Henry S. Jacobs Camp

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URJ Henry S. Jacobs Camp (a.k.a. HSJ) is a Jewish summer camp run by the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), serving the Deep South (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Western Tennessee, and the Florida Panhandle). It was established in 1970. [1]

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The camp is one of 15 camps owned and operated by the URJ, the organizing body for Reform Judaism in North America. Jacobs is a non-profit camp, affiliated with the Mississippi Camping Association. It is accredited by the American Camp Association.[ citation needed ]

Development

In 1954, a group of Jewish parents primarily from some small towns of the Mississippi Delta began fundraising for a summer camp where their small-town children could meet each other in a Jewish environment. In 1968 the land for the camp was purchased in Utica, Mississippi, for $100,000 and construction began on November 9, 1969. [2] The camp opened in June 1970 and was named after Henry S. Jacobs, who died in 1963, and was instrumental in getting the funding for the camp. [3] Campers study from a six-volume course written by various Jewish scholars that teach everything from history, to Jewish holidays and symbols. [3]

Camp history

In 1970, the camp's first summer, there were 93 campers in two sessions (roughly 30 in Session I and 60 in Session II). [2] In 1977 a third unit was added. In 1979 the units were renamed Garin, Maskilim and Talmidim.

The Berman Center, a gymnasium, was built in 1985. In 1988, the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience (now part of the Goldring / Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life) was built. [1]

The Olim program was added to Jacobs Camp in 1989, and the Talmidim unit went from two four-week sessions to one six-week session.[ citation needed ]

Staff

Directors

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Northway, Wally (August 16, 1999). "Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience: Keeping the story alive". The Mississippi Business Journal . Vol. 21, no. 33. p. 18. ProQuest   206581386.
  2. 1 2 Cotton, Gordon (August 16, 1970). "Camp For Temple Youth Opens Near Utica". Vicksburg Evening Post . Vicksburg, Mississippi. p. 11.
  3. 1 2 Graham, Charlotte (September 30, 1994). "Camp Heritage". Religion. The Clarion-Ledger . Jackson, Mississippi. pp. 1D, 6D.
  4. ↑ "Rabbi Cohen leaving Jackson's Beth Israel, 'J.C.' leaving Jacobs Camp". Southern Jewish Life Magazine. February 25, 2014.
  5. ↑ Herman, Anna Blumenfeld. "Column: HB 1523 offends me and my Southern values". The Clarion-Ledger.

32°05′47″N90°33′58″W / 32.09649°N 90.56609°W / 32.09649; -90.56609

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