The Jewish Internet with Mark Mietkiewicz, Special To The Dayton Jewish Observer

Whether you grew up at Camp Wise, Camp Ramah or Allan Sherman’s fabled Camp Granada (http://bit.ly/jcamp01), nothing can compare to those long summer days and bug-filled nights.

If you ever spent a summer at camp and want to relive those long ago joys (and traumas) then don’t miss The Girls of Summer by Geraldine Sherman. Sherman was a camper at Camp Kawagama in the 1950s in northern Ontario. Her story begins as she and her childhood friends attend the funeral of their beloved camp director. With the help of the Girls of Cabin 22, she looks at how a summer camp almost half a century away molded who they became. Even the picture on the website of Sherman and the Kawagamite girls in their plaid shirts and broad grins will bring smiles and a touch of melancholy to anyone who’s been there and done that. (http://bit.ly/jcamp03).

Camp is not only a special time for kids but also for the parents they left stranded back in the city as we learn from Sarah Moore’s Parents do the Darndest Things. Let’s just say that this story hits a bit too close to home: “To his profound embarrassment, one 12-year-old camper opened his trunk and discovered his mom had packed all his clothes in 14 separate zip-top bags. As he was to be at camp for two weeks, there were 14 pairs of socks, 14 pairs of underwear, 14 T-shirts — one complete outfit per bag (http://bit.ly/jcamp05).”

Once the kids are off, parents fret until they get mail. Then they may fret even more. Eileen Goltz accumulated some choice letters from campers. After two weeks at camp, one postcard home started with, “My counselor is a witch. I hate everyone in the cabin. But other than that, I’m having a great time (http://bit.ly/jcamp06).”

Allan Sherman has nothing on Joshua Hammerman. The rabbi pulled out some of his own camp letters from when he was 10. Here’s one: “Dear Folks, I REALLY am sad now. I need more food because I haven’t had anything to eat. My swimming teacher is making me jump into the water but I don’t want to. I’m scared of putting my clothes into the laundry because I’ll lose them and they’ll come back different colors. Send ear plugs.”

But then he continues, “What’s funny is that I actually loved camp — even that first year — because I discovered there what children have been discovering about summer camp for decades, and what Jews have known for millennia: When you leave home, you can reinvent yourself (http://bit.ly/jcamp11).”

A few summers ago, Contact, The Journal of Jewish Life Network, devoted an entire issue to Jewish Summer Camps: Our Precious Resource. If you love camp or want to understand more about it, do yourself a favor and download this lovely 16-page magazine (http://bit.ly/jcamp19).

As a half-Israeli growing up in the U.S., Adam Davidson really felt the challenge when he found himself at a teen army camp in Israel.

“What was tough about this was that I was really a nobody there…I mean, we were always, for no apparent reason, running like crazy from one tree to another tree, or up some mountain. Every few minutes there was something you could be the best at. And I was never the best.”

However, thanks to some quick thinking, Adam’s self-described “geek status” was transformed one evening. Listen to his lovely adventure. And then listen to the accompanying radio documentaries, Notes on Camp (http://bit.ly/jcamp13).

For Rebecca Ets-Hokin, recollections of camp include not-so-delicious summer camp meals. “My dining hall memories include rubbery scrambled eggs, warm Kool-Aid and unappetizing stews.” Although the food has improved considerably since then, its seems Ets-Hokin feels no generation should be deprived of the classics. So she collected recipes for campers’ favorites like Max’s Meat Loaf, Tomato Sauce and Garlic Mashed Potatoes (http://bit.ly/jcamp14).

Mark Mietkiewicz may be reached at highway@rogers.com.

To read the complete July 14 Dayton Jewish Observer, click here.