The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America

by Sandra Fox

In the decades directly following the Holocaust, American Jewish leaders anxiously debated how to preserve and produce what they considered authentic Jewish culture, fearful that growing affluence and suburbanization threatened the future of Jewish life. Many communal educators and rabbis contended that without educational interventions, Judaism as they understood it would disappear altogether. They pinned their hopes on residential summer camps for Jewish youth: institutions that sprang up across the U.S. in the postwar decades as places for children and teenagers to socialize, recreate, and experience Jewish culture. Adults' fears, hopes, and dreams about the Jewish future inflected every element of camp life, from the languages they taught to what was encouraged romantically and permitted sexually. But adult plans did not constitute everything that occurred at camp: children and teenagers also shaped these sleepaway camps to mirror their own desires and interests and decided whether to accept or resist the ideas and ideologies their camp leaders promoted. Focusing on the lived experience of campers and camp counselors, The Jews of Summer demonstrates how a cultural crisis birthed a rite of passage that remains a significant influence in American Jewish life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Jewish, History, Judaism, Religion, Cultural, Academia

280 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2023

About the author

Sandra Fox is the Goldstein-Goren Visiting Assistant Professor of American Jewish History at New York University, and director of the Archive of the American Jewish Left in the Digital Age. Her research interests include American Jewish history, the history of youth and childhood, Yiddish culture, and the history of sexuality. Her book, The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America (Stanford University Press) addresses the experiences of youth in postwar Jewish summer camps and the place of intergenerational negotiation in the making of American Jewish culture.

Sandra received her doctorate from New York University’s joint History and Hebrew Judaic Studies program in 2018. In addition to her research, Sandra is the founder and executive producer of the Yiddish-language podcast Vaybertaytsh: A Feminist Podcast in Yiddish, and is on the editorial board of In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies.

Reviews

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Up front the mistake was mine. I saw the title of this book and felt it would be a perfect summer read. Dr. Sandra has written a research paper, The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America. Beyond mere publish or parish she has isolated particular aspects of part of the history of some of the more intense Jewish Sleep away camps and walked through a series of topics, tracing how different, mostly Orthodox, Yiddish, or later Zionist Jewish Summer camps constructed and varied thier curricula. Curricula, not routine. Curricula as in lesson plans, work organization and a host of things that may have been fun , but mostly were and were intended to be work.

I had been a camper for about 3 years in a Jewish sleep away camp never mentioned in the text. Whatever the politics behind it, it was way to Reformed to ever be on Dr. Fox’s RADAR. Nothing we did , read like what she researched. Our every day was pretty much scheduled, and we did dress and follow special schedules for Sabbath. From what I remember the goal was to provide organized sports, time for crafts and weekly real camping experiences in the form of over night hikes , cooking our own food and sleeping in tents or under the stars.

I have a decent academic background. I have read a fair amount of research academia. Dr. Fox has conducted a serious research project and written a serious piece for a serious audience. By the end I felt it was work to continue. If you have a need for solid research into this topic, The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America can add value to your bibliography. For me it was too dry, stepwise built and not anything like my years as a camper.

[Rebecca Brenner Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always associated Camus’s line “in the depth of winter I learned there lies within me an invincible summer” with summer camp. this book, published in February, is that an invincible summer. it’s a scholarly yet thrilling history of Jewish summer camps in the U.S. I have so much to say abt it idk where to start. my review is forthcoming in Jewish Women’s Archive- stay tuned ✡️💕

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to read this, but I wish I had realized going into it that it’s essentially a research paper.

[Rebecca Gross · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt so familiar to me as someone who went to Jewish summer camp for 9 years. My summer camp (Camp Alonim of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute) is briefly mentioned early in the book when discussing the beginning of educational Jewish summer camps.

Using both archival sources and interviews, Fox clearly and straight-forwardly describes the hard truth about these summer camps: that they endeavored to turn campers into a certain type of "authentic" Jew, and in doing so, facilitated and manipulated a particular affective experience in campers. Camp leaders across the U.S. took advantage of campers' desire for fun, freedom, and romance, using the summer months as an opportunity to keep Jewish children in a controlled environment in which ideologies of Zionism and endogamous marriage could be spread. This was true to my experience, and after realizing this in early college, it was empowering for me to read a book that so clearly articulated that this was so many peoples' experience, too.

I was most interested in learning about the Yiddishist summer camps, which were often funded and/or affiliated with Jewish Communist and Socialist groups. Some of what was included there will be important for my own dissertation. Also, Fox's attention to performance, protest, and activism throughout the book will certainly be useful for my dissertation project.

[Carol Feder · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Camp Ramah (Connecticut & Palmer, Mass) lifer (camper-Israel-Mador-Counselor) for 10 years in the 1960’s, I felt this book was written for me. I was one of those kids who lived from July-August and couldn’t wait until the next summer. I never appreciated the purpose behind the intentions and programming. This book is full of extensive research and interviews; very readable. I recommend it for anyone involved in informal Jewish education or Jewish camping.

[Tucker Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m not generally a nonfiction reader but i really enjoyed this! i found the chapter on romance and anti-intermarriage education especially interesting

[Amy Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just when I thought each of my camp experiences were unique and organic, Sandra Fox comes along and points out just how orchestrated they all were (right down to my counselor who told me that my 8th grade camp boyfriend and I were were favoritest couple and we should be together for ever... spoiler alert... long distance "relationship" and broke up the minute we saw each other again)... This is a scholarly book, so go into reading it knowing that... I wasn't expecting an ode to summer camp, and I didn't get one and was totally okay with that. What I DID get?! A much deeper understanding of the history of Jewish camping, how different camps came into being and evolved over the decades, etc. This is the book I didn't know I needed right now, and I'm so glad I read it.

[jessicarose · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone giving this a low rating because they weren't expecting it to be an academic book, that sounds like a you problem, not a problem with the book. This book was great--well-researched and well-written.

[Maayan Malomet · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful analysis of all things Jewish camps post WW2, recommend for anyone who went to camp. Nostalgic but critical and thoughtful read.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the comments about this book as much as the book. I skimmed until I found something that resonated in me. I read the ebook and I had so much fun reading the citations. I went down the rabbit hole of links to camps That I was familiar with. I’m a Cejwinite, as is my lineage. B’nai Brith Perlman as a teen. Lived for summer. Hated Maccabiah. I’m thrilled that this Jewish camping experience has something to inspire academic study. And vice versa.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not usually a non fiction enjoyer, but I really loved this book. It was super interesting to read after coming back from Cornerstone - a Jewish camp conference / professional development. Fascinating overview of all the different varieties of Jewish camps and how they educated their campers in their versions of Judaism throughout time.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A major worry of the post-World War II Jewish community was whether affluence would dilute people’s Jewish observance. After all, Jews were moving to suburbs, rather than living in close quarters in Jewish sections of large cities, and finding more acceptance in secular/Christian society. Would their children continue to find meaning in their religion or would they assimilate into the general American culture? One potential answer to this fear was Jewish summer camps where children could live 24/7 in a Jewish environment and experience the beauty of their religion/culture. However, in “The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America” (Stanford University Press), Sandra Fox shows that Jewish summer camps began decades earlier than many people realize and originally served a wider variety of purposes. Fox, a visiting professor and the director of the American Jewish Archive at New York University, seeks to expand readers’ thoughts about Jewish camps by analyzing the different types of camps that have been available over the decades.
See the rest of my review at https://www.thereportergroup.org/past...

[Murray · Rating 2 out of 5]

As other reviewers have said, if you're looking for a fun, nostalgic and anecdotal account of summer camps from a bygone era, this is not the book for you. Instead, "The Jews of Summer" is an academic look at the differences and similarities between various camps sponsored by various Jewish organizations and institutions with clear agendas. Fox does and excellent job researching her subject, but I found myself skipping many pages (which I never really do) just to get to the end of a chapter. There were sections and subjects that I found interesting, but I felt like I had to read a lot to get to the core of the matter. If, on the other hand, you're writing a dissertation on this topic, this book is great source material for you.

[Anouk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so interesting yet incredibly dense. It was an absolute slog to get through. Despite that, I think it did its job well. Different types of camps were covered in detail over the decades as they changed in response to American and Jewish culture and Jewish youth’s values. The photos and firsthand interviews were also valuable. Having known very little about Jewish camps prior to reading this book, I definitely found it eye-opening and I’d recommend it. Just don’t expect to finish it quickly.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very well-written and well-researched. It is mainly a historic exploration of the history of Jewish camps from their inception until maybe the 1980s or 1990s. So, my only critique is that it doesn’t really explore what’s happening in the camps today in this present day.

If you’re expecting a book with interviews and vignettes about camp life, this is not that book. But, if you’re expecting a well-presented history of the Jewish camping movement, this is that book.

[Corey · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 stars.

I hate to rate something so low as it’s apparent the author worked hard to put all of the information in the book together. This was not what I expected. I was looking for nostalgia and got dry, dense, and repetitive writing. While it was extremely educational, it was also extremely boring. I assumed a book about summer camp would be fun so maybe that was my mistake. A few pages here and there were interesting but other than that, pass.

[Yotam BM · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an Israeli, I found this an interesting window into the lives and history of American Jewry. Recommended if you're interested in the topic. The writing is academic, in that the book is very deliberately structured, and makes sure to proclaim the following topic, restate its points when they are done, etc. Still, it's reasonably accessible, not full of jargon or anything like that.

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting and thorough (albeit at times academic and a bit dry in its prose) history of a fascinating period in American social life. Good for anyone interested in the social history of summer camps, not just Jewish ones. As someone raised Mormon, there were a lot of parallels I saw to the camp experiences of my own childhood.

[Elida H · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was really fun, i LOVED all the the tavor and habo mentions. def a lot of the stuff is more “old camp”, but not all. so many things i thought were pretty unique to here weren’t, but that’s ok and so interesting. there were DEF some boring parts of this book, but i def enjoyed.

[Ariel Abramowitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be a much more lighthearted take on summer camp, but like other review said - felt like a research paper or dissertation. Way more analytical vs anecdotal read. Disappointed.

[kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

some parts were so boring but other parts were so interesting that they made up for it

[Geof Sage · Rating 2 out of 5]

Incredibly superficial - only chapter 7 had real depth. I guess that's why Slate excerpted it.

Reads like a subpar PhD dissertation.

[Emilie Goodrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

SUPER relatable, a bit too “scholarly” for what I was expecting. However, it made me giggle and reminisce.

[Lisa Rao · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a thesis

[Cara Meredith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really dry but informative nonetheless.

[Umar Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Needed some serious editing. It is an interesting topic, but read like a not very well-researched paper. Everything was surface level.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love this historical review of Jewish life and sleep away camp. Very academic and kind of dry but would read it again

[Amy Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Camp Ramah in the Berkshires camper from the 70's it really made me go back and reflect about my time there. I enjoyed it but found it a bit heavy, honestly.

[Martha Chestnut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Method of research was really interesting - needs like 200 more pages to really get the full picture I feel

[Louise Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the book Jews of Summer, author Sandra Fox, looks at the history and role of Jewish summer camps. I attended 3 different Jewish summer camps from 1966 through 1972. Two of those camps, Camp Ramah and Camp Tel Yehudah were highlighted in the book. As a student of organization and leadership, I appreciate the author’s examination through a sociological, political, educational, and religious lens. More stories from former campers would have enabled readers to understand the experience of going to camp.