How have Jewish camps emerged as creators of positive spiritual experiences for Jewish youth in North America?
How has Shabbat at camp become the focal point for primal Jewish experiences?
Are these experiences exclusive to Shabbat at camp?
When Jewish camps began at the dawn of the 20th century, their leaders had little interest in creating Jewish spiritual experiences for their campers. Yet over the course of the past century Jewish camps have gradually moved into providing primal Jewish experiences that diverse campers enjoy, parents appreciate, and alumni fondly recall.
In this webinar, author Joe Reimer and a diverse panel of respondents with interest in camp and Jewish experience, discussed the key points in Making Shabbat: Celebrating and Learning at American Jewish Summer Camps, and drew conclusions from their different perspectives. Michelle Shapiro Abraham (Union for Reform Judaism), Avi Orlow (Jewish Camp) and Rabbi Bradley Solmsen (Park Avenue Synagogue), moderated by Sharon Feiman-Nemser (Brandeis University), helped explore: Why is this book important? Who should read this book? What can be learned?
Joseph Reimer is associate professor of Jewish education at Brandeis University. He is the author of Succeeding at Jewish Education and coauthor of Promoting Moral Growth: From Piaget to Kohlberg. Trained at Harvard as a developmental psychologist, he currently focuses his research on experiential Jewish learning, Jewish camping and the professional development of educators. Professor Reimer served as lead faculty for the Executive Leadership Institute of the Foundation for Jewish Camp, associate editor for the Journal of Jewish Education, and director of the Institute for Informal Jewish Education at Brandeis University.
Making Shabbat was published as part of the Mandel-Brandeis Series in Jewish Education.
