Union for Reform Judaism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), is an organization which supports Reform Jewish congregations in North America. The current President is Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, and the Chairman of the Board is Robert M. Heller.
This organization was founded in 1873, in Cincinnati, Ohio, by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, originally as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. At the time it consisted of 34 congregations. As of 2005 some 900 synagogues are now associated with it.
In 2003, at the Biennial convention, the General Assembly officially changed the name of the movement to the Union for Reform Judaism. The former name had reflected Wise's expectation that the whole of American Jewry would eventually affiliate with the Reform movement. It also lacked recognition of URJ-affiliated congregations outside of the United States. The organization is often referred to simply as "the Union."
In 1875, the Union created the Hebrew Union College (HUC), the Reform movement serminary to train rabbis and later cantors and other Jewish professionals. Rabbis in URJ member synagogues are members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR).
[edit] Youth
The URJ Youth Division funds and organizes two youth wings, NFTY and Kesher, for High School and College students, respectively. The Youth Division also runs international travel programs to Israel and Europe and administers the URJ Camping system.
[edit] Political Outreach
The political and legislative outreach of the URJ is performed by the Religious Action Center (RAC), operated in conjunction with CCAR. The RAC advocates policy positions based upon religious values, and is generally associated with political progressivism.
[edit] Camps
The URJ owns and operates 12 summer camps in the United States and Canada. An additional camp is currently under construction in Washington, and a further four are operated by URJ-affiliated synagogues (Camp Charles Pearlstein, Wilshire Boulevard Temple Camps, Maurice B. Shwayder Camp, and Camp Teko). When not in use as camps, some of these facilities are often used by other community groups, including NFTY national and regional events. Many of the camps provide the opportunity for high-school aged campers to travel to Israel during a summer.
Camps owned by the URJ are:
[edit] URJ Kutz Camp
Home of the NFTY Leadership Academies for teenagers.
URJ Kutz Camp, formerly the UAHC Kutz Camp, was founded in 1965 on land in Warwick, NY formerly owned by Chock full o'Nuts. Unlike other URJ camps, Kutz accepts only campers of high school age. Directly affiliated with the North American Federation of Temple Youth, the camp is based on leadership development and Jewish education. Kutz was the location where NFTY held its Leadership Institutes, Board Meetings, creativity programs, and Jewish study programs, which were combined into a "NFTY National Academy" (later the NFTY Leadership Academy) in 1972 [1]. Also hosted at Kutz during this time period was the NFTY National Torah Corps, a study program focusing on the Torah and Jewish study in general. Rabbi Eric Yoffie chaired the first National Youth Leadership Institute in 1965 [2]. Jewish folk singer Debbie Friedman attended a songleading workshop at Kutz in 1968[3]. In the 1990s, there was a program for autistic teenagers as well, run by campers at the NFTY Leadership Academy program (which took place in the same camp).
[edit] URJ Joseph Eisner Camp
URJ Eisner Camp[4] (formerly Joseph Eisner Camp Institue for Living Judaism), founded in 1958, serves campers from New England and New York State. The camp is located on 680 acres (2.8 km²) in Great Barrington, MA, in the heart of the Berkshire mountains, and has a capacity of 800 staff and campers.
[edit] URJ Camp George
URJ Camp George[5], opened in 1999, is located 2 hours north of Toronto, Canada in beautiful Parry Sound, Ontario.
[edit] URJ Camp Harlam
URJ Camp Harlam,[6] or Camp Joseph and Betty Harlam, is a Jewish summer camp operating in the Poconos foothills of Pennsylvania, under the jurisdiction of the Union for Reform Judaism. Named after the Camp's initial primary benefactors, it opened in 1958. The camp now encompasses over 400 acres (1.6 km²) which, according to their website, can hold 550 campers and 200 staff each session. The current Director of camp is Rabbi Frank Dawoskin.
Camp Harlam has an active alumni group, and has an alumni reunion day each summer at the camp.
The camp is divided into communities by age: Junior Camp is for kids in 3rd to entering 8th grade, and consists of Carmel, Sharon, Arava, and Galil, all named after regions in Israel. Teenagers entering 9th grade begin Senior Camp in K'Far Noar, where they have their on village at the edge of camp, not too far away from Junior Camp. Teens entering 10th grade go to Chavurah, where they also have their own village, which is outside of camp, across the street. Afterward, campers can go on the Exodus Trip, which is a trip to Israel, starting in Europe and ending in Israel, where the campers stay for 6 weeks. They can return the next year as a CIT, and then a Staff Member.
Camp Harlam also hosts most NFTY Par events.
The first director of Camp Harlam was Arie Gluck, Who ran the camp for almost 45 years. Jack Feldman then took over. He ran the camp for two years. The third and current director is Frank Dawoskin, who was Assistant Director to Arie and Jack.
[edit] URJ Camp Coleman
URJ Camp Coleman,[7] located in Cleveland, Georgia, was founded in 1964. It has since grown into a camp of approximately 700 staff and campers. It has been affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC), since its birth.
Around Memorial Day Weekend, Camp Jenny, a camp for underpriveleged children in Atlanta run by NFTY-STR and NFTY-SAR, is run at Camp Coleman's facilities.
[edit] URJ Crane Lake Camp
URJ Crane Lake Camp, or simply Crane Lake, primarily serves children from around New England and New York. Crane Lake and Eisner Camp comprise the Northeast Camp Institute.
Crane Lake Camp's biggest feature is its lake waterfront and associted water- and beach-sports. A new creative arts center will open in 2007. There is also an intensive sports-camp option.
[edit] URJ Camp Newman
URJ Camp Newman, or simply Newman, is located in the hills of Santa Rosa, California. It is often associated with the now-closed URJ Camp Swig as the collective "Camp Newman-Swig", and it runs many of the same sessions that Camp Swig had run.
URJ Camp Swig (formerely UAHC Camp Swig), or simply Swig, is a Union for Reform Judaism summer camp located in Saratoga, California. The camp was originally known as Camp Saratoga and built on the purchased estate of author Kathleen Norris which was purchased using funds contributed by members of the San Francisco Jewish community (with a large contribution from the Swig family). In the late 1960's the camp was renamed Camp Swig in honor of the instrumental role played by the Swig family in the original acquisition of the land.
In the 1970's, under the leadership of Rabbi Joseph Glasser, renowned artist Helen Burke was recruited to come to the camp to lead a two week arts and crafts session. Helen stayed for the next 25 years. In that time she helped create the Jo Naymark Holocaust Memorial in collaboration with San Francsico architect Shami Noili. Camp Swig floursihed in the late 1970s and early 1980s under the leadership of Stephen Maykoff and Rabbi Martin Zinkow.
It is now often associated with URJ Camp Newman as the collective 'Camp Newman-Swig' with Newman being the newer camp run under the same leadership. For a time in the late 90s and early 2000s, Newman was used for the younger campers and Swig was being used by older campers with more focused interests (like art, music and leadership.). Since the summer of 2004, Swig has been closed altogether. The Reform Jewish community of Northern California faces obstacles both financially and geologically in renovating Camp Swig as it sits on a fault line in the Santa Cruz mountains. Known for its nearly 50-year history, tall redwood trees, beautiful artworks, and tremendous Holocaust memorial, Swig has a definite place in the consciousness of many Reform Jews of the region. Currently, the Camp Newman site approximately 125 miles away in Santa Rosa, CA is known as Camp Swig-Newman because of Swig's closure. Swig's closure has created a scarcity in summer camping activities for Reform Jewish youth in western states.
[edit] URJ Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute
URJ Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute, or simply OSRUI, is a Union for Reform Judaism summer camp located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. It was the first summer camp for Reform Judaism in the United States when founded in 1951 by the URJ (which was then known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations). Several other URJ Camps have since been established, but OSRUI hasn't strayed far from its original goal: to provide youngsters with a summer full of fun activities and new friends while leaving them with a reinvigorated sense ofJewish identity.
OSRUI (then called simply Union Institute) began life on a relatively small plot of land just off the shore of a small lake: Lac La Belle (also the name of a village contained in Oconomowoc and Ixonia). The land had previously been home to a Boy Scouts of America camp. Today, OSRUI continues to thrive in its original location (roughly halfway between Madison, WI and Milwaukee on US 94). Although the camp remains on the same land upon which it was founded, it has since expanded considerably further outward. Today, OSRUI is tens of times as expansive as it originally was.
[edit] The Units
OSRUI camp is divided into two primary regions: "upstairs" and "downstairs". The upstairs summer camp units (eidot) include Kallah, Gesher, Chalutzim, and Tiferet, while downstairs is home to Tzofim and Moshavah. "Upstairs" units live in cabins, while "downstairs" units live in army tents. There are also two itinerant units: Moshwest and OSRUI in Israel.
There are some commonalities that hold true across the units. For instance, each unit...
- Eats meals three times a day, every day.
- Holds services of group prayer (t'fillot) twice a day
- Is joined by faculty and/or Jewish Educational Professionals for the duration of the session
- Engages in various kinds of Jewish and Hebrew study
- Participates regularly in sports and/or swimming activities
That said, the units are widely disparate in theme, camper age, length of session, and living arrangements, to name a few dimensions. What follows is a description of each unit.
Machaneh Kallah
Kallah is the most basic unit (eidah) and is located upstairs. Younger first-time campers almost always start out in Kallah. Camp brochures often proclaim, "It's what you think of when you think about camp." Campers live in cabins (tzrifim), and experience highly structured days filled to the brim with sports, swimming, singing, special interest groups (chugim), singing, and even horseback riding (if they so desire). Daily Hebrew (ivrit) and study (limud) sessions are also the norm. There are two Kallah session during the summer: Kallah Aleph, which is for kids in grades 3-6, and Kallah Bet, which is for those in grades 4-7. Both are two weeks long.
Kibbutz HaTzofim
Tzofim campers are closest in age to those in Kallah, but enjoy an altogether different experience. Tzofim is located downstairs, and campers are housed in tents (ohelim). Tzofim campers are exposed to the full range of activities mentioned above, but also have unique responsibilities within their own community. For instance, campers tend to their own garden (gan) and care for animals such as goats, sheep, and chickens in the refet. Campers also assume some of the responsibility for the operation of the unit, helping to prepare meals and clean up afterward. Tzofim also hosts Oconomostock, a camp-wide talent show whose perennial popularity and intrigue are reflected by the secrecy of its theme, which is never revealed until the night of the show. Campers must promise not to divulge any "sensitive" information concerning theme and plot, and "false themes" are even created to throw off nosy campers (and staff). Unsurprisingly, slightly older, more independent children tend to do better in Tzofim. There are three sessions: Tzofim Aleph, Tzofim Bet and Tzofim Gimmel . The first two are each two weeks long; the last is four weeks long. All sessions are for campers entering the fourth through the seventh grades.
Gesher
Gesher is OSRUI's newest unit, replacing the now-defunct Bonim, which was itself made a replacement for both Maccabiah and Chavurah in the summer of 2003. Campers occupy the cabins that the kallah campers have recently vacated; the unit is located upstairs. Gesher campers are of junior high age, and therefore enjoy more programming flexibility and choice than campers in Kallah and Tzofim. Each camper is allowed to choose two electives--examples include sports, drama, swing choir, nature, and sailing. Some electives, such as sports, can count as both electives if the camper chooses. Campers generally switch electives mid-session, but are not required to; some electives, such as GuardStart, the Red Cross' introductory lifeguarding program, are four weeks long. Gesher campers are also responsible for planning programs in small groups. Some are strictly for the unit: services, evening programs (tochniyot erev), and the like, whereas others, most notably the Color Wars (now christened the "All-Camp Color Challenge Games") involve the entire camp. Gesher campers, furthermore, are in charge of a "camper council", a group of delegates from the various units that comes together to discuss issues of mutual interest. Finally, Gesher campers participate in a weekly field trip that involve such activities as canoeing, rock climbing, professional baseball games, and tikkun olam (repairing the world). There is one session of Gesher, and it is four weeks long. Campers are entering the seventh through the ninth grades.
Tiferet
Tiferet is an upstairs unit dedicated to the arts (omanut). There are two sessions of Tiferet: "workshop", which is for middle school age campers (6-8 grade), and "studio", for high school age campers (8-10 grade). They are each four weeks long. Campers select one of four art programs (studios) to participate in: visual art, music, dance, or drama. Besides spending several hours a day in their respective studios, campers participate in the other camp activities, although generally in a more limited capacity. At the end of the studio session, campers' families are invited to an art exhibition and recital at the camp. Tiferet is consistently one of the smallest units in camp, although they exert their spirit (ruach) with the same energy as any other.
Moshavat HaTeva
Moshavah (Mosh for short) is a downstairs unit along with Tzofim. Campers in Mosh live in tents (ohelim). The highlight of a summer spentin Mosh is the opportunity to go on multiple-day outdoors trips (tiyulim). Campers in the first four weeks of the summer (Mosh Aleph) go on three three-day tiyulim, while the campers in the last four weeks (Mosh Bet) go on two five-day tiyulim. Mosh trips vary from canoeing on the Mecan, Wisconsin, or Mississippi Rivers and sleeping on sandbars; biking 90 or more miles through the state of Wisconsin; rock climbing and hiking at Devil's Lake state park; or backpacking on glacial land formations. Each tiyul presents unique challenges that promote community building in a way different from that of any other unit (eidah) at camp. Moshavah is a very demanding experience, perfect for those who have a love of nature (teva) and a great spirit of adventure. Mosh Aleph is open for campers entering eighth grade and older, while Mosh Bet is open for campers entering ninth grade and older.
Chalutzim
Chalutzim is a seven week Hebrew immersion program. This unit is designed for high schoolers going into at least the tenth grade. Chalutzim campers live and learn in a dynamic and unique intensive Hebrew-speaking environment. They have the opportunity explore their connection with the land and language of the Jewish people. Most of the counselors in the unit are Israeli, brought in for the summer to work with the campers.
[edit] Shabbat at OSRUI
Shabbat at OSRUI consists of an all camp dinner, Shabbat Shira, and Israeli Dancing. Sabbat Shira an all-camp song session. Songleaders gather in the middle of a large circle with campers and staff sitting on the floor in the round. The song session lasts about an hour, which typically includes about 25 songs as well as a brief story telling.
[edit] Hava Nashira
Hava Nashira is the annual Jewish songleading workshop held every spring at OSRUI. The workshop is open to URJ camp songleaders as well as to synagogue music specialists and all those with a serious interest in Jewish songleading and music. Hava Nashira draws the best of modern Jewish musicians to lead specialty tracks, such as: Debbie Friedman, Craig Taubman, and Dan Nichols. Examples of creative tracks offered in previous years: "URJ Camp Songleading" by Dan Nichols and Rosalie Will Boxt, "Repertoire Renewal" by Debbie Friedman, and "Music for Young Children and Families" by Peter and Ellen Allard. Participants of Hava Nashira also are able to enjoy spending a Shabbat at camp before the summer camp season formally begins.
[edit] URJ Myron S. Goldman Union Camp-Institute
The Myron S. Goldman Union Camp-Institute[8], "GUCI" for short, is a summer camp located in Zionsville, Indiana. It caters for young people in grade 3 through to high school seniors. The camp offers courses in traditional Jewish subjects such as Hebrew and Jewish history, and secular activities such as various sports, music and drama.
[edit] URJ Henry S. Jacobs Camp
Henry S. Jacobs Camp,[9] or Jacobs as it is informally known, is a summer camp founded by Macy Hart outside the town of Utica, Mississippi. The camp has six camper units: Machon (entering 12th graders), Chalutzim (entering 10th graders), Talmadim (entering 8th and 9th graders), Maskilim (entering 7th and 6th graders), Garin (entering 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders) and Olim (entering 2nd graders and first time 3rd grade campers). The camp has all the standard activities, including: swimming, sports, tower climbing, mountain biking, dance, self-defense, Judaica, and arts and crafts. Its current director is Jonathan "JC" Cohen.
It attracts Jewish campers from Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Israel, Texas, West Tennessee, Puerto Rico, Alabama, and parts of Florida. [10]
[edit] URJ Greene Family Camp
URJ Greene Family Camp[11], GFC for short, is located on 160 acres (0.6 km²) in Bruceville, Texas, 144 km (90 miles) north of Austin, Texas. Open since 1976, the camp draws campers primarily from Southwest (Texas and Oklahoma. GFC is fully accredited by the American Camp Association.
[edit] URJ Camp Kalsman
URJ Camp Kalsman is the 13th camp in the Union for Reform Judaism's system, which will open in Washington in Summer 2007. It is named after the parents of Peachy Levy of Los Angeles, who along with her husband, Mark Levy, are the camp's primary benefactors. The camp was purchased from the Love Israel cult in 2003 when the group faced bankruptcy.
