Right about now, duffel bags are coming home smelling like campfire smoke and lake water. Friendship bracelets are stacked up wrists. And somewhere in the chaos of unpacking trunks and doing laundry, a lot of our kids are already counting down the days until they can go back.
If you've ever picked up a child from Jewish summer camp, you know the look on their face. It's not just tired-happy. It's changed. And it turns out that's not just a parent's imagination — it's one of the best-documented phenomena in Jewish communal life.
According to the Foundation for Jewish Camp, campers who attend Jewish overnight camp are significantly more likely, as adults, to feel emotionally attached to Israel, to belong to a synagogue, to donate to Jewish causes, and to raise their own children with a strong Jewish identity. Camp doesn't just fill a summer. It builds the adults our community will need for the next fifty years — the future board chairs, the volunteers, the ones who show up.
I often say that my children's summers at URJ Camp Harlam were the best Jewish investment I've made, and that is not just because one turned out to be a rabbi and the other serves on their executive board. Every family who wants a Jewish camp experience for their child should have one — not just the families who can easily afford it.
Here's the hard truth: This year, our camp scholarship fund ran out before the need did. We were not able to say "yes" to every family who asked us for help sending their child to Jewish camp. That's not a sentence I write lightly, and it's not one I'm comfortable letting stand as our new normal. A Jewish childhood shouldn't have a price tag that some families can meet and others can't.
So, here's what I'm asking: as we move into a new school year, let's solve this together. Whether that's a gift to our camp scholarship fund at our Jewish Foundation specifically, or a broader gift to our Federation that lets us direct resources where the need is greatest, every dollar gets a child one step closer to that camp Shabbat, that campfire, that bunk, that unshakeable sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves.
The timing of all this is not lost on me. Just as our kids are settling into new classrooms and new routines, our Federation's annual campaign is swinging into full gear for the year ahead. The next few months will be full. Full of opportunities to learn about the work your community is doing, to engage with programs and people who are shaping Jewish Nashville, and to support the institutions that will carry our children's Jewish identity forward long after the last day of camp.
I don't say this as an obligation. I say it as an invitation. Jewish Nashville is dynamic, and it's growing, and I genuinely look forward to experiencing all of it alongside you this year — the campaign events, the learning opportunities, the moments of connection that remind us why this community is worth investing in.
Join us on Sunday, Aug. 23, as our community comes together for Tzedekah Tzunday to raise needed funds for the Jewish Federation’s Annual Campaign, which supports Jewish life across our community, in Israel and around the world. I look forward to seeing you there and if you would like to discuss how you can help our community by supporting the campaign, the camperships or other important needs, please contact me at judy@jewishnashville.org.
The Jewish Observer is published by The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville and made possible by funds raised in the Jewish Federation Annual Campaign. Become a supporter today.