Camp JRF
Our vision is for an integrated and organic Jewish experience. While Mordecai Kaplan wanted to create a Jewish Center in New York, at Camp JRF we are creating a Jewish center in the Poconos and in the souls of our youth. We are planting Jewish values in their hearts and minds, and they then bring these values to life while playing sports, creating art, swimming in the pool, trying the challenge course, and exploring nature. We don’t go to the beit tefillah (outdoor sanctuary) for Judaism and then go somewhere else for the rest of our day – it all happens in one place in real, connected, and exciting ways so that Judaism becomes a central part of our varied selves. Together, we reconstruct Judaism and, similar to Kaplan, make it a modern and meaningful part of our lives; as a center for modern Jewish life, we allow our youth to make Judaism their own. Camp JRF is a place from which a joyful and vibrant core Judaism flows, a community in which our campers and staff transform their Jewish lives – both during the summer and beyond, and a place from which the Reconstructionist movement continues to set the standard of creating meaningful Jewish experiences in contemporary society.