
Serious Fun at a Jewish Community Summer Camp
Family, Judaism, and Israel
Celia E. Rothenberg(Author)
Lexington Books (Publisher)
Published on 1. July 2016
Book
Hardback
144 pages
978-1-4985-4077-3 (ISBN)
Description
Unique in the literature on Jewish camping, this book provides an in-depth study of a community-based, residential summer camp that serves Jewish children from primarily rural areas. Focused on Camp Ben Frankel (CBF), established in 1950 in southern Illinois, this book focuses on how a pluralist Jewish camp constructs meaningful experiences of Jewish "family" and Judaism for campers-and teaches them about Israel. Inspired by models of the earliest camps established for Jewish children in urban areas, CBF's founders worked to create a camp that would appeal to the rural, often isolated Jewish families in its catchment area. Although seemingly on the periphery of American Jewish life, CBF staff and campers are revealed to be deeply entwined with national developments in Jewish culture and practice and, indeed, contributors to shaping them. This research highlights the importance of campers' experiences of traditional elements of the Jewish "family" (an experience increasingly limited to time at camp), as well as the overarching importance of song.
Over the years, Judaism becomes constructed as fun, welcoming, and easy for campers, while Israel is presented in ways that are meant to be appropriate for a community camp. In the camp's earliest decades, Israel was framed by "traditional" Zionist discourse; later, as community priorities shifted, the cause of Russian Jews was the focus. Most recently, as Israeli politics have been increasingly viewed as potentially divisive, the camp has adopted an "Israel-lite" approach, focusing on Israel as the Biblical homeland of the Jewish people and a place home to Jews who are similar to American Jews.
In sum, this study sheds light on how a small, rural, community camp contributes in significant ways to our understanding of American Jews, their Judaism, and their Zionism.
Over the years, Judaism becomes constructed as fun, welcoming, and easy for campers, while Israel is presented in ways that are meant to be appropriate for a community camp. In the camp's earliest decades, Israel was framed by "traditional" Zionist discourse; later, as community priorities shifted, the cause of Russian Jews was the focus. Most recently, as Israeli politics have been increasingly viewed as potentially divisive, the camp has adopted an "Israel-lite" approach, focusing on Israel as the Biblical homeland of the Jewish people and a place home to Jews who are similar to American Jews.
In sum, this study sheds light on how a small, rural, community camp contributes in significant ways to our understanding of American Jews, their Judaism, and their Zionism.
Reviews / Votes
[Rothenberg] paints an engaging picture of what actually does happen at camp....Rothenberg's book should be on the reading list of anyone interested in research about Jewish summer camp. * Journal Of Jewish Education * [Rothenburg] does an excellent job of analyzing how the experience of small town Jews is central to the ways in which the camp creates a Jewish world.... Rothenberg is most effective as the ethnographer with a strong grounding in the history of the region and the camp. She walks the reader through the life of the camp with a light, and...elegant touch. * Reading Religion * Unique in the literature on Jewish camping, this book provides an in-depth study of a community-based, residential summer camp that serves Jewish children from primarily rural areas. . . This research highlights the importance of campers' experiences of traditional elements of the Jewish "family". . . this study sheds light on how a small, rural, community camp contributes in significant ways to our understanding of American Jews, their Judaism, and their Zionism. * Israel Book Review * Over the last two decades we have gathered important empirical evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of summer camp in instilling Jewish identities for Jewish youth. The magic of Rothenberg's eloquent and well-written ethnography is that it reveals the inner workings of how camps actually do it! -- Randal F. Schnoor, York University, co-author of Back to School: Jewish Day School in the Lives of Adult Jews A wistful and nostalgic academic reflection on Camp Ben Frankel by the author, who is an alumna, that puts this small "Reconformadox" camp in the context of the American Jewish camp experience. A lovely and interesting read. -- Mara Cohen Ioannides Moving the analysis of Jewish summer camps beyond the well-trod campgrounds covered by earlier studies, Serious Fun places the experience of small town Jews at the center. By looking where others have not, Rothenberg offers new insight into how Jewish summer camps create a feeling of family and develop a folk Judaism of their own. -- Shaul Kelner, Vanderbilt University In Serious Fun at a Jewish Community Summer Camp, Celia Rothenberg delves into life at Camp Ben Frankel (CBF) today and in years past. Rothenberg has longtime ties to the camp and comes to her topic with great enthusiasm. She offers meticulous research and careful depiction of the camp's setting and layout as well as its population and program. At the same time, she appropriately holds her emotions in check until the Afterword, where she nostalgically expresses full feelings of love and appreciation for the camp. * Contemporary Jewry *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
7 BW Photos, 3 Tables
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
370 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4985-4077-3 (9781498540773)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/2016
1st Edition
Lexington Books
€82.49
Available for download

E-Book
07/2016
1st Edition
Lexington Books
€82.49
Available for download
Person
Celia E. Rothenberg is associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies at McMaster University.
Content
1. "Nothing Jewish Should Be Unfamiliar"
2. "Camp is My Jewish Family"
3. "A More Spiritual Jew"
4. "Israel Must Live"
2. "Camp is My Jewish Family"
3. "A More Spiritual Jew"
4. "Israel Must Live"