Teachable Moments in Jewish Education: An Informal Approach in a Reform Summer Camp

Abstract

Utilizing “teachable moments” within daily situations to impart knowledge and transmit values is a type of informal education. In a structured camp environment, such teachable moments may be integrated into the educational curriculum. “Jewish teachable moments” may be used to address Judaism and Jewish Peoplehood holistically, as the educators and counselors guide the campers through the Jewish summer camp environment. This article examines the Jewish Teachable Moments method through a case study conducted at a Reform movement affiliated camp in Texas. Theoretical and pedagogical implications of the Jewish Teachable Moments method are discussed.

Erik H. Cohen teaches in the School of Education of Bar Ilan University in Jerusalem and Yehuda Bar-Shalom teaches in the David Yellin College of Education in Jerusalem. E-mail: [email protected]

Notes

¹ Foundation for Jewish Camping, “Jewish Teachable Moments,” http://www.jewishcamps.org/fjc/grants/jewish-teachable-moments.asp (accessed March 30, 2008).

² Official permission was granted by the organizational leadership of the Greene Family Camp to use for publication the findings of the study conducted at the camp and the names of the staff members quoted.

³Estimates for the percentage of camp-aged Jewish children in North America who attend a Jewish summer camp each summer range between 7% (Arian 2002) and 13% (Kotler-Berkowitz 2005). An estimated 30% of North American Jewish young adults attended a Jewish summer camp sometime during their life (S. Cohen 2004).

⁴The Kibbutz-at-camp was part of the Greene Family Camp itinerary in the early to mid-1990s. This program for 15-year-olds was run on the model of an Israeli Kibbutz, with camper-run committees and meetings, providing campers with a significant level of autonomy and self-authority. The program represented a serious attempt to frame the entirety of communal life at camp along Jewish values.

⁵ Abby Zemel, youth director of the Rodeph Shalom congregation in New York City, spent half a dozen summers at the Greene Family Camp as a camper and a counselor.

⁶These words are included in the Shema prayer, recited daily by observant Jews.