Cejwin Camps was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer summer vacation, months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part ...

in the Catskill Mountains, established in 1919 by the Central Jewish Institute. At its height it was "the most significant non-Hebrew Jewish cultural camp."

History

The camp was founded in 1919 by the Central Jewish Institute, an independent Jewish community center in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

, as a two-week vacation home for needy

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah ( he, תלמוד תורה, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary educ ...

students. After its second summer, it was expanded into an educational residential camp under the leadership of the Institute's director, Dr. Albert P. Schoolman, a disciple of

Samson Benderly Samson Benderly (1876 – July 9, 1944) was a major figure in promoting Jewish education in the United States. He was born in Safed, Ottoman Palestine, and he later emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland, arriving on 23 September 1898. He studied medicine ...

. A permanent site for the camp on Martin's Lake near

Port Jervis Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

was purchased in 1923, and opened the following July. Cejwin's Jewish practice was influenced by the Reconstructionist outlooks of Rabbis Mordecai Kaplan and Ira Eisenstein, both of whom frequently visited the camp. Its initial program included

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

and Judaica classes alongside recreational camp activities like music and arts and crafts. Though formal instruction was abandoned during the Great Depression, Schoolman continued to promote Hebrew and Judaism through

informal Formal, formality, informal or informality imply the complying with, or not complying with, some set of requirements (forms, in Ancient Greek). They may refer to: Dress code and events * Formal wear, attire for formal events * Semi-formal atti ...

education. The camp's name was changed from Central Jewish Institute Camps to Cejwin Camps in 1933. Cejwin consisted of seven camps, divided by age groups: three for boys (Hadar, Carmel and Aviv), three for girls (Hadas, Carmela and Aviva), and one co-ed (Yonim, the youngest). In the 1970s, Yonim was divided into Junior Hadar and Junior Hadas.

Legacy

As one of the first Jewish cultural camps in the United States, Cejwin Camps was highly influential in the camping movement. The founders of

Camp Ramah Camp Ramah ( he, מחנה רמה, Machaneh Ramah) is a network of Jewish summer camps affiliated with the Conservative Movement. The camps operate in the United States, Canada, and Israel. All Ramah camps serve kosher food and are ''Shabbat''-o ...

, one of whom had previously attended Cejwin, were inspired by the camp's model, while Schoolman himself went on to help found Camp Modin in

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

Notable alumni and staff

Sylvia Ettenberg Sylvia Cutler Ettenberg (July 27, 1917 – June 21, 2012) was a Jewish educator at the forefront of many Conservative Jewish educational initiatives and was one of the founders of the Camp Ramah camping movement. A graduate of Brooklyn College an ...

Temima Gezari Temima GezariPaula Hyman, Deborah Dash Moore, American Jewish Historical Society''Jewish Women in America'' Taylor & Francis, 1997, p. 509 (December 21, 1905 – March 5, 2009) was an American artist and art educator. Her life's work in paintin ...

* Ellen Greene * Sydney Taylor * Marvin Terban

References

External links

* * {{cite archive, item=Camp Cejwin, item-url=, type = , item-id=P-716, date=1926–1990, series=3, collection=Schoolman Family Papers , collection-url=https://archives.cjh.org//repositories/3/resources/15556, institution=

Center for Jewish History The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five Jewish history, scholarship, and art organizations in New York City: American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva University Mus ...

, location=New York, N.Y. 1919 establishments in New York (state) 1991 disestablishments in New York (state) Educational institutions established in 1919 Jewish summer camps in New York (state) Port Jervis, New York Reconstructionist Judaism in the United States