Camp Shomria is the name used by several Jewish

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

s associated with the

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair (, , 'The Young Guard') is a Labor Zionism, Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary. It was also the name of the Hashomer Hatzair Workers Party, the ...

Progressive Zionist youth movement in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. At present, Hashomer Hatzair North America operates two Camp Shomrias: one in

Perth, Ontario Perth is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Tay River (Ontario), Tay River, southwest of Ottawa, and is the seat of Lanark County. History The town was established as a military settlement in 1816, shortly after the War of ...

, which has been operating since the late 1950s and takes campers from Canada and parts of the United States, and an older camp at

Liberty, New York Liberty is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Sullivan County, New York, Sullivan County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 10,159 at the 2020 census.US Census Bureau, 2020 Census Report QuickFacts, ...

, in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

, that was founded in the 1940s. Since 2003, Camp Shomria Liberty has included Israeli Arabs, Israeli Jews and Bedouins amongst its roster of campers in an attempt to break down barriers between Israeli Jews and Arabs

Similarly, since 2011, Camp Shomria Perth has hosted the program Heart to Heart, which is made up of 20 Palestinian and Jewish Israeli youth and is aimed at equipping participants with the skills to work towards a shared society back in Israel. Heart to Heart is co-sponsored by Givat Haviva. Although founded in the 1940s, the actual site in Liberty was once a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

training facility. Over the years, Hashomer Hatzair has operated other Camp Shomrias in California, Maryland, and in the Midwest.

Groups (kvutzot)

The camp is divided into ''kvutzot'', or groups. The names are taken from kibbutzim in Israel, such as Galon, Harel, Hazorea, Sasa, and Kfar Menachem. The campers are split into two age groups, with three years in each; Aleph, Bet, and Gimmel, which are arbitrary denominations corresponding to the beginning letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Campers older than twelve are in Tzofim, while younger children are in Chalutzim. Counselors-in-training are in a group of their own called Yedid in Perth and Kibbutzi in Liberty. Sixteen and older is Hadracha, or staff. During the second three-week period of their Yedid/Kibbutzi year, campers may (and most usually do) enter a program to go Israel, where they visit historical sites, gain exposure to Israeli culture, and spend time bonding with their kvutza. This program is also (and not coincidentally) called Yedid.

References

External links

Hashomer Hatzair - Camp Shomria CanadaCamp Shomria - Hashomer Hatzair USA
Shomria Shomria Organizations based in Ontario Hashomer Hatzair {{Jewish-org-stub