Etgar – New Challenges Await by Josh Edelglass

Our Tzad Bet (B-Side) campers will be scaling new heights this summer with our Etgar program! For over two decades, one of the special programs that we have offered to our Tzad Bet (B-Side) campers has been our Etgar program.  Etgar is the Hebrew word for “challenge.”  Our Etgar Program is a series of adventures that are designed to give our campers new experiences in the great outdoors and to challenge them both mentally and physically, whether they’re hiking the Appalachian Trail or rappelling and caving.  The Etgar Program is also designed to teach our campers about environmentalism and Judaism’s connection to the world around us.

This summer, we are excited to unveil an exciting new twist to our Etgar Program that we will offer to Machon and Nivonim, our two oldest edot (divisions).  We will be presenting a new spin on the idea of exploring our connection to the world around us by supplementing our usual array of intense outdoor adventure trips (hiking the Appalachian train, mountain-biking, canoeing, rock-climbing & caving, etc.) with a series of new options that will focus on social action and Tikkun Olam.

Campers will have the opportunity to sign up for exciting social action projects in Boston and New York, working with organizations that include Family Table (a Kosher food pantry), Cradles to Crayons (assembling packages to help disadvantaged youth), the Jewish Disaster Relief Corps (working to clean up damage still left by Hurricane Sandy), the JustCity program at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and many more wonderful organizations.  Additionally, our Nivonim campers will have the exclusive opportunity to sign up for the option to travel down to our new Ramah Day Camp in Greater Washington, DC, to serve as CITs for a week with our day campers!

We are excited to launch these new Etgar options this summer.  These programs will focus on combining Jewish education with intense experiences that are truly Etgarim (challenges) for our chanichim (campers)!