Kids
Continued from Page 31
participate, Rubin added.

Most local JCCs remain
open during school vaca-
tions, providing recreation
and much-needed childcare.

At the Kaiserman, kinder-
gartners through fifth-grad-
ers can enjoy sports, arts,
cooking and field trips at a
day camp over winter and
spring breaks.

The Katz JCC in Cherry
Hill has a similar program
MONKEYBUSINESSIMAGES/THINKSTOCK for elementary- and mid-
dle-school children, with
daily trips to museums, farms and other attractions. The cab-
in-fever-addled of any age can buy a guest pass or a single-month
membership to use the JCC’s indoor pool, basketball gym and
children’s play space.

Miriam Steinberg-Egeth of Center City sends her children to
the vacation camp offered by Makom Community, the Jewish
organization that runs the children’s afterschool program. Staying
indoors, even on the coldest days, is “not an option” for her
energetic offspring, said Steinberg-Egeth, who writes the Jewish
Exponent’s advice column, directs the Center City Kehillah and is
a part-time doula.

On non-camp days, like many families, Steinberg-Egeth’s clan
cobbles together an ad-hoc
itinerary of Philadelphia’s
greatest winter hits: pub-
lic ice rinks, the Franklin
Institute, the zoo, holiday
lights around town. “Several
years in a row, we’ve gone
to the Comcast Christmas
show on Christmas Day,
and we always run into
Jewish friends
there,” Steinberg-Egeth laughed.

With their
varying religious observances,
Steinberg-Egeth’s extended
family doesn’t always gather for Jewish holidays. “But we’ll all get
together on Christmas Day,” said Steinberg-Egeth, who noted wryly
that the holiday they don’t celebrate is the one they all have off.

The Yuletide timing may feel weird for a Jewish gathering —
but having a Christmas tradition is totally a Jewish thing, counsels
the advice columnist, who grew up volunteering at a local soup
kitchen on Dec. 25. “We get to enjoy being Jewish on Christmas,”
Steinberg-Egeth explained, “and all the things that go along
with that.” l
Hilary Danailova is a freelance writer.

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