O pinion
The Holiness of Returning to Summer Camp
BY EVA GROSSMAN
I AM A CAMP PERSON
through and through. Camp has
always been my happy place. For
a long time, it was the only place
I felt genuinely Jewish.

I grew up being the only Jew
most people in my hometown
knew and switched synagogues
several times. I never felt attached
to any Jewish community during
the year, so my one month at
camp had to provide all of my
connection for the year. To steal
from an Instagram caption I
wrote after my last summer as
a camper: “If you aren’t a camp
person and you’re wondering
why I always talk about camp,
here’s why: The people that
will always be there for me are
those I’ve met at camp.”
Camp shaped me, as it
allowed me to be wholeheart-
edly Jewish and explore hobbies
I would never get to at home.

Daily services were annoying
as a kid, but I also learned every
Shacharit (morning service)
prayer through experience
rather than tedious studying.

I learned every Lecha Dodi
tune from weekly camp-wide
Kabbalat Shabbat services. I got
to learn how to make earrings
in jewelry, paint with water-
color in art and bake challah
in cooking. I even got out of my
comfort zone and climbed the
ropes course every year.

I always connected more
with people at camp than
school because I felt like they
just got it. Many of them could
relate to being one of few people
with their traditions in their
school. Camp gives opportu-
nities for structured learning
and activities and free time.

Living together capitalizes on
the in-between moments and
unstructured time that school
doesn’t really have.

So naturally, when the time
came, I transitioned pretty
seamlessly from camper to
staff. I had always known that I
wanted to work at camp, so the
decision to apply was easy.

And then last summer
happened. Due to the
pandemic, camp had to move
from in-person to virtual.

During a summer of mourning
and loss, camp was still able
to provide some distraction
from the real world, albeit in
a much different way. We ran
two weeks of online program-
ming including teaching edah
(units divided by grade) songs,
bunk bonding activities and
maccabiah (color war). Every
summer, counselors would
remind campers that camp is
not a physical space, but rather,
it’s a mindset. They were right,
but something was missing.

Knowing that I will be back
at camp this summer is the
only thing that got me through
the semester. I took the hardest
classes I have since starting
college, dealt with my parents’
divorce and moved across the
country after a semester at home.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to
get through a global pandemic
without losing anyone I know
personally. Even so, a huge part
of my life has been missing.

In a normal year, camp is
the most abnormal part of my
life. But this year, camp will
mark a much-needed return to
normalcy. Calls with my camp
planning for this summer are
the only Zoom calls I don’t
dread anymore. Filling out
tedious forms doesn’t feel like
a chore, it feels like a reward for
the year we’ve been through.

I only lost a year of camp as
a staffer. I feel immensely for
my kids who lost a whole year of
being campers, and the connec-
tion and kehilla that comes with
it. My childhood is intertwined
with camp, and I would not have
come to love camp as a young
adult, had I not been able to
go as a child. I would not have
come to love and want to explore
Judaism in the same way.

Of course, the pandemic has
changed how camp will operate
this summer. All staff members
are required to be fully vacci-
nated before first session starts.

Everyone will be getting tested
often, and camp will operate as a
bubble. Within the bubble, we’ll
have pods, and maybe by the
end of the session we’ll be able to
come together as larger groups.

But even though we’ll be in
pods, wearing masks and getting
COVID tests often, we’ll be back
at camp. We won’t feel the same
isolation we’ve felt over the past
year. Instead we’ll be within our
community surrounded by
those we love. The optimism
of this summer is incredible
compared to the despair of last.

Camp gave me my best
friends, college roommate
and love for Judaism. I would
not be the person I am today
without it. In geography, we
discuss the concepts of space
and place. While space is just a
matter of measurements, place
is a matter of meaning. People
ascribe meaning to spaces,
making them important places.

Going back to that place always
feels like returning somewhere
holy, and I can only hope that
this summer will be the same. l
Eva Grossman is a rising junior at
George Washington University,
majoring in geography.

When it Comes to Anti-Israel Attacks on Jews, it’s Time to
Name the Enemy
BY GIL TROY
THE COVID-19 EPIDEMIC
proves you cannot just treat
a plague’s symptoms —
you must root it out. Yet as
incidents of Jew-bullying in
the U.S. more than doubled
in May compared to the same
time period in 2020, too many
American Jews complained
14 JUNE 24, 2021
about the symptoms while
obscuring the cause. In a
polarized polity, too many in
the overwhelmingly liberal
American-Jewish commu-
nity either ignore or cover up
left-wing complicity in the
New Antisemitism, meaning
anti-Zionist Jew-hatred.

C a l l it Z io -w a s h i ng :
bleaching the anti-Zionism out
of modern antisemitism.

Consider t he Jew ish
T h e o l o g i c a l S e m i n a r y ’s
“Statement on Antisemitic
Crimes” condemning this
“spate of brutal acts,” issued
during last month’s military
conflict between Israel and
Hamas. JTS lamented this
“latest manifestation” of the
“centuries-long phenomenon”
of Jew-hatred. And it claimed
that “What is happening to
Jews in North America shares
much with other hate crimes
perpetrated in our society.”
But something’s missing:
The statement
ignored Israel, Zionism and the New
Antisemitism. The antisemitic attacks
and rhetoric during the latest
conflict was largely fueled by
the anti-Zionist left’s sweeping
denunciations of Israel and
Zionism. Wrapping their cause
in Black Lives Matters rhetoric
and righteousness, pro-Pales-
tinian and pro-Islamist goons
have committed many of the
most recent anti-Jewish street
crimes. Claiming that the Jew-
bashing “shares much with
other hate crimes perpetrated
JEWISH EXPONENT
in our society,” the JTS state-
ment masks this far-left
anti-Zionist hooliganism with
a phrase that usually points to
haters on the right.

President Joe Biden’s May
28 statement also Zio-washed.

He condemned this myste-
rious, coming-from-nowhere
Jew-hating surge “in the last
weeks.” Biden mentioned
six incidents, from “a brick
thrown through the window
of a Jewish-owned business
in Manhattan” to “families
threatened outside a restau-
rant in Los Angeles,” without
mentioning Israel, Zionism or
pro-Palestinian thuggery.

Not naming the distinctly
left-wing roots of this hatred
suggests that those doing the
condemning do not want to
alienate supposed allies.

Liberals were much more
eager to name antisemi-
tism’s perpetrators when they
emerged from the Trumpian
right or from the white suprem-
acists that attached themselves
to his agenda. Similarly,
conservatives only see antisem-
itism when it comes out of the
campus or anti-Israel left —
to the delight of Jew-haters
everywhere. Yes, antisemitism
is “the latest manifestation of
a centuries-long phenomenon
of hatred and violence against
Jews,” as JTS put it. But the
“longest hatred” is also the
most plastic hatred — pliable,
artificial and occasionally
lethal. No one should fall for
See Troy, Page 23
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
Gay Jews Shouldn’t Have to Choose
Between Their Pride and Their Zionism
BY ETHAN FELSON
TO EVERYTHING THERE is
a season. June is Pride season,
one where LGBTQ people
proudly refuse to choose
between our identities and our
demand for the freedom to live
equally and without fear.

A Wider Bridge, which
builds meaningful relation-
ships between LGBTQ people
in North America and Israel,
has always stood for our ability
to celebrate all our identities
without being forced into boxes.

And this year it’s especially
personal to me.

Just last week I was saddened
to see vile antisemitic hate
against Manny’s, a cherished
establishment in San Francisco,
when it was vandalized with
“Zionist Pigz” to intimidate the
owner and like-minded Jews for
their Zionism. We stand with
Manny, a Wider Bridge trip
alum, as he refuses to choose
between his LGBTQ identity
and his Zionism.

Another friend of mine
and A Wider Bridge recently
saw her synagogue vandalized
with swastikas. A non-Jewish
member of our Wider Bridge
family has been verbally
attacked just for saying that he
likes traveling to Israel.

On campus, Jewish students
including LGBTQ activists are
being bullied and feel forced
to take a side in a conflict
taking place on the other side of
the world.

In Israel, we’ve seen bigots
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM run for — and win — seats in
the Knesset on anti-LGBTQ
platforms, calling themselves
“proud homophobes.”
With all the progress made
by the LGBTQ community over
the past few decades, it is easy to
forget that most of Pride’s history
has been a season of protest. It
began in 1969 with the Stonewall
riots, where brave individuals
— including trans, Black and
brown heroes — stood up to
police brutality. It continued with
our communities demanding
an end to discrimination in the
workplace and in housing, and
forcing our leaders to face the
AIDS crisis head-on.

That spirit of protest and
courage must stay alive today. We
must refuse to choose one identity
over another, stay in solidarity
with those who feel forced to
choose between their LGBTQ
identity and their Zionism and
refuse to live in fear. Nobody
should have to choose between
their activism and their safety.

We are proud to support
Israel not in spite of, but because
of, our progressive values.

This month, together with
our allies, we will experience
pride both virtually and in
the streets with joyful scenes
celebrating our identity, our
lives, our successes and the long
road we have traveled in just a
few decades. We will pay tribute
to those brave people who
fought for the right to choose
marriage and raise our families,
and to those still fighting against
discrimination, bullying and
even the ability to choose our
own pronouns.

Politicians, who once ran on
platforms to take away rights
and marginalize the LGBTQ
community for electoral gain,
will court us as a critical interest
group whose support is essen-
tial to their political futures.

America’s largest corporations,
which once fired their employees
just for being who they are, will
sponsor pride events and run
commercials and sell products
expressing their solidarity.

Baseball teams will host Pride
Nights at their stadiums.

This has been amazing
progress, so we really do have
much to celebrate.

But there is much unfinished
business. The problem facing
LGBTQ Jews is not just a collec-
tion of anecdotes. It’s a systemic
issue that our community feels
on all sides.

In the organized Jewish
community, many feel forced
to check part of their identity
when they seek to get involved.

While there has been progress
in LGBTQ representation in
politics and on corporate boards,
leadership is sadly lacking
in American-Jewish life. As
aspiring LGBTQ leaders work
to explore and celebrate their
Jewish faith, some feel forced to
hide in the closet — and to check
their LGBTQ identity when they
walk through the door.

This Pride, we are standing up
to celebrate all our identities. The
late trailblazer Harvey Milk once
said: “Once you have dialogue
starting, you know you can break
down prejudice.” We will force
that dialogue this Pride Month
— no matter how uncomfortable
it may be for some.

We will let people know how
we feel when we’re told that Israel,
the world’s only Jewish state,
should not even exist. And we
will prove that we can stand up
for racial justice and equality and
support Israel at the same time.

When we go to synagogue,
we will do so proudly. We will
educate, we will be leaders and
we will break down barriers.

We will be our full selves
everywhere: on the streets, on
campus, at work and in our
synagogues. Because we refuse
to choose. l
Ethan Felson is executive director
of A Wider Bridge.

JEWISH EXPONENT
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Israel Will Not Be Canceled
IN “WHY DO PEOPLE Call Israel an Apartheid State?” (June
17), much valuable information is given, but this question is not
answered succinctly.

The answer to this question is straight forward: An apartheid
country is an illegitimate entity and has no right to exist. It must
be totally canceled, as if it never had existed. Why now?
Israel has shown that it will respond appropriately when more
than 4,000 rockets are fired at it. It will not go gently into the
night. Therefore the Jew-haters call upon the world to cancel the
Israel that will not be defeated on the battlefield.

The consequence of this hatred of the mere existence of Israel
as the state of the Jewish people is documented in the NewsBriefs
column. The lead article describes the cancellation of the words,
“like Anne Frank” in a new novel, and the simple mention of the
name of the state of Israel in another novel. The cancellation of
the name of Anne Frank is obvious Holocaust denial, and the
cancellation of the name “Israel” is the denial of the existence of
the nation of the Jews.

So where are the responses of all our Jewish organizations,
including rabbinical seminaries and synagogues, in this war
waged by Jew haters?
Steve Feldman, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia
chapter of the Zionist Organization of America, in this same
issue of the Exponent (“Don’t Wait for War to Defend Israel”)
provides one Jewish organization’s shining answer for all of us,
and especially for our children. It should be required reading,
especially in all Jewish educational programs and institutions.

David Romanoff | Penn Valley
Debate Rather than Define
Instead of debating whether Israel’s specific actions and policies
fit the precise definition of apartheid (“Why Do People Call
Israel an Apartheid State?”, June 17), we should spend more time
debating whether Israel’s specific actions and policies are right
or wrong. l
Steve Mendelsohn | Penn Valley
STATEMENT FROM THE PUBLISHER
We are a diverse community. The views expressed in the signed opinion columns and let-
ters to the editor published in the Jewish Exponent are those of the authors. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards of the Jewish Publishing
Group, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia or the Jewish Exponent. Send
letters to letters@jewishexponent.com or fax to 215-569-3389. Letters should be a
maximum of 200 words and may be edited for clarity and brevity. Unsigned letters will not be
published. Join the
conversation! Tell us what you’re thinking
and interact with the community
at jewishexponent.com
Connect with us on
JUNE 24, 2021
15