West Coast to get two new Jewish camps
Two successful Jewish summer camps have announced plans to open new branches on the West Coast.
The Reconstructionist movement will open a film- and arts-based camp in Southern California, a branch of its Camp JRF in Pennsylvania. And Eden Village, an organic Jewish farm camp in upstate New York, will open a West Coast branch in a location yet to be decided.
“We are looking at Northern California and we are also looking at Southern California,” Eden Village’s founding director, Yoni Stadlin, told J.
Both camps are planning to hold their first sessions in the summer of 2018.
The two new camps come in addition to Camp Ramah Northern California, which just concluded its first summer session at an oceanside location in Watsonville, on Monterey Bay.
The Reconstructionist camp, geared to third- through 10th-graders, is being started with a $1.4 million grant over four years from the Foundation for Jewish Camp, an incubator for specialty camps.
Camp JRF opened 15 years ago in a rented space and now houses more than 400 campers every summer on its campus in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania.
The new camp will be within a few hours drive of three of the largest congregations affiliated with the Reconstructionist movement.
Meanwhile, Eden Village, which promotes Jewish environmentalism, received a grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the S.F.-based Jim Joseph Foundation to expand its operations from New York to the West Coast.
The new camp program will focus on vegetable farming, animal husbandry, food justice, whole food cooking and healthy food systems.
“We feel blessed and immensely grateful,” Stadlin said. “There is so much demand for the kind of Earth-based Judaism and loving kindness that Eden Village Camp creates.” — jta & j. staff
Shimon Peres commemorated in U.S.
Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to speak at a memorial for Shimon Peres to be held at a Washington, D.C., synagogue.
Adas Israel Congregation, a Conservative synagogue in the city’s northwest, was set to host the official commemoration on Oct. 6 together with Israel’s embassy.
Peres, the former Israeli prime minister and president, died Sept. 28 at 93. President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton spoke at his funeral Sept. 30 in Jerusalem.
Biden is the Obama administration figure considered closest to Israel and the pro-Israel community.
Meanwhile, ambassadors from more than 40 countries attended a memorial for Peres held by Israel’s U.N. mission in New York on Sept. 29, a day after the Israeli elder statesman died following a massive stroke. Among those on hand was U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power.
The Israeli mission also opened a condolence book for the ambassadors to share their thoughts in memory of Peres, which will be made available to the public.
“President Peres, one of our founding fathers, was a man of vision and optimism who dedicated his life to the State of Israel,” said Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon. “He contributed so much to Israel’s safety and security and never lost hope. This symbolizes the story of Zionism.
Peres was buried on Mt. Herzl, land that has been held by Israel since 1948. — jta
Larry King to receive honor from American Jewish Historical Society
Television personality Larry King and Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner will be honored by the American Jewish Historical Society.
King will be awarded the 2016 Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award, and Ratner will be awarded the inaugural 2016 Visionary Leadership Award at the society’s annual award dinner on Dec. 1 in New York City.
The Lazarus award is presented “to an individual or group whose contribution reflects the highest values of the American Jewish Community.” The award is named for poet Emma Lazarus, whose archival collection is housed at the American Jewish Historical Society.
King has interviewed more than 50,000 people over the course of his career in radio and television. — jta