How Should U.S. Jewish Summer Camps Teach About Israel Post-October 7?
The time has come for Jewish camps to discard their obsession with “unity” and “solidarity” and set aside their bizarre reluctance to talk about the political issues at the very heart of the Israel-Palestine debate.
As Jewish camps open for the summer across America, camp directors and staff are struggling with an agonizing question: How to teach Israel to Jewish kids in the post-October 7 era? How to make these kids feel love for Israel, and advocate for it, while also being thoughtful critics of the Jewish state?
Will they succeed? I hate to say it, but probably not. American Jews do not know how to do Israel education, and when they try it, it is mostly a disaster. That said, the need for sophisticated Israel instruction has never been more urgent. As the war in Gaza grinds on, young Jews, in high school and college and often in the workplace, are confronting anti-Israel sentiments at demonstrations, and sometimes overt anti-Semitic attacks. Israel is a colonial power, they hear, guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppressing and occupying indigenous Palestinians.
And this fall, in the shadow of the presidential election – and especially if the Gaza war is ongoing – there’s a high likelihood anti-Israel organizing will resume.
And yet, many young Jews are pitifully ignorant of the century-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including Arab nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism, Israel’s complex democracy or the emergence of extremist strands in Zionist thinking.
Some of them have never been exposed to serious instruction, while others have been fed a picture of Israel-as-Disneyland. Not surprisingly, amid the hard-core Israel-bashing rampant on campus they are completely unprepared to offer a centrist, nuanced, but pro-Israel response.
Some of them have been drawn to the ranks of protesters who see Israel’s very existence as illegitimate. According to a poll conducted by the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs, approximately one-third of American Jews—most of them young—agree with the statement that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Larger numbers, to be sure, remained supportive of Israel, but in a conditional and tentative way. According to another survey, 66 percent of Jewish college students said that they would pay a “social penalty” for supporting “the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.” And among this group, many are simply drifting away from any Israel attachments, distanced by their lack of knowledge and their horror at the loss of Palestinian life in Gaza, and disillusioned by a Jewish community incapable of providing an accurate picture of Israel’s reality.
And that is where camp comes in. Unlike synagogue religious schools, often experienced by children as an imposition on their time, camps offer an immersive Jewish experience, combining creativity, sports, games, community building, Jewish ritual, and informal education, with Israel an important part of the picture. Israeli camp counselors, supplied by the Jewish Agency, play an important part as role models and informal educators.
At a time when disputes about Israel are tearing campuses apart, camps would seem to be the ideal vehicle to promote serious learning about Israel. Some 180,000 Jewish children and teenagers attend the camps and often come from homes with the highest levels of Jewish commitment.
The camp structure provides ample time for in-depth, informal learning, often the most effective sort, especially with teenagers.
But here’s the problem: Most Israel education in American camps – like Israel education everywhere else – has simply never been serious.
In two recent lengthy articles that interview camp staff preparing for this summer, one in Haaretz and one in Tablet, most staffers acknowledge, if a bit indirectly, the less-than-serious approach that has long characterized Israel education for young people.
For young children, of course, it is appropriate to emphasize that we Jews are a family, and that the Jews of Israel are a big and important part of that family. For beginning campers, the cultural and familial dimensions of Israeli life are the best means to establish a visceral connection with the Jewish state and the Jewish people.
But as campers reach junior high and high school, their questions and curiosity kick in, and for them and their college-age counselors, it’s no longer sufficient to talk the language of Jewish “unity” and “solidarity” with the citizens of Israel.
They are aware of the raging political debates, and they want to know: Is Israel a colonial power or not? Does it oppress and mistreat Palestinians? Does it have a plan for peace? How do I defend Israel against its most vicious critics?
Our kids are smart, and they want answers. But they rarely get them.
Consider comments from camp leaders and educators themselves on how they plan to teach Israel this summer, from those claiming they are not in a position to ask staff to discuss the political complexities in Israel and prefer to focus on cultural issues, to an outright strategy of not holding conversations (at least formally) about the war. Along with avoiding politics, many camp educators emphasize the importance of openness to differing points of views. They speak of “multiple narratives” and “safe environments” where everyone feels free to say what they want. And whatever views you have are just fine, no matter where they fall on the ideological spectrum. According to the director of Camp Sprout Lake,” …it is okay, more than okay, to be to the left or the right. It’s okay to be confused.”
Excuse me, but this sounds a lot to me like wishy-washy nonsense.
Children should, of course, feel free to express their own opinions on Israel, whether or not they agree with others. They should be open to perspectives different from their own. And it is true that solidarity with the people and state of Israel is an essential value for Jewish youth.
But avoiding politics is simply craziness, leaving young Jews at the mercy of the Israel haters. It is politics that is being argued on the campuses and in the high schools, and if we don’t offer our young people clear answers to political questions, they will be confused, alienated, and lost, unable to muster a decent argument on Israel’s behalf. This past spring only a handful of Jewish student groups were able to offer a compelling defense of Israel on campuses.
The time has come for Jewish camps to discard their obsession with “unity” and “solidarity” and to set aside their bizarre reluctance to talk about the political issues that are at the very heart of the Israel-Palestine debate.
The time has come for camps and other Jewish educational institutions to set out a clear Zionist vision, and to promote such a vision among their young people. And while all American Jews may not agree on what that vision should be, I believe that the majority are more or less in the same centrist place. And the act of constructing such a curriculum would be an invaluable exercise for camps and young people alike, as they struggle to find their Zionist voice.
And what would be the primary elements of this vision? I would begin with the following:
A belief in a Jewish and democratic Israel; a commitment to a two-state reality where both Israelis and Palestinians can live securely and in peace; a rejection of Kahanist lunacy and radical settler ideology; an unshakeable love of Zion; an affirmation of the need for Israeli power of deterrence; a promise of individual equality and human rights for all citizens of the Jewish state; non-stop effort to ease and ultimately end the occupation; and a declaration of permanent resistance to Hamas and its Iranian sponsors who engage in acts of genocidal murder against the Jewish people.
Will most of our young people rally to this vision? They will, I believe, if we teach it thoughtfully, and allow our kids to have their say.
Looking ahead to the challenges of the fall, when attacks on Jews and Israel will likely resume in full force, our Jewish camps—a precious and irreplaceable educational asset—need to do what only they can do.
And to their leaders we need to say: Forget vague apolitical slogans and gestures of “solidarity.” Deal with the tough political issues that our kids really care about. It’s time to choose sides and do your job.
Rabbi Eric Yoffie is a writer, lecturer, and internationally-known religious leader. A bold, compelling, and inspiring speaker, he has presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos and has appeared on Fox news, CNN, and many other news outlets. He writes regularly for Time, The Huffington Post, The Jerusalem Post and the Israeli daily Haaretz. He speaks on a 
