Chabad Ontario to Open $6 Million Overnight Camp

Chabad Lubavitch of Southern Ontario will open a new $6 million overnight camp situated on more than 200 acres of Canadian forest with 6000 feet of lakefront property in time for this summer season.

Snow blankets the campsite in Haliburton, just over two hours from Thornhill, a major Jewish population center, but work is nearly completed on the new dining hall, two kosher kitchens, synagogue, bunkhouses, and the less glamorous but vitally important septic system.

“We’ve been looking for the perfect site for thirty years,” said Rabbi Zalman Aaron Grossbaum, co-director of Chabad of Southern Ontario since 1974.

The sprawling wooded area of the Sidney and Naomi Spiegel Camp Gan Israel was zoned for overnight camp use by its former owners. It is vast enough to afford campers the luxury of making as much racket as they wish without disturbing the neighbors, and more importantly “the opportunity to spend summer in an environment that is warm, enthusiastically Jewish 24/7,” the rabbi said.

When Sidney Spiegel, now president of Crawford Metal, was a young boy, his summers were more about sidewalk games and street side stickball.

“The outdoors are very beneficial for all children growing up. I was not fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to camp,” said Mr. Spiegel. Now an outdoor enthusiast, Mr. Spiegel appreciates the untouched nature and beautiful scenery of the campsite. “I can’t wait for the first group of children to arrive and experience it all.”

A limited enrollment of about 70 campers, girls in July, boys in August, will be accepted for the pilot season, according to camp director Rabbi Itchy Grossbaum. Coming summers will see the camp grow to an expected 150 campers each session. Campers will come mostly from greater Toronto, but “anyone who fits into the mix is welcome,” said Rabbi Grossbaum. More than a few will be “graduates” of Chabad of Southern Ontario’s Lubavitch Day Camp, a 30-plus year old camp that attracts 600 campers each summer.

Rabbi Moshe Steiner attended Chabad of Southern Ontario’s first venture into overnight camping, from 1991-1993.

“I had a fantastic camp experience as a child. It really had a lasting influence on my life.” His children, ages four and five, are too young for sleep-away camp, but he will be recommending it to members of Chabad of Uptown, where Rabbi Steiner is the co-director.

“Some members of the shul have experience with the day camp. It has a wonderful reputation. The overnight camp takes the day camp to the next level,” Rabbi Steiner said.

The greater Toronto area is home to a well developed Chabad infrastructure: 75 Chabad representatives, 15 centers, 10 college campus programs, nursery through twelfth grade schools, reaching a growing, youth-heavy population. The Toronto area is also home to a good number of well established Jewish overnight camps: Agudah, Ramah, Moshava, and other private camps. Chabad will draw campers from its own population pools and not those already served by the existing camps.

Chabad overnight camps have been in existence since 1950’s, but the closest ones to Toronto – in upstate New York, Quebec, and Michigan – are a seven to ten hour drive away, a distance that adds a budget-taxing expense to camp fees.

Having a local camp removes that expense, and Chabad is working on several ways to make overnight camp affordable. Rabbi Grossbaum could not yet divulge a “very promising development” that would open the camp experience to more children. He is also working to convince the UJA of Greater Toronto to expand its “Top Bunk” program to include children attending Jewish schools. Top Bunk currently offers a $1250 grant to first-time campers living in Toronto, not attending Jewish day schools.

“Children attending day schools need a good Jewish environment in the summer, too,” said Rabbi Grossbaum. Currently, 40% of children attending Chabad’s day camp receive some form of financial assistance with camp tuition, and there will be a sliding scale to help parents afford the new camp.

Local community members are enthusiastic about the new project. “They appreciate that we are not complacent with our success, but we are aiming for the sky,” said Rabbi Grossbaum.

Supporters also take note of the lasting impression a few weeks in camp can make on a child’s attitude toward Jewish life. A ground-breaking Brandeis University study found “The fun of camp makes campers open, available to Jewish practices that they might scorn at home.”

A decade has passed since the publication of that study. Its findings were revisited last year, but its conclusions were anticipated decades prior by the Lubavitcher Rebbe:

“In summer camps the child is in an atmosphere of Judaism and holiness throughout the 24 hours of the day … it is understood that in such an environment the educational effect is much greater. So much so that during this period he goes from ‘strength to strength’ in all aspects of Judaism and holiness.”