Camp Gan Israel

Gan Israel Camping Network is an umbrella term for a group of Chabad-Lubavitch summer camps. Most of these camps bear the name "Gan Israel."

The first Chabad-affiliated summer camp was a girls' overnight camp, Camp Emunah in Greenfield Park, New York, U.S. (where it still located), founded in 1953 by Rabbi Jacob J. Hecht. In 1956, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, directed some young men to open a parallel boys' overnight camp under the auspices of the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch organization. He chose the name Gan Israel ("Garden of Israel") for this camp, after the founder of Chassidism, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. Camp Gan Israel moved to its current location, Parksville, New York, in 1969.

Rabbi Schneerson also visited both of these camps in 1956 (before the camp season began), 1957 and 1960 (during the camp season). This was highly unusual in itself, as he otherwise almost never left New York City throughout his tenure. Since the early 1990s, the Rebbe's visits have formed an important part of the oral history of Camp Gan Israel in Parksville (and the other camps in the network), and are frequently referred to in song and in print.

Other branches of Gan Israel overnight camps were founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada where a model of the Rebbe's synagogue has been situated (1958) (present-day location: Labelle, Quebec); London, UK (c. 1960); Detroit, U.S. (1961) (present-day location: Kalkaska Township, Michigan); Melbourne, Australia (1960s); Florida U.S., (2007); Toronto, Ontario, Canada (2012); and others. In addition, several hundred Gan Israel day camps exist around the world (though some bear other names). The network claims a total enrollment of over 100,000 children.

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