Snow still covers the campground on Perch Lake Road, but for Rabbi Yitzchok Steinmetz, summer is already underway. The director of Camp L’man Achai has been gearing up for the camp season since October and now finds himself in a flurry of applications. The camp, which recently earned ACA accreditation, offers a unique niche in a world where there are camps to fill every interest.
Counting Down to Total Immersion Summer Camp
Snow still covers the campground on Perch Lake Road, but for Rabbi Yitzchok Steinmetz, summer is already underway. The director of Camp L’man Achai has been gearing up for the camp season since October and now finds himself in a flurry of applications. The camp, which recently earned ACA accreditation, offers a unique niche in a world where there are camps to fill every interest.
“We are a typical Jewish overnight camp, complete with sports and trips, but we are geared to boys from non-religious homes,” explains Steinmetz. “Many of our campers have had some Jewish exposure, be it Hebrew school or a Friday night dinner, but this is their first 24/7 Jewish experience. It is an intense and total immersion.”
The 225 campers are divided into different levels to accommodate their diverse backgrounds and learning interests. All the classes are hands-on: boys get the chance to see, up close, how ritual slaughter is performed and how a Torah scroll is created. But it is not only the formal study—which occupies a relatively small part of the day—that is important, emphasizes Steinmetz. “It is the no pressure attitude and the fact that we don’t force kids to do anything. They simply learn from our example.”
L’man Achai (which mean “for my brother”) was founded almost 25 years ago by Rabbi Shmuel Kleinman as a summer experience for new immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Today the camp is open to any young boy with an interest in Judaism, and, in fact, campers summer at the upper Catskills site from around the world.
“What camp achieves in one summer,” believes Kleinman, “an entire year of yeshiva study cannot.” Though counselors do encourage their young charges to attend Jewish school come fall, many are unable to. “But even those boys who don’t go to yeshiva,” continues Kleinman, “grow tremendously and continue the positive changes they have made in their lives.”
Camp spirit lives on throughout the year with regular Shabbatons, reunions, and connections with counselors. According to research by the Federation for Jewish Camps, of which L’man Achai is a member, a Jewish camping experience ensures a higher rate of Jewish pride, marriage, and commitment. It is a summer that truly lasts a lifetime.
