Find a Camp search engine browse the 143 others and find the right one for your family.

Reform Jewish Camping: The Essential Question

I have a 27-year-old son who will be graduating from law school this June. He and I have our disagreements about matters of theology and religious practice, but he is, by any definition, a committed Reform Jew. He cares about tikkun olam, he is an activist for Israel, and he wants to have a Jewish home and a Jewish future. My wife and I would like to believe that his Jewish commitments flow from the example that we set, and in some measure this is true. But we also know that the single most powerful Jewish experience of his life was the years that he spent at Camp Harlam, as both a camper and a counselor. He remembers and treasures his experiences at Harlam, he remains in regular contact with his Harlam friends, and although he has made no commitment, I suspect that if he has children, he will send them to Harlam or to another Reform camp. Nothing that we ever did in our home could compare to his summers at camp and the influence they have had on his life. I am confident that Judaism is an essential part of his being, and I know in my heart that his camp years are a very big reason for that.

Why, I wonder, don’t all Reform Jewish parents who care about the Reform Jewish identity of their children send them to a URJ Camp?

Editor’s note: We were thrilled to see the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s Camp Works study, which gives quantitative proof to what we know to be true: Jewish summer camps have a profound effect on Jewish identity. We see this every summer with the 10,000 children who attend URJ camps. We have seen thousands of URJ campers grow up to become involved in Jewish life in a variety of ways and we have seen countless URJ camp romances turn into marriages and future generations of URJ campers.

Shabbat is not Heaven

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Posted in Education and Educators, Guest Bloggers, Why We Love Camp on March 3rd, 2011 by Joelle Asaro Berman - 1 Comment

I have many great memories of growing up at camp. For many of us camp alumni, a disproportional amount of these memories are of Shabbat. From a serene Kabbalat Shabbat by the lake, to an emotive song session in the dining hall, euphoric dancing on the basketball court, chocolate bobka at the Shabbat Oneg, resting on boys campus on Shabbat afternoon, and Havdalah that seemed to last to the middle of the night, Shabbat at camp was amazing and transcendent.

These might be my most precious of memories. As more time and distance pass from my experience of Shabbat at camp, it seems that I have not just placed these memories on a pedestal, but I have locked them in a glass cabinet. When I get together and reminisce with camp friends, I feel like a young Cosette from Les Miserables talking about Shabbat. As her song goes:

There is a room that’s full of toys
There are a hundred boys and girls
Nobody shouts or talks too loud
Not in my castle on a cloud (Les Miserables)

While I hold these memories dear, it saddens me to think of why we have limited our access to Shabbat outside of camp.  Are my options simply not appealing? Do they not feel authentic? Do I have some sort of fear of tarnishing my camp Shabbat memories? Whatever the reason, Shabbat is not supposed to be a “Castle on a Cloud”; rather it is supposed to be a “Palace in Time.” In the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel:

The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation, from the world of creation to the creation of the world. (The Sabbath: Its Meaning for Modern Man)

Shabbat at camp was special, but we do not need wooden cabins to experience the sacred architecture of Shabbat. While our memories might stem from our distant childhoods, one need not be a child—or a father or mother of one—to reconnect to Shabbat.

The work of the Foundation for Jewish Camp is important. We need to radically increase the number of our youth that are having these peak Jewish experiences. The lasting memories and relationships of Jewish camp are vital, but not sufficient. We must also find ways to empower alumni of these experiences to find ways to let these memories leak into the rest of their lives. Shabbat without the lake might not seem perfect, but it will be. We need to work on an integrated program of inspiring “peak and leak” experiences.

I am very proud that One Happy Camper, a program of FJC, is sponsoring Reboot’s National Day of Unplugging, which is coming up this Friday, March 4th – 5th. Join in, unplug camp-style, and share your new memories.

-Rabbi Avi Katz Orlow, Jewish Education Specialist at the Foundation for Jewish Camp

Camp Works – We Have Proof!

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Posted in Developing Professionals, Education and Educators, Israel, Why We Love Camp on March 2nd, 2011 by Joelle Asaro Berman - 1 Comment

FJC is excited to unveil the findings of CAMP WORKS, a landmark study revealing the long term effect of Jewish camp on its alumni. Jewish summer camp has long been associated with the North American Jewish community, but the lasting effect of these priceless and memorable summers have been purely anecdotal…until now. CAMP WORKS reveals that the influence of nonprofit Jewish camp can be seen in the ways adults choose to engage with the community and to the degree to which they associate with other Jews, long after the last sunset of the summer.

Throughout the past decade, FJC has worked tirelessly to promote the value and importance of the nonprofit Jewish overnight camp experience to North American Jews. As a result, Jewish camp has steadily become accepted as an essential part of building strong Jewish identity in children and creating a robust and enduring Jewish community. CAMP WORKS takes the next step and proves the long-term impact of overnight Jewish camp on Jewish attitudes and engagement.

Professor Steven M. Cohen led an esteemed research team responsible for these new findings utilizing data collected by some of the premier Jewish social scientists of our time. The study compares the Jewish behaviors of adults who had attended Jewish camp as children with those of adults who did not, and controls for factors involving Jewish education and upbringing. Ultimately, the report reveals that the childhood camp experience significantly impacts adult Jewish practices and commitments, and instills a sense of belonging to a larger Jewish community.

As adults, Jewish camp alumni are:

- 45% more likely to attend synagogue monthly or more, raising their voice in song and prayer as a community;
- 30% more likely to contribute to their local Jewish federation, demonstrating their care and solidarity for their fellow Jew as well as their feeling of being a part of a larger Jewish community;
- 55% more likely to feel very emotionally attached to Israel, continuing a centuries-old relationship to the Jewish Homeland and a contemporary kinship with Jews world-wide;
- 37% more likely to light Shabbat candles, bringing Jewish tradition and ritual in their home and sharing it with friends and family.
(as compared to adults who did not attend camp)

Click here to read the report.