Camp Kinder Ring

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Camp Kinder Ring
CampKRFrontGate.jpg
Front gate to Camp Kinder Ring (2006)
Camp Kinder Ring
Location Hopewell Junction, New York
Coordinates 41°36′20″N73°44′23″W / 41.605487°N 73.739687°W / 41.605487; -73.739687
Type Jewish summer camp
Established1927
Website www.campkr.com

Camp Kinder Ring is a nonprofit 501(c)(3), Jewish summer camp located in Hopewell Junction, New York, accredited by the American Camp Association. [1]

Contents

History

Camp Kinder Ring was founded in 1927 by The Workers Circle (formerly known as The Workmen's Circle, Yiddish Der Arbeter Ring). [2] On September 28, 2023, The Camp and The Worker's Circle announced that they were separating and that both organizations will continue to operate independently. [3]

Many families have been attending for up to four generations. [4]

Kinder ring (Children's Circle) was the name of a short-lived publication in the early 1920s. [5]

Description

The camp lies near the Catskills in Dutchess County, New York, [2] about a mile from the town of Beekman. [6] It offers campers a wide array of activities such as sports, arts and crafts, and lake activities while also educating them about Jewish traditions and culture. [4]

The camp is divided into a boys' side and a girls' side, each having its own distinct set of staff. There are head counselors and assistant head counselors for both girls and boys. There are then eight divisions, each led by a group leader who has a staff of counselors, typically between three and six strong.[ citation needed ]

Traditions

Kinder Ring's traditions include a July 4 carnival, KR of the Week/Year, Behind the Scenes, all-whites shtiller ovnt (Yiddish for "silent evening") to celebrate the Friday evening advent of the sabbath, and the setting of candles onto Sylvan Lake symbolizing the end of another summer. Other traditions include popular Jewish singers like Rick Recht. New events are created every year.[ citation needed ]

Traditional games include:

Notable alumni

Legacy

Camp Kinder Ring appears in many books on Jewish culture in America, including Raising Reds (1999), [9] The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited (2009), [10] Children's Nature (2010), [11] Yiddishkiet (2012) [12] and The Remembered and Forgotten Jewish World (2018). [13]

Camp Kinder Ring also appears in memoirs, including The Way Home (2006), [14] Goy Crazy (2006) [15] and Working for Peace and Justice (2006). [8]

See also

References

  1. "ACA Accreditation". www.campkr.com. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 Skolnik, Fred; Berenbaum, Michael (2007). Encyclopedia Judaica. Macmillan Reference. p. 215. ISBN   9780028659497 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  3. The Workers Circle and Camp Kinder Ring Announce Exciting New Chapter, The Workmen's Circle Website, accessed Nov 9th, 2023
  4. 1 2 "About Us". Camp Kinder Ring. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  5. Kadar, Naomi Prawer (2016). Raising Secular Jews: Yiddish Schools and Their Periodicals for American Children, 1917-1950. Brandeis University Press. p. 114. ISBN   9781611689884 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  6. Usher, Thom (2011). Beekman. Arcadia. ISBN   9781439624197 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  7. Berger, Joseph (31 October 2002). "Less Socialist, But Still Social; Circle Is Link to a Yiddish Past" . The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  8. 1 2 Wittner, Lawrence S. (2012). Working for Peace and Justice: Memoirs of an Activist Intellectual. University of Tennessee Press. pp. 20 (camper), 31 (counselor). ISBN   9781572338951 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  9. Mishler, Paul C. (1999). Raising Reds: The Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture in the United States. Columbia University Press. p. 89. ISBN   9780231110440 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  10. Mendelsohn, Joyce (2009). The Lower East Side Remembered and Revisited: A History and Guide to a Legendary New York Neighborhood. Columbia University Press. p. 111. ISBN   9780231147606 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  11. Paris, Leslie (2010). Children's Nature: The Rise of the American Summer Camp. NYU Press. p. 92. ISBN   9780814767825 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  12. Pekar, Harvey; Buhle, Paul (2010). Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land. Abrams. p. 201. ISBN   9781613122280 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  13. Walkowitz, David L. (2018). The Remembered and Forgotten Jewish World. Rutgers University Press. ISBN   9780813596082 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  14. Dunow, Henry (2002). The Way Home: Scenes from a Season, Lessons from a Lifetime. Broadway Books. pp. 21, 58, 139. ISBN   9780767907347 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.
  15. Schorr, Melissa (2006). Goy Crazy. Hyperion. pp. 52, 162. ISBN   9780786838523 . Retrieved 18 August 2020.