It’s summertime, and as the Gershwin lyrics tell us, “the livin’ is easy.”

Many of our collective Jewish experiences were gained through the times we spent at summer camp. Indeed, the bug juice, color war, gimp lanyards, swimming, camp fires and so much more are part of the very fabric of Jewish continuity.

As parents get ready to drop off their children at the bus (and look forward to that month of quiet, and maybe even some date nights without having to budget for a babysitter), we are pleased to highlight a relatively new organization called ASAP (see pages 1 and 69), which is working with the staffs of Jewish camps, including Orthodox machenot such as Camp Mesorah, to ensure that the only memories coming from the summer of 2018 are happy ones.

ASAP—Jewish Sexual Abuse Prevention and Treatment, which can be found at ASAP.care, has learned in years past, through therapy sessions with Orthodox victims of abuse, that many of them connected their trauma to their respective summer camps. ASAP conceived of and implemented an intensive Orthodox-sensitive training program with a required test for prospective camp counselors. Everything from proper touch to avoiding questionable situations and much more gets covered by the program.

At this time when the societal conversation of abuse has made its way from secular society into the shelter of the Orthodox world, we are proud that our camps have systems in place to ensure prevention of sexual abuse as much as possible.

Thanks to ASAP and the many other safety programs in place at our camps, we are happy that our children can have a wonderful summer filled with only positive learning and growth.