Guilford, NY—How to lose and hold your head high. How to win. How to work hard to reach a goal. How to help others. How to follow directions. How to resolve conflict. How to endure and how to improve. “I love sports. Sports is a metaphor for what life is,” said camper Jakey Friedman, on a recent promo video that evokes the power and energy of Camp Mesorah, which seeks to provide a high-impact, well-rounded, summer educational experience.
Boys and girls at Camp Mesorah, from those going into 3rd grade to those going into 10th grade, come from all over the world to Guilford, in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, to be challenged on a deep level in an array of specialties. Whether it’s IDF training, fencing, basketball, marathon training, mountain biking, Zumba, swimming or any of a score of other choices, campers on both the boys’ and girls’ campuses get to enjoy a summer together that truly challenges them and helps them grow, said Bergenfield-based Rabbi Ari Katz, who shares the owner/director title at Camp Mesorah with Rabbi Joseph Stansky, of Monsey.
In Camp Mesorah’s environment, sports is just one of the tools to help children socialize positively, to help them work on conflict resolution. “There is so much to learn in terms of sharing, in terms of helping children grow,” Katz told the Jewish Link. “We know every camper and every parent; we know them by face and we know them by name. We go through each kid, and we know how to help them find their niche,” he said.
Last summer, Mesorah welcomed just over 600 campers. “What makes Mesorah so unique is people come from all over the country—Dallas, France, California, Florida, as well as the tri-state area,” he said. “We had 80 Israeli campers last summer,” he added. In addition to the classic sports specialties of basketball and swimming, in recent years the Mesorah staff has added “extreme sports” such as ziplining, wilderness- and IDF-training, in addition to an ever-increasing variety of activity choices, including culinary, gardening, woodworking, pottery/ceramics and farm-animal management.
The campers are broadened by making many new friends with people all over the country. “The first summer or two they always request friends from home, but after that they are consistently requesting placements with friends outside their own community,” said Katz.
The depth and intensity of the workshops draws campers to friends who have similar interests, wherever they live. “They are joining a workshop with an expert,” said Stansky. “If their specialty is basketball, they have a Euro basketball player as their coach. These [instructors] are not teenagers; they are professionals,” he said. Each camper does one workshop a month, which includes about 20 days of real work in a specialty, to really give them the opportunity to make strides and improve, perhaps even mastering a new skill or skillset. “Parents are so comfortable knowing how beautifully they are supervised,” said Stansky. With a ration of one staff member for every five campers, married division heads get to know the kids enough to predict their needs and help them be comfortable, whether they stay for the full seven-week summer, one month, or two weeks for the younger grades. Third, fourth and fifth graders can also sign up for a three-day trial.
During their ninth year working together as owner/directors, Katz and Stansky shared that they have completed a $10 million renovation of the 400-acre property, which sits on top of a mountain and includes Mesorah’s very own camp lake. Renovations include a new sports field and a $3 million brand-new dining facility, as well as different types of improvements to the buildings. Stansky shared that Meisner Caterers, run by Meir Meisner as camp chef, which got great reviews last summer, is coming back for its second year to manage the dining choices, focusing on healthy fare and generous portions, including a full salad and pasta bar. “It will only taste better in our new dining room,” said Stansky.
Camp Mesorah boasts a summer kollel, run for the 27th year by Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Meir Goldwicht. Kollel students have a beautiful setting to not only advance their own studies, but to learn, share and study with the campers as well. Limudei Kodesh remains a strong focus, and the many local school rabbanim and morot who make Camp Mesorah their summer home is a testament to that. Local as well as nationally known rabbanim and staff members include Rabbi Avie Schreiber of Yavneh Academy, Lauren Adler of The Moriah School, Deena Katz and Ronit Wenger of RYNJ, as well as Rabbi Donald Bixon of Miami Beach.
Shared evening programming with the boys’ and girls’ campuses brings together the camp for various special events that promote ruach and inspiration such as musical havdalah, extreme sports performances and other fun events like culinary competitions. Camp trips and other surprises are always in store.
Learn more about Camp Mesorah’s 2016 summer at http://www.campmesorah.com.
Camp Mesorah is holding an open house at Dougie’s of Teaneck, on Dec. 14 from 7:00-9:15 pm. Free admission to all Mesorah and prospective families. There will also be a special award presentation by Teaneck Deputy Mayor Elie Y. Katz in honor of the Mesorah-YACHAD partnership.
By Elizabeth Kratz
