The thirteenth consecutive year of Habonim summer camping has rolled around. We have been so occupied in actually preparing for Kvutza, so immersed in the every-day workings, worries, and business of the the camp, that we have hardly had time to notice the years creeping up on us. It was only when I sat down and began to count that I suddenly realized, to my amazement, that Bar Mitzva is upon us. For although thirteen years is a relatively short period of time in the life of an individual, at that age, an institution such as camp is considered old and established, entitled to a sedate, thoughtful, and talkative "Bar Mitzva dinner. "
What have we accomplished in these thirteen summers? What institutions can we point to? What have we established, created, contributed? The first Habonim Camp Kvutza was started thirteen years ago, even before the official beginning of Habonim as an organization, by a small group of stubborn young people who were dissatisfied with Jewish isummer camping as they knew it. They felt it was too occupied with trivialities, gave too little room for the expression of the creative abilities of campers, and paid too little attention to intelligent discussion and teaebing of Jewish attitudes and heritage. They had the impudence to believe that they could operate a camp which could change these things, change them for the better.
They decided to devote some time each day to discussion of Jewish current affairs, Jewish history, Jewish problems. They decided that they, the campers, should work several hours a day in and about the camp. They felt that the camp should be run democratically with each camper baving a choice in decisions affecting programs and work. They were determined that the spirit of modern Eretz Yisrael should permeate the camp. They called the camp "Kvutza."
Today, thirteen years later, Habonim is operating eight summer camps throughout the United States and Canada, and preparing to operate nine next summer, as it did last. Whereas thirteen years ago the first campers "squatted" on a piece of land loaned to them, we now own all but one of our camps, and are constantly expanding our facilities. Whereas thirteen years ago there was a group of some ten to fifteen campers, we now have an average of 1,400 or more each summer. Whereas thirteen years ago all the principles listed above were dreams-according to some, dreams incapable of realization-today they are part and parcel, in a highly developed form, of our camping system.
Today Camp Kvutza is integrally bound up with the life blood of Habonim as a movement. It is undoubtedly the strongest educational instrument which we have succeeded in developing. It is almost a truism that those cities which have a good Camp Kvutza in the vicinity have the strongest, most alert, most Jewish-conscious and responsible Habonim groups. We have found no better way to develop youth toward an intelligent understanding of Zionism than the twenty-four-hour-a-day, two-month living course presented by Camp Kvutza.
Despite our realization of these things, we are reticent about pointing to our accomplishments. There are several reasons for this. By their very nature our camps become institutionalized according to a given pattern. The nature of our purpose makes for an extremely high rate of chanfre and adaption to circumstance. The fact that we are interested in retaining a permanent hold on the camper through the year as well as in the summer months, that we want him to assume responsibility, to become vitally concerned with our problems, conditions the type of camp we, have.
We cannot, like others, be concerned simply with supplying a staff for our camps. Our staff must consist of a certain type of individual, with a certain type of background, and with roots in Habonim. Thus we have been hit more than ordinary camps by the current war situation. The eighteen- and nineteen-year-old haverim who would normally assume positions of leadership are to a large extent unavailable. The fifteen- and sixteen-year-olds who in the normal course of events would not be groomed for leadership and responsibility have been forced to become the physical and intellectual core of Kvutza, and it is increasingly difficult for even them to devote themselves to camp. Programs have to be adjusted to their level of preparation. New systems for activity have to be worked out. Ways must be found to draw them actively into the cause which circumstance dictates they must fight for though they be unprepared.
The inner strength of our camps is showing itself in the way this crisis is being met. Perhaps it is because younger people all over are becoming accustomed to a greater degree of responsibility; perhaps it is because to an increasing extent they are concerning themselves with problems which have hitherto been considered the domain of their elders. Whatever the reasons, our younger haverim have reacted in a way which leaves no doubt as to the future of Habonim camping. We have continued to develop during the last two difficult summers. Three new permanent sites have been acquired, camps are being expanded, new ideas are being contributed, plans for new camps are under serious consideration.
So far, so good. All that I have mentioned can definitely be considered on the credit side of the Camp Kvutza ledger. But there is another angle from which the whole picture can be viewed. Given the conviction that Camp Kvutza is a good instrument for the advancement of our approach to Jewish life, have we exploited as fully as we could have and should have? Have we succeeded in getting the Labor Zionist movement as a whole to recognize it and actively support it? Have we succeeded in bringing it to the attention of the Jewish public as a whole?
The answers to these questions are doubtful. We have encountered many problems along these lines and to this day, we have not succeeded in completely solving them. In some cities Kvutza is the summer camp of our entire movement, receiving enthusiastic backing of all its segments; In others, the Labor Zionist movement as a whole has failed to recognize its value and gives it no more than perfunctory backing. In others, there exists no Kvutza because the movement there has failed to become enthusiastic enough about it to undertake the establishment of one.
On the other band, in those places where the senior movement has become interested, other ticklish problems arise. The extent to which Habonim should actually run the camp, the advisability of younger people being entrusted with financial and physical responsibility for what in some cases is a big business, comes into question. We have always felt that an important element in shaping the character and initiative of the campers would be lost were these and other responsibilities removed from us and given to our senior haverim.
The extent to which the traditional element in Kvutza should be stressed is something which has caused much discussion. In general, it has been left up to the individual city to decide on this question although certain minimum principles such as no work on Shabbat have been adopted nationally.
The extent to which non-members of Habonim should be permitted to come to camp is also debatable. That non-members should attend Kvutza, thus acquiring contact with our ideas and principles, is naturally desirable. But it is the general feeling that their number should be limited to a certain percentage of the campers in order to preserve the Habonim character.
All these questions must eventually be resolved. Concerted attempts must be made to acquire the greatest moral and material backing possible. I, for one, am convinced that Camp Kvutza is the most powerful instrument Habonim has created for the attraction of young American Jews to its cause. It is more powerful than city propaganda, more powerful than Hebrew schools, and its preservation and strengthening is perhaps the greatest contribution Habonim can make to the cause of Labor Zionist youth in this country. In the establishment of a network of twice and thrice the number of Kvutzot we now have, lies the road to the establishment of a really alert Labor Zionist youth.
Murray Weingarten, 1944