Jeremy F.: Nonprofit is the tax status, but the foundation and the camps themselves are real businesses. Consumers are making choices about every product and they're making choices about camp. And so, camps need to think about their brands and their businesses in the context of a soc iety of choice. Bryan S.: From the recording studios of Reconstructing Judaism, this is Trending Jewish with Rachael Burgess ... Rachael Burgess: And, Bryan Schwartzman. Bryan S.: We've got a great show today, it's part two of our series on Jewish camp and camping. We had a great conversation with Isaac Saposnik last episode and continuing in that discussion we're going to be talking to Jeremy Fingerman, the Executive Director of the Foundation for Jewish Camp. For those soup lovers and wine lovers out there he also used to work at Campbell Soup and Manischewitz. Rachael Burgess: But, also before we get to our guest, we want to remind you to subscribe to our show wherever you listen. You can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Castro, and wherever you get your podcasts. Bryan S.: Spotify worked really well. I've tried it. It's pretty easy to download. Rachael Burgess: I'm still wrapping my head around Spotify and doing podcasts, but I'm also an Apple user, so I am very, very much in love with my iPhone. So, Apple Podcasts is where I'm at, and the rest of you guys out there who don't use it. I don't know. I don't know what to say about you. Bryan S.: Yeah. I ... Rachael Burgess: Bryan. Bryan S.: I have an Android. Leave us a rating and review, please. Reviews really, really help people find the show. Right now we have twelve 5-star ratings on Apple Podcasts. I made that number up. Speaker 4: I think that's right. I think maybe thirteen. It's accurate. Bryan S.: We're almost sure that's accurate enough. Twelve 5-star ratings on Apple Podcast, but we need more. If you leave us a review, we will- Rachael Burgess: Respect you forever. We will be your biggest fans. Bryan S.: We'll come up with something we promise. Rachael Burgess: As you were saying earlier, now that that business is over, this is a really great episode. I am such a lover of Jewish camping even though I never got to experience it myself. But as we're finding out and we're seeing more and more, that's really the way to engage kids into the Jewish world. There's studies that have been published that the one big factor to keep kids engaged in the Jewish world as adults is camp and the camp experience. Bryan S.: Yeah, and what Rabbi Isaac told us last time is we've actually increased the number of kids who are going to camp either overnight or day camp. But that number is still at about 10%. So, of course, I guess we need to keep talking about that 10%, but also the other 90% that aren't getting that experience. And our guest mentions the One Happy Camper program. I don't think we really explained it, but it's a collaboration usually between local Jewish federations and the Foundation for Jewish Camp. And they give scholarships, I think as much as $1,000 for first time campers to go to overnight camp. I think they have some day camp scholarships, also. I know we're getting close to thesummer, but look into it. There is funding available. Rachael Burgess: And also, other camps as well. You can always reach out to them and talk about their scholarship programs as well. Most, if not all camps I think have some sort of scholarship program to help offset that financial burden. I'm pretty much jealous of all the kids who get to go to camp this summer and past summers. Every time we go to visit a Camp Havaya up in the Poconos, I feel like I just didn't quite have a proper childhood. Bryan S.: They have like these inflatable -- lakes and slides, I know I've seen it elsewhere, that are on the lake and it just was completely missing from my childhood and it looks like the coolest thing and I kind of just want to jump in the water every time I go, but I haven't had a chance yet. Rachael Burgess: It's also usually warm when we go. It's usually pretty warm. So, that's another reason why we're always talking about jumping into the lake as well. Bryan S.: The lake slide just ... Rachael Burgess: It looks like so much fun. Bryan S.: It does. So we've got Jeremy Fingerman here. I think we've got plenty to talk about. Rachael Burgess: Right. And he's also got a great view because the Foundation for Jewish Camp really has a good overall look at Jewish camps across North America. And so, we're pretty excited to be able to talk to him about the different trends that he's seeing, and some of the big questions that have been in the news recently about Jewish camps, including safety, including how camps are approaching ... you mentioned this article about camp not being the place anymore to go find your future spouse. So, he addresses it all. Bryan S.: Should we bring our guest on? Rachael Burgess: Yeah, let's do it. Bryan S.: All right. Jeremy Fingerman welcome to #TrendingJewish. We're so excited to have you. Jeremy F.: Well, thanks. Thanks for having me. Looking forward to the conversation. Bryan S.: I guess I'll start. We want to know a little bit about you. I understand you grew up going to Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your camp experience and how it shaped you. Jeremy F.: Well, thanks. Yes. I grew up in Cincinnati. It was my Bar Mitzvah year. My rabbi told my parents, "You should send him to Ramah." I like to say that's when a rabbi was a rabbi and you did whatever the rabbi said. So, my parents sent me to Ramah. They didn't call and interview the director, there was no research to be done. And we just went and I just went and, I can look back and say yes, those four years in Wisconsin, the fifth year in Israel, but with that group, formative and transformative for me, for my family; really, really powerful. So, I'm a consumer, I guess. I'm a camper at heart and so I deeply believe in what we're doing in our work, because it happened to me, it affected me positively. Rachael Burgess: One of the fascinating things actually reading about your background is that your career really started out in the corporate world. You're working for Manischewitz and you're working for Campbell Soup. How do you go from being a pretty high level person in these corporations and to go into nonprofit? I mean, you don't think about nonprofits as being a very lucrative endeavor. So, it seems like a big shift for you. Jeremy F.: Well, look, we've got to go back in the story and it's funny because, I had been offered a job as a camp counselor when I was in college, I guess. I think I even accepted the job. And then a week or two weeks later, I got a job in Washington that I had applied for, in Washington, D.C., working for a congressman. So, then I think I wrote snail mail to the director saying, "My apologies, but I can't accept." And, he said, "Well, I hope you'll reconsider next year." But for me, once I got on that track, first in Washington and then ultimately business school, and then working, I was on that path. Jeremy F.: So, after business school, I moved to Minneapolis to work for General Mills in the breakfast cereal business and had five and a half great years in Minneapolis. Actually met my wife there. Then moved to Philadelphia to work for Campbell Soup Company where we spent 12 years, both in the US and overseas. Ultimately, I was President of the US Soup Division. Rachael Burgess: Wow. Jeremy F.: Where Campbell's the largest division of the company. Then I got recruited to become CEO of Manischewitz. So, that's why we moved to northern New Jersey from Philadelphia. And, so the story there was, it was a private equity backed firm and we knew it was a couple of years, a short stint, get it cleaned up and sold. We did that and when we sold the company, I was out looking for my next food or beverage position. And, I got a call from a headhunter who had been hired by FJC, the Foundation for Jewish Camp to find their next CEO, and they were looking for someone who had a corporate background in branding, marketing, sort of in strategy. Jeremy F.: I think the headhunter called and a flood of memories when they said Foundation for Jewish Camp, a flood of positive memories, came to me as I started thinking about it. I called my wife and same thing happened to her because she had been a camper also in Wisconsin; different camp. But she too had this positive, sort of warm feeling and said, "Hey, I think it's worth kicking the tires on it." And, so we got to know more members of the board and started looking at it and saw that the foundation was really trying to operate and to help the field operate. Nonprofit is the tax status, but that the foundation and the camps themselves are real businesses, and they need to operate profitably and appropriately. Jeremy F.: I feel like this is -- coming to market and sell and think of strategies for the field of Jewish camp, the foundation, is exactly what I had been doing in my career at General Mills, at Campbell's and at Manischewitz. These are brands, businesses, services, services offered to consumers. We're in a society of choice. Consumers are making choices about every product and they're making choices about camp. And so, camps need to think about their brands and their businesses in the context of a society of choice. Bryan S.: So, I mean, how do you go about building the brand of Jewish camp in general or are you building the brand in general or are you focused on helping each individual build their brands? Jeremy F.: Well, I think it's a combination. So, the first recognition of every camp, each individual camp, and there's 166, I think, but let's call it 160 Jewish overnight camps in North America and another 150, 160 Jewish day camps, across North America. So, it's a big industry. But each camp has its own brand. Each camp is their own independent ... Generally, they're all 501(c)3s, independent of a ... some are affiliated with larger organizations, but in general, they're independent. And they have a brand and their business. As I say, the nonprofit is their tax status, but the camp's a profitable business. Jeremy F.: In this case, our camps, the nonprofit camps reinvest their operating profits back into scholarships or into capital improvements or ongoing maintenance and repairs, and on staffing. They're not making profit, but they're putting those profits back into the business. Jeremy F.: But, so to answer your question, the first piece is each camp is its own brand, and in some cases if you're in a network of let's say Ramah camps, so you have the Ramah brand that stretches across 10 camps. That's a wonderful. Look what has happened with Havaya, the old Camp JRF, now Camp Havaya, opened the new specialty camp, which is Havaya Arts. So, there's a whole branding piece and I'm proud that I played a role in that conversation, in that push to go to sort of a common branding. Jeremy F.: As we think broader than just the individual camps and beyond the movements, we think about, "Is camp a brand? Is Foundation for Jewish Camp a brand?" We like to say we're wholesalers, not retailers. And so, the foundation is not as well known to a parent or to an individual consumer to camper, but many are familiar with One Happy Camper, which is our signature consumer facing brand. Jeremy F.: And that's the Foundation for Jewish Camp's One Happy Camper program, which is an incentive grant for first time campers, a thousand dollars off your first year at camp, for summer camp. That brand is perhaps more known by the general public. And, so you sort of look at, in some cases brands can be consumer facing and sometimes they're industry facing. I think Foundation for Jewish Camp is a good brand for the total industry and maybe our key targets are federations, foundations, other funders, philanthropists and I think the brand of Foundation for Jewish Camp is well known to those sort of playing on the regional or national scene. Bryan S.: I was curious, seeing some of the reporting in JTA, the tactic of funding reported stories about camp in general that I think you guys are involved with. I was wondering if that fits into the strategy of reaching your target audience about promoting camp. Jeremy F.: Well, the Foundation for Jewish Camp really is an advocate for the field. I think our role then in the public space probably is to share the story ofJewish camp in its biggest sense, not the individuals, but the big story of why Jewish camp works. We commissioned research studies. We've commissioned papers written about the impact of camp and I think our role is to sort of help promote camp and help get local communities, local federations, movements like Reconstructing Judaism or the Conservative United Synagogue or the Union for Reform Judaism, URJ, to get those movements prioritizing and talking about Jewish camp. So, a lot of our work is in that space. Rachael Burgess: Actually, what you just mentioned with the research that your organization really invests quite a bit in, what has been the most interesting study done? Are there any results that have really surprised you from these studies? Jeremy F.: I don't know if surprise is the right word. I think a lot is sort of the data's confirmed a lot of what we've known. First, that camp works sort of in its headline. And what are those elements of camp that works? It's spending time away from home, away from parents in a pure sort of community, a community of peers led by a near-peer role model. So, that counselor role model is key, I'll come back to that in a moment. That camp in general has an aspirational arc that you come back year after year, and as you grow and mature through adolescence and the teen years, the coming back to camp then becomes sort an anchor or check-in as part of a that growth. So, that's in one sense the fact that camp works. Jeremy F.: The second piece I would say is we've got research that tells us if counselors are satisfied, if they're having a good summer and if they're happy as an employee, if you will, that they will transmit that sort of joy even more effectively to their campers, which then drives camper satisfaction. We started measuring camper satisfaction about 12 years ago and we now have over 70 camps that surveyed their parents, their campers, [and] the parents of campers at the end of the session. And we get, I think this past year we had 11,000 parents respond, some responding on behalf of multiple kids. So, it was like 15,000 camper experiences that we got data on and that data's broken into seven areas of real concentration in the questions. And one of the things that had come out over the years was the importance of the counselors and their performance on the camper satisfaction and the parent's satisfaction. Jeremy F.: So, we then kind of invented, created, developed, a new tool called Staff Satisfaction Insights to begin to measure the staff satisfaction as a driver of, and it connects to, but it's a driver of camper satisfaction. So, a lot of data being collected and then used, making sure we're learning and reflecting on the data, but to help, then, prioritize efforts either by the foundation or by the camps themselves in those areas. So, I think one, maybe people will always say that Jewish counselors are what distinguishes Jewish camp and are sort of the key aspect. I think we then brought data to kind of confirm that if you're delivering high levels of satisfaction on staff, they're gonna help drive satisfaction for the campers. Bryan S.: Since we're talking about staff, I understand the foundation has invested a significant number of resources and energy towards professionalizing camp staff, professionalizing the camp director staff. Can you talk about that and the importance of it? Jeremy F.: Yes. So look, at the core of any enterprise, whether it's camp or whether it's Campbell's Soup, whether it's for profit or nonprofit, at the core of the success of any enterprise is the talent you have in leadership. And ultimately, the quality of a leader. So, let's think about a congregation. If the rabbinic leadership is a high performing star in so many areas, that congregation is going to thrive. And if it's not, there's going to be trouble. So, I think it's good common sense. But there was, I think the story, this was before my time, I think it was about 2006 or 2007, let's say 2006. The Foundation for Jewish Camp visited with Bernie Marcus of Home Depot who shared his own story of saying the best stores, the highest performing stores in the Home Depot market. Were the ones where they had trained those store managers to think of themselves as the CEO's of that store. And they took ownership of that and felt sort of that depth of commitment and those stores outperformed the industry. Jeremy F.: So, it's sort of - in that conversation, we had the idea, the thought of, the creation of our Executive Leadership Institute, which was designed to take veteran camp directors, and give them an MBA in Jewish camping. And this was like an 18 month course to give them the highest level of thinking about their camp and their organization differently and thinking about it as that their role not only as camp director, but they saw themselves as CEOs of their organizations. And that they would set the tone from a vision and performance and metrics and of board development and all those things. And, we're in the fourth cohort, so we've done this as a cohort training, let's say 16 to 18 fellows in each group. Jeremy F.: So, we've got a group of I think 17 or 18 right now. We have 54 graduates, so it's getting close to 70 graduates of this program. And those camps that have directors who've been through that program are outperforming the industry on enrollment, on satisfaction, on fundraising, on all sort of the key measures of vibrancy and health. A lot of money was invested in each of those directors. I'm very proud that, well first, there's a vast percentage that still, in their positions, working either at the same camp they were at or maybe have switched camps. But, there's a high percentage, I think it's like 80%, 85% that are still working in the broader Jewish communal space. Jeremy F.: I think our first graduates finished in 2007 or 2008, and now it's 11 years later, and they're still either working in camp or in the Jewish community -- that's a really great return on investment. So, I think professionalizing, not just camp directors, but we took that idea and then do this similar program for assistant directors and then have done a similar program for unit heads and then ultimately for camp counselors. And, so the idea really is to get people to think more broadly about that camp as an organization, as an enterprise. Jeremy F.: It's been that investment, I think it's been, incredibly effective. And it also is a reminder to all of us that inspired leadership and caring for our leadership, developing leadership in all of our organizations, that's what's going to make a difference in performance. I think that's true business. It's true in nonprofits. It's true in any faith-based institutions, inspiration and effectiveness of your leader, is going to lead to performance -- high performance. Bryan S.: It's interesting, as we've been learning so much about the Foundation for Jewish Camps, how much investment that you do in people but also in camps as well. And one of the things that Camp Havaya was able to do is participate in an incubator grant, in order to start Havaya Arts. What are these incubator grants doing and what are you seeing in the Jewish world in terms of camping? Jeremy F.: Good, good, good, great question. So, let's roll back, probably 13, 14 years ago. And, when you took a scan of the Jewish camp market, growth was sort of static and you then looked at what was happening in the secular world in camping, and it was a growing trend, but already there, of shorter sessions, specialty skill-building type camps. So, this could be all sports, it could be creative arts, it could be some -- in some academic programs. But the idea was focused on teens number one, focused on shorter sessions, and really interestingly focused on skill building, so that there was a real interest along -- seen in the secular world, but certainly lots of Jewish families making choices and choosing those programs versus a Jewish camp because that didn't exist. Jeremy F.: So, fortunately, the foundation was able to secure an initial grant from the Jim Joseph Foundation, to incubate and really create from scratch, initially five new specialty camps that started incubating 2008 and launched in summer 2010. We're now 10 summers later in 2019. The foundation has now done three rounds of this. We've developed and launched, incubated and launched 17 new camps since 2010. Rachael Burgess: Wow. Bryan S.: Wow. Jeremy F.: Amazing. Right? Rachael Burgess: Wow. Jeremy F.: And that's a real credit to, I think our work, but really to the Jim Joseph Foundation later joined with funding from the Avi Chai Foundation. But, what the research showed was that these camps were attracting kids who weren't going to go to Jewish camp that summer. More than half, they had not gone to Jewish camp ever or certainly were at an age to a point where they were searching for a skill building, specialty experience and they weren't going to go to a Jewish camp. And we reversed that trend. And now those 17 camps, 14 of the 17 are still operating. That's a pretty good successful track record. There've been almost 10,000 unique campers that have had at least one year experience in one of those camps. Jeremy F.: So, it's been big, and as I say, attracted new kids. Well, what is then happened, and we were able to get a grant recently and we're piloting a program we call the Competitive Edge, which is to give a grant to traditional camps to open up a specialty track within their traditional camp. So, it's designed for camps that still have capacity to serve more. One of the programs, for example, is a culinary institute. So, they're taking old, I think it was an old dance studio and they put in a big investment in high-end culinary equipment, tables, sinks, all of the equipment, the right kind of lighting, the right sort of mirrors, just like one of the cooking shows and those kids are coming and they're going to develop real culinary arts skills at a camp that one, had capacity to serve more, but it's really they're attracting kids who weren't going to go to that camp. Jeremy F.: What we're seeing in the secular industry is moving more to specialty skill building experiences. And we're making sure in an economy of choice that the Jewish community is offering Jewish choices as well. And, that's really the genesis of the incubator, the benefit of going through a program like Havaya. So, we take an institution, a brand, Havaya, and it's been very successful in the Northeast, in the Poconos, and can you take that brand, but with a new specialty item called Havaya Arts and through a ... We funded, and the program was almost two years, let's call it 20 months of intentional training and work before they even open the doors. Jeremy F.: And, where the foundation is paying for the salary of the staff, is paying for all the training and sort of the operating deficits in the first initial three years to give these camps that chance to survive and succeed. And it's been a great model because they're doing it with a team of experts that we've assembled and now has done this for 17 camps. But also they're doing it together so they develop a camaraderie and a cohort and a group that they're going through this experience with together. So, it's been a great, great model and it's made a difference to the field. Bryan S.: A really - I guess taking a slight turn, I mentioned the news earlier. There was a really interesting piece recently. I think JTA ran it also that talked about different camps -- Havaya was one of them -- that are trying to consciously getting away from the coupling model and this long held expectation that you'll meet your future spouse at camp. And this is kind of coming in a context of the #MeToo era and kind of the Jewish communal reckoning of revelations about Michael Steinhardt and Stephen M. Cohen and a whole questioning over the focus on continuity and procreation in Jewish community. So, it's big stuff. It's bigger than camp, but it seems like it involves camp in some way. And I guess, wondering if you could talk about how camps are wrestling and grappling maybe with these changing expectations. Jeremy F.: Right. Great. Well, it's a great question. You make a great point that camps are operating in the context of today's world. I think I said earlier that my admiration for camp professionals because the complexity of the job that they have to do today is infinitely more challenging than what it was a generation ago. We're operating in a world right now of unprecedented change. It's actually accelerating, the rate of change. And how a camp, how any entity, how any organization, how any professional stays ahead of that or keeps up with that level of change is really both a challenge and an opportunity. Jeremy F.: So, the field of Jewish camp, you would say, let's take any of the trends that you have in our Jewish community. The Jewish community's extremely diverse, our camps reflecting that diversity. And fortunately we've been able to get grants that have helped camps. One case, it's significant grants to increase the accessibility and the inclusion of more kids with disabilities in camp. Kids of all abilities should be able to attend a camp. We've gotten grants to have camps attract Russian speakers that weren't necessarily going to camp and to get them there. So, if you think about, I'm going to answer the question, but I'm saying in the context of diversity and having camps reflect what is happening in society today, both population and challenges. Jeremy F.: So, in the case of #MeToo, we're operating in the space. Remember, our campers are growing up in that world, our staff, the counselors are finding things on the college campus and they bring all that with them. I think the directors, the camp professionals need to have help or additional suggestions and resources. In this case, the help. How do we communicate in age appropriate ways what's allowed or what's comfortable, what's the right ways to acknowledge another person, to honor and respect space, and those issues? Jeremy F.: I think it's a cultural shift that camps have to take on or any organizations have to take on. There are policies, procedures, there are lots of trainings, all those things are adding up to helping change the culture of camp to be one that is safe, where you can ask questions and help to figure out who you are as a person, and how you fit into today's world. We hope that it's an environment that is safe, that it's secure, that it honors, each individual and their bodies and that we're valuing ... There's one camp that talks about "No body talk." Jeremy F.: I mean that at you don't comment on, "Oh, you look great today" or "Your hair is great." Talk about, "I love your inside" or "I love your soul or your spirit" or "You seem really happy today." Concentrate on both emotions or the attitudes not on the physicality. And I think those camps are making a difference that kids then take back to their home, to their community, to their schools. It's a really important role we play. Rachael Burgess: You actually were just recently at a conference about basically safety at Jewish organizations. And camp is a very unique place. I think all of Jewish institutions are, but it's very unique because a lot of places, camp is outdoors and on top of that, you have to be kind of careful about how you approach safety in a camp because you want to do it in such a way that everyone knows that they're safe. But at the same time you don't want to traumatize anybody either. So, I'm curious, what's happening at camps now to balance those needs of making sure everyone knows that the kids are safe, the kids know they're safe, the parents of the kids know that they're safe, but also not to traumatize anybody as well? Jeremy F.: Yeah, understood. So, look, first we're living in a, as I say, this unprecedented time of change. Who would have thought that the level of antisemitism, which has been going, let's say down and hopefully it was being eradicated, is kind of rearing its ugly head again, not only in Europe, but in America. And so, we're living in those times. And, that's affecting, tragically Pittsburgh and congregational life, it's attracting all the Jewish institutions, JCCs, community centers and of course at camps. So, this sort of speaks to number one, again, the comment that we're a part of the world and we have to recognize those trends, those things that are happening at camps as well. And, and yet as you say, first of all, you can not make ... Camps are on hundreds of acres each camp. Jeremy F.: Some are on big public lakes. There's no way you can put a fence or a wall. You can't build a wall to keep the team safe, right? So, what you have to do is just develop a series of policies and protocols and procedures and have to make people aware of who's a part of the camp community and who isn't. And there's a number of small things that can be done. I love the idea that all staff members, this happens in a number of camps and really happens in day camps for sure, that all staff members are wearing the same colored tee shirt on the same day, so that anybody can recognize and if they have any kind of problem or challenge, they can recognize the staff member and get help from anybody in that colored tee shirt. Jeremy F.: But it's also a way to help camps and campers help everybody identify who doesn't belong and that visitors, many of the camps now, and we're suggesting this, that no one should be allowed to walk around the camp or visit a camp without a visitor's badge or some sort of identification, that they're a visitor, that they have to wear because you want campers and staff to do that. Jeremy F.: I remember pulling in and visiting a camp and I got to the office, maybe it was a lunchtime and didn't seem like anybody was around. And then all of a sudden, some kid kind of walking in and says, "Can I help you?" Now, this wasn't somebody who worked in the office. It was somebody who was trained. If you see somebody who is ask them, can you help them, can you direct them and escort them to where you were looking? Like to find the director in my case. That comes from a culture that is training and you can do that in a way that isn't scary and isn't traumatizing, but it's just good, good common sense. Bryan S.: I think it was in eJewish Philanthropy, you wrote for publication, you wrote about Jewish overnight camps and day camps being incubators for the broader Jewish community. So, wondering if you could explain what you meant by that, how that works. Are we all going to be roasting marshmallows in the synagogue lobby? I'll sign up for that. Jeremy F.: Yeah. Well, yes, I think we all would. What's really interesting is that Jewish camp has long been sort of a laboratory for contemporary Jewish life. And I gave you just a couple of examples. Think about the music, the spiritual, deep and meaningful music of Debbie Friedman. Debbie Friedman's start was in Jewish camp and her song Leading was all about Jewish camp. And what happened, in many congregations in the Reform movement. The liturgy of the movement became the song and liturgy of the camps that came from Debbie Friedman. Bryan S.: Right. The Cantorial School is named after her now. Jeremy F.: Absolutely. So, you think about how we pray -- very much influenced by this. I'm working in my mind of another article or a paper about this. I was told recently and I have the data, I just can't pull the exact names and sources. Prior to the 1940s, when people would sing Birkat Hamazon, the prayer after eating. Maybe the introductory prayer, Rabotai Nevarekh of inviting people to come together to pray, maybe that was sent out loud, but the first paragraph or anything else of Birkat Hamazon was said silently. Jeremy F.: In the '30s or '40s, a cantor wrote a tune or a melody for the first paragraph of Birkat Hamazon that we all know. It didn't take off until it was taught in camps. And now you think about it. At almost every Jewish function I go to, the hamotzi is (singing) "Hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz..." Where did that come from? It was taught at camp, right? And yet every institution, that's how you open a meal. And Birkat Hamazon, the tune and the singing of Birkat Hamazon started in camp, of course, hand motions and everything else. But it is one of the universal things that, at least is well known in the Jewish world and it emanates fromcamp. So, if you think about that, how do we continue to make camps a laboratory for 21st century Jewish expression? Jeremy F.: It's things like diversity and a welcoming community. It's things like we talked about before, talking about someone's not their physical appearance, but their emotional and spiritual appearance. It's fascinating to me that schools and congregations are all looking to model what happens at camp. Can you make your prayers, your tefillah sessions in school like camp? Can you make Hebrew school more like camp? So, what are those elements? Again, I think it's that they're peer-to-peer led by near peers, role models that you can aspire to be. And, I'll only say that's part of the magic of camp. I look up to this person who's my counselor, who's delivering sort of lessons in the tradition of camp, but I could be that person one day. I mean, that's a powerful piece. Jeremy F.: And then, that the learning is experiential. It's immersive, but it's experiential. I say to folks, "When you're teaching a text, experiential learning would not be, not that you're not learning from a text, but you're learning in chunks. You're discussing, you're breaking it up and discussing and in some cases then doing an exercise that sort of brings that text to life." That's all methodology that I think was refined in camp, but it can exist far outside camp. So, I think that's one example that's important. Jeremy F.: Another one is part of our strategic plan, thinking about the field of Jewish camp. We have to think about camp beyond the summer because the summers are getting more pressured. School's are ending later. They're starting earlier. Both colleges, elementary schools, high schools, colleges. There's less weeks available in the summer and there's many more competing interests. When I went to camp, I went for eight weeks. What's normative now is more like three weeks maybe on average, three and a half weeks. How do you deliver both the same sort of intentionality iandn the same power? Part of it is thinking about camp as year round and lifelong. Jeremy F.: So, the year round doesn't mean I'm at camp all year, although that would be great. Rachael Burgess: Fabulous. Jeremy F.: But it means that maybe there's communication coming from the camp during the year around holiday times. I'll tell a quick story. My kids, two teens, teenagers 19 and 17, but if they would get an email from our synagogue during the week about the teen programs at the synagogue, they won't open that email, they won't even have looked at it. They'll know nothing about it. If on the same day anemail came from the camp with a thought about the week's Torah portion or about an upcoming holiday, not only have they read it, they may have printed it out, but for sure we discuss it at the dinner table. Rachael Burgess: Wow. Jeremy F.: I think there's a power of, that the camp is an opening to bring in content, but if that is a way of camp, connecting with someone year round, and then I think about lifelong that camp can't just be for you when you're in elementary school or high school. But what about when you're a counselor? What about when you're a young alum? What about if you're a part of that community and you feel a depth of that, what are you doing for the alumni and then families with young kids? How do you restart the cycle? And that's why day camps play an important role , or family camp experiences play an important role, that you can use both the facility more than just the summer and you can certainly use the programming, attitude, the brand, the immersive power to communicate year round and lifelong. Bryan S.: So, you spend, you spend a chunk of the summer visiting camps, amazing camps all over the country, all over North America. Just I'm curious about your experience at Havaya and Havaya Arts, if anything stands out about it. Jeremy F.: Well. I'll just share one story that I'm going to get choked up when I tell this story, but I repeat this story almost everywhere I go. So, it's a story that Rabbi Isaac told me about how when they moved to the new campus, the new camp site, that they went to, how do you create a prayer space, the prayer space sort of in the woods? How do you make that holy? How do you create that? Rabbi Isaac showed me the bimah there. There was concrete and it has a bunch of rocks that are fit into the bimah. And he said the story of the first year campers, I get choked up. He sent them around to camp, find a rock from anywhere in camp because all of camp is holy, we're gonna put it here in this spot to make this prayer spot holy. But what makes it so is anywhere in camp because that's what's so sacred about that space. That's the power of Jewish camp right there. Rachael Burgess: Oh my gosh. I'm getting choked up listening to that. That's amazing. I think we're just about out of time and you have a very, very busy summer ahead of you. I wanted to thank you very, very much for taking the time to talk with us and giving us a sort of lay in the land of what's happening at camp today and really sharing those insights with us and for all that you've done, even to support our camps, Camp Havaya and Havaya Arts. Jeremy F.: Well, I admire very much those camps and the institution and the movement of helping people find a way to connect to a Jewish life. I think we're all in that business. So, I think we share a common purpose. So, thanks for giving me the opportunity. Bryan S.: Thank you. It was a pleasure having you. Rachael Burgess: We'd like to thank our guest, Jeremy Fingerman, and our wonderful conversation about Jewish camps. And again, this is a great time to sign up your kids for camps. If you were on the fence before, hopefully this pushed you over the decision point so you will definitely do that. Rachael Burgess: For episode links and resources or to get in touch with us, you can check out our website at trendingjewish.fireside.fm. Remember to subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcast. And if you have a minute, leave us a five star review. It really helps people find the show. And one last thing, if you like what we're doing, please consider a gift to Reconstructing Judaism. Gifts are tax deductible and even better, they help support our work and the great work of our organization. You can do that by going to reconstructingjudaism.org/donate. Rachael Burgess: Thank you so much for listening. I'm Rachael Burgess. Bryan S.: I don't know if I can get this line right. Let me think here. Oh yes, I got it. I'm Bryan Schwartzman. Rachael Burgess: I'm so glad that you were able to read your name tag. This has been #TrendingJewish. Thanks for listening. Remember, be responsible and make good decisions.