Kalman Schechter

 

It can be the proverbial best of times; it can be the worst of times.

It can be a time of aliyah, shteiging, experiencing the fresh country air within a wholesome framework. A bachur can build a unique kesher with rebbe’im in a setting otherwise unavailable and discuss hashkafah inyanim in a light, non-pressurized environment. He can learn new, previously uncharted sugyos, chazer what he learned all year, and refresh himself for the coming zmanim.

Or it can be a time of “potzing” or loafing around for hours on end. Sitting on a camp chair, smoking, vaping, and chewing papitas (sunflower seeds) with empty bottles of beer nearby. Hocking through the night and then sleeping away half the day. A bachur can expect to do as he pleases without any compunctions and get what he wants and feels he deserves, only to return home three weeks later devoid of meaning.

It’s summer bein hazmanim, and for a yeshivah bachur, the contrast couldn’t be starker.

It’s summer bein hazmanim, and for a parent or rebbi of bachurim, an important question needs to be asked: Do you know where your son or talmid is, and do you know what he is doing?

 

Different camps, different personalities

As I began exploring the summer bein hazmanim experience, I quickly found out that like almost every other topic, the facts and factors vary, opinions and outlooks diverge, and there are options and opportunities for just about every type of summer break a bachur might want.

The term “mesivta camp” is a fairly new one and refers to a program with a full first and night seder, plus full-fledged leagues and night activities.

In the past, bachurim had one of two camping options: going to a regular boys’ camp that also hosted bachurim, or going to a yeshivah camp, such as Or Shraga and Silver Lake. The former entailed little official learning and was structured similarly to the younger camp divisions. However, the yeshivah camps were virtual yeshivos in the Catskills, with looser sedarim times and a few basketball games thrown in for the sake of exercise.

I’ve heard about many serious “learning camps,” which are not much different than the yeshivah camps mentioned above, albeit with some more structured activities. Shtarke sedarim morning and night, sports and swimming in the afternoon, and an occasional trip to a water park or boating.

But how about the average bachur, the boy who wants to both learn and have some fun? The bachur who wants to unwind from a long, intense year while still maintaining the levels he achieved during that time?

There were hardly any camps for him.

But as Klal Yisrael grew and the number of bachurim looking for this type of summer exploded, so did the options. And more camps meant more competition. And more competition inherently meant more innovation as the camps seek new incentives for bachurim to join their camp.

 

One of the many camp owners I spoke to said that while the competition is incredibly fierce, so is the camaraderie and achdus. “I don’t have to think twice before asking other camps for help at any point in the summer. We often share advice and tips and schedule events together so that everyone can have the best experience.”

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This competition led to the evolvement of different camp personalities to cater to every type of yeshivah bachur.

Each bachur has a different idea of how he’d like to spend his summer. And in most cases, depending on how he chooses his camp and chevrah, he can be successful in having the summer he looked forward to.

Some camps are known for their incredible ruach, the pumping meals, the cheering at the intercamp games, and the general feste atmosphere that envelopes the entire summer.

Some camps, in a typical, coveted Torah u’gedulah model, aim to have the best, most serious first seder and night seder, and simultaneously seek to give the bachurim the best time, the most fun, and non-stop action. The concerts are led by the biggest names in the music industry, and the Shabbos Nachamu kiddush is spoken about until Chanukah. But not at the expense of learning. By us, they claim, we have the most shtark seder and the most shtark fun!

A clear understanding of every camp’s philosophy can help parents guide their sons to an appropriate choice. Research into camps should be done with the knowledge that the reputation a camp has may not be reflect the way it’s currently run, as camps evolve over the years.

 

Recruitment race

With so many different camps and new ones constantly opening up, the camps are forced to invest tremendously in what has become a notorious competition to get bachurim to sign up. Welcome to camp recruitment, 21^st century style.

The bachurim know when to expect them. The recruiters, yungerleit or bachurim hired by the camp, are assigned the job of going from one yeshivah to the next to convince bachurim to join them for the summer of a lifetime.

Timing is a struggle in itself. The yeshivos wish the recruiting would start a week before camp; the camps want to start a week after camp ends so they could plan their summer accordingly. Conversations between the two sides are usually productive and beneficial.

Camps that are well established and have created a niche for themselves have an easier time recruiting, although the director of one such camp admitted that competition is so fierce that no one can rest on their laurels.

This puts the bachurim, often as young as 9^th and 10^th graders, in a unique and greatly inappropriate position of power.

Some bachurim have the negotiating down to a science, with list of questions and requirements that signing on are contingent on. On top of the list is how strict the camp policy is regarding flouting camp rules, such as smoking, drinking, and maintaining the camp’s schedule. Another big question is what the entertainment will look like: “Who’s coming to play and sing on Motza’ei Shabbos Nachamu?”

 

Going alone vs. herding together

One question recruiters constantly face is, “Which other yeshivos are coming?”

Many bachurim want to go together with the feste guys. One head counselor confided that he wishes boys would be open to go to camps as individuals, to be able to make new friends and build relationships with other likeminded bnei Torah outside their immediate clique from yeshivah or the neighborhood. “It’s just so much healthier that way,” he said.

Another camp director told me the exact opposite, “When a bachur comes alone, it raises a flag by me. But once they’re in camp, I encourage them to try to mingle with other boys.”

 

The rat race sometimes causes recruiters to promise the boys more than they can really offer, and often compels camps to compromise on what they wouldn’t have wanted to compromise on had they had the power. And it doesn’t end with the recruitment. A bachur who managed to get his whole chevrah to join may feel a sense of entitlement throughout the summer that makes it hard to keep him in check. In addition, it’s hard for a parent to tell his son not to go with the rest of his oilam.

One practical suggestion I heard is involving the yeshivos in the negotiations. This can be a gamechanger for this issue, as bachurim would have to consult with their rebbe’im regarding what they seek in the prospective camps. As overwhelmed and underappreciated rebbe’im and mesivtos are, it might be worthwhile for them to take concrete steps to making sure their bachurim aren’t having a yeridah.

 

Indiscriminate indulgence or important intermittence

The issue of indulgence, one head counselor tells me, is not a camp issue; it’s a cultural one.

Be it as it may, some camps wear their maximum pleasurable experience on their sleeve and have set new standards that cause mechanchim to cringe and other camps to exasperatedly try to play catch up.

While everyone wants bachurim to have a good, healthy time to rejuvenate, indulging them in endless excitement, entertainment, and extraordinary culinary experiences might just be too much. Some camps are constantly giving out swag of all sorts, ranging from caps to t-shirts to sweatshirts to bags.

Barbeques are as part of summer as the blazing sun is. Camps therefore offer a sprinkling of them. But what gets served? Is it steaks and meat boards, or franks and fries? Should anyone care? Does anyone care?

Music is a bachur’s healthiest outlet today, everyone agrees. As such, it can only be expected to be a focal point of the summer. And yet, the way it’s done should be within a Torah’dig framework.

Concerts (or more precisely, music events, since the boys are active participants of the night), are a weekly affair in most camps, rather than the once-a-season event it used to be. Extremely energetic, the simchah and dancing lasts deep into the early morning. Watching the boys join hands with their rebbe’im and friends and celebrate the life they’re so blessed with brings nachas to every camp director.

But do the boys really need top-of-line singers and performers to enjoy themselves? Likewise, a kumzitz can be a highly inspirational event, full of ruchniyus, ga’agu’im, and dveikus, but the setting and atmosphere often send mixed messages to the boys.

What do the camps say? Some are just forcibly following along, not really eager to spoil the boys, but as they say, business is business. Everyone knows what goes on in every other camp, and unsatisfied campers this year means no campers next year. Can you blame them?

Others argue forcefully. Many of the boys in these camps come from homes that live this ideal all year round. These bachurim see their parents wining and dining at upscale eateries. Their parents attend parties with every upgrade in terms of food and entertainment; should the boys expect less for themselves? And if other boys from simpler homes get exposed, so be it.

And there is another point. The boys maintain such strenuous schedules throughout the year and hardly have a break; these four short weeks should be used to give them some well-deserved indulgence, these trendsetters argue. Letting them let loose without any limits to what they can expect (within the confines of halachah) will help them unwind enough to come back with a fresh mind.

And then there’s the practical, business-minded calculation: Taking the boys on a trip costs the camp per head for both transportation and destination; making a concert for the whole camp is often a fraction of the price.

 

Beneficial breather vs. semi-controlled chaos

Yeshivah schedules are demanding of our bachurim. Once upon a time, most yeshivos had secular studies in the afternoon, which were lighter and a semi-downtime. Today’s mesivta bachurim spend most of their waking hours learning with intensity or davening and hearing shiur. A little downtime is definitely something positive, and the camp directors know that well.

However, total lack of structure is harmful as well. Giving the boys complete freedom gives way to hefkerus, chaos, and worse. Camps with no control mechanism see boys smoking, drinking, and wasting their days and sleepless nights without compunction. The camps don’t like it, the parents don’t like it, and deep down, the boys don’t either. Their natural instinct might relish the freedom, but not being productive isn’t healthy. And it isn’t fun.

The problem doesn’t necessarily start in camp. One frustrated camp director complained that “the yeshivos want the camps to enforce more than they themselves do all year round.” Smoking, for example, he says, isn’t an issue that starts in camp, it just becomes more apparent there.

Of course, every yeshivah is different, as is every camp, and every bachur needs his own direction.

Even in camps that see the bachurim coming on time to davening and sedarim, many times that applies only to the majority; what about those bachurim who choose to stay up until four and sleep through half the day? Does anyone keep tabs on them?

The lack of sleep, while innocent-sounding enough, can be a cause of a total breakdown of camp structure. A bachur running on no sleep is hardly functioning. He can’t learn; he can’t play sports. If it’s only one bachur, the effect gets swallowed up by the masses, but when half the camp is on brownout, all hope of a productive summer is doomed.

Can the camps enforce stricter, semi-normal curfews? Would the involvement of mesivta rebbe’im help?

One camp director said that he encourages the year-round rebbe’im to stop by for a Shacharis or just to check up on his boys. The effect these visits have is immeasurable, he adds.

 

The sky’s the limit

Even the most exciting summer program can become boring when one expects to have the best.

For an 11^th and 12^th grade bachur, the same type of camp they went to the past two years might no longer be appealing. And so, the hunt for bigger and better begins.

They needn’t worry.

Innovative as ever, camps seeking to fill this niche have sprung up across the Midwest and beyond. The options range from the exotic to the wild. Texas, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona are but a few states that have become popular for bachurim camps. These are besides the road trips that other bachurim engage in; those are beyond the scope of this article and come with their own pitfalls and dangers.

These camps are officially structured similarly to the mesivta camps of the East Coast. An official first seder and night seder, with excursions in the afternoon. The adventures include sand sledding, mountain climbing, and other outdoor experiences not for the faint of heart.

These camps aim to give the bachurim an unforgettable summer and plan their outings accordingly.

One staff member recalls how the bachurim would arrive to the excursions; buses were far too a simple way of traveling. Instead, the camp rented luxurious Jeeps and had the counselors drive the boys to their destination.

Depending on the camp and the level of the bachurim, the learning can be serious, or it can be non-existent, as one attendee attested. The boys were up at all hours of the night, and coming to beis midrash to learn or daven on time just didn’t happen.

For those seeking more, there are plenty of options oversees as well.

Eretz Yisrael is a hot location that attracts hundreds of bachurim yearly. Here, the camps have a more inherent spiritual aspect. One camp puts a strong focus on chibas ha’aretz and different events in Tanach, and the tours they take reflect that.

Others aim to give the bachurim a blend of ruchniyus and gashmiyus with visits to mekomos hakedoshim, gedolim, and landmarks across the Holy Land. The director of one such camp claims that even Jeeping through the desert dunes, boating in the Kineret, and trekking up to Masada have a certain chein and kedushah that only Eretz Yisrael can provide.

 

Parents should keep in mind that unlike their American counterparts, Eretz Yisrael camps rely heavily on the bachurim’s own responsibility. They’re usually centrally located in Yerushalayim, and the chance of keeping the boys on campus at all times is virtually nil. Even the trips aren’t always attended by all the campers. One camper recalls how the bus would pull up to the beis midrash after first seder, and the doors would open. Those who wanted to board did, and those who didn’t, just didn’t.

 

The cost of these camps can be eyepopping. The camps themselves charge a similar amount that the ones back in the States do, but considering the airfare and the endless need for pocket money, the figures climb dangerously close to $5,000, if not more.

And if anyone thinks we’ve reached the max, there’s still more to explore and more to come. A camp nestled in the Alps attracts bachurim whose parents can (hopefully) afford the exorbitant cost. There too, the sedarim are intense as are the activities. Sky diving, scaling mountains, and other heart-stopping adventures are standard fare, following a shtarke first seder, of course. The breathtaking scenery fills the boys with awe at Hashem’s incredible creations.

A camp in Central America boasts of having serious sedarim, geshmake shiurim, and a whole slew of extreme activities, ranging from snorkeling to caving to volcano hiking.

The world is large, and if someone has the money and interest to go, all is available. But we must not forget: These boys are the future of our People. Is this how we want them to live their lives?

Harvesting plentiful fruit doesn’t happen overnight. What gets planted in the winter blossoms in the spring, is tended to in the summer, and is finally harvested in the fall.

The way we tend to our bachurim, winter zman, summer zman, and bein hazmanim, is the way they will blossom. This doesn’t happen by itself. As parents and mechanchim, we must do our best to ensure it and encourage those in position to effect positive change to do so. With careful cultivation and nurturing, we can do our part to ensure that our children grow into the true bnei Torah we hope for them to become.