Camp Modin
| Camp Modin | |
|---|---|
| Type | Summer Camp |
| Location | Belgrade, Maine, USA |
| Coordinates | 44°31′36″N 69°47′19″W / 44.526537°N 69.788714°WCoordinates: 44°31′36″N 69°47′19″W / 44.526537°N 69.788714°W |
| Website | www |
Camp Modin is the oldest Jewish summer camp in New England. It was established in 1922 in what is now Lake George Regional Park in Canaan, Maine. In 1992 the camp moved to Salmon Lake in Maine's Belgrade Lakes region. An early example of a summer camp intended to provide Jewish children with Hebrew, religious, and cultural education as well as recreation, Camp Modin has been described as "the prototype for camps sponsored by every branch of the community, from socialist Zionists to Orthodox Jews."
Camp Modin is now a coed, non-denominational, pluralistic Jewish and kosher camp, employing over 180 professional teachers, mentors and counselors and providing more than 70 activities. It is accredited by the American Camp Association and is a member of both the Maine Youth Camping Association and the Maine Camp Experience.
Camp Modin was founded by three couples who had studied under the influential Jewish educator Samson Benderly: Albert & Bertha Schoolman, Alexander & Julia Dushkin, and Isaac & Libbie Berkson. They opened a boys' camp on the site of an abandoned hotel on the shores of Lake George in Canaan, Maine in 1922, with 45 campers in the first class. A girls' camp on the other side of the lake was opened in 1925.
The camp was advertised as "The Summer Camp with a Jewish Idea" and was notable for its goal of financial self-sufficiency, allowing it to maintain its independence from other Jewish organizations; for the significant roles played by women in its operation (Libbie Berkson was the camp's director until 1958); and for its emphasis on Jewish pluralism, welcoming children from all Jewish religious movements, although the camp developed a reputation as the camp of choice for children from prominent traditional Jewish families, and Berkson described its religious practice as "religiously Conservative with leanings toward Liberal Reconstructionism". The prominent rabbi and philosopher Milton Steinberg was a counselor at the camp.
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