Serious Fun at Jewish Community Summer Camp: Family, Judaism, and Israel by Celia E. Rothenberg (review)

Rothenberg’s stated objective is to explain why attending Jewish summer camp “is such a deeply meaningful experience for most campers, powerfully remembered by them as adults, scrutinized by researchers, and invested in - financially, emotionally… by so many” through the example of CBF, a camp serving children mainly from small towns in Southern Illinois, Southeastern Missouri, and Western Kentucky. In one example, she observes how the camp’s “Israel-lite” programming “calls into question the applicability of the conventional wisdom that the ‘civil religion’ of American Jews still centers on Israel,” CBF’s more recent Israel-lite offering an example of “a Jewish pathway that may be useful in an era when many young adult Jews are shying away from formal Jewish movement affiliations and Israeli politics” (103). Rothenberg chose not interview campers due to the potential hurdles of her university’s Institutional Review Board and parental permission, as well as a feeling that young campers might not be able to analyze adequately their own experiences.