Of course, Hannah Hawker knows the ways of challah-making. She’s been a summer camper since she was 4 years old.
“With the challah we soak it in egg yolk and seeds and we braid it,” says the 10-year-old camper from Napa. “I’m used to it. I do it every year.”
This summer, Hannah will be one of the first campers to attend Vallejo’s revitalized Camp B’nai Chaverim at Congregation B’nai Israel in Vallejo.
In 1993, Congregation B’nai Israel hosted the first session of Camp B’nai Chaverim. Linda Miller was the director and her three young children attended the camp.
“Throughout the whole year my kids would be sitting in the kitchen in the dead of winter talking about how much fun camp was,” Miller said.
But the next summer Miller and her colleagues decided to move the camp to Congregation Beth Sholom in Napa for one very important reason: Beth Sholom has a swimming pool.
Now over a decade later, with the Napa camp booming, Miller is re-launching her day camp in Vallejo.
“I decided that it was time for me to move on with the changes that were occurring,” she said.
A separate camp at Beth Sholom will continue to operate this summer.
Miller is enthusiastic about the new camp’s potential. She’s keeping parts of her old Beth Sholom curriculum — cooking, dance and art classes—and introducing new components such as a Hebrew workshop.
“Hopefully the kids will have a smattering of Hebrew words or sentences at the end of the week.”
In addition the camp features weekly field trips that include an outing to an Israeli restaurant in Napa, a daylong excursion to the Marin Headlands to discuss Jewish views on ecology and a trip to the Hadassah Winery to learn about keeping kosher and to sample kosher grape juice. They also will go to the Judah L. Magnes Museum in San Francisco for a treasure hunt.
Camp B’nai Chaverim will feature several guest speakers including dermatologist Dr. Diane Silver discussing proper skin care, author Dr. Rob Eisenberg sharing his book on his love of Jewish stamp collecting and violinist Zina Schiff.
“I believe this is far more than a day camp where children are happily occupied,” said Miller. “This camp really speaks to the child’s soul because we constantly in the kindest way talk about being kind to each other.”
Camp B’nai Chaverim will be held 8:15 a.m.- 4 p.m. during the weeks of June 20, 27 and July 4 at Congregation B’nai Israel, 1256 Nebraska St., Vallejo. Tuition each week is $150-200 with a discount for siblings. Information: (707) 642-6526.