Cejwin Camps was a

Jewish summer camp A Jewish summer camp is a summer camp dedicated to Jewish communities. In the United States these camps grew in popularity in the years after World War II and the Holocaust as an effort by American Jewish leaders to preserve and produce authentic ...

near

Port Jervis Port Jervis, named after John Bloomfield Jervis, a Roman civil engineer who oversaw the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, ...

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

, 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 A Jewish Community Center or a Jewish Community Centre (JCC) is a general recreational, social, and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities. JCCs promote Jewish culture and heritage through holiday celebrations, ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, as a two-week vacation home for needy

Talmud Torah Talmud Torah (, 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 education in Hebrew language, H ...

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

was purchased in 1923, and opened the following July. Cejwin's Jewish practice was influenced by the Reconstructionist outlooks of Rabbis

Mordecai Kaplan Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983) was an American Conservative rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian, philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist movement of Judaism al ...

and

Ira Eisenstein Ira Eisenstein (November 26, 1906 – June 28, 2001) was an American rabbi who, along with his mentor and—through his marriage to Judith Kaplan—father-in-law, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, founded Reconstructionist Judaism over a period spanning the ...

, both of whom frequently visited the camp. Its initial program included

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and Judaica classes alongside recreational camp activities like music and

arts and crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

. Though formal instruction was abandoned during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

, 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 att ...

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 () 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-observant. History During the 1940s, th ...

, 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 region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

Notable alumni and staff

* Sylvia Ettenberg * Temima Gezari *

Ellen Greene Ellen Greene is an American actress and singer. She has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actress and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many ...

Sydney Taylor Sydney Taylor (October 30, 1904 – February 12, 1978) was an American writer, known for her series of children's books about a Jewish-American family in New York during the early 20th century. Her first book won the Charles W. Follett Award in c ...

* 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, namely the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva Univ ...

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