News & Updates about & from HDNA
HDNA members from our communities in Philadelphia, Manhattan, and Brooklyn gathered with other Jews creating intentional communities at the annual Hakhel conference — including many of our Habo friends from Australia and New Zealand, and our partners from Hashomer Hatzair!
September 10, 2017, 10:00 pm
WASHINGTON — A number of Jewish camping organizations wrote to US President Donald Trump urging him to keep in place a program that grants visas to foreigners who work in summer camps. Read full story
Friday 22nd, January 2016 Written by Mira Sucharov
On a little corner of Gabriola Island lies an enclave of old-style Jewish utopianism. Modeled after a kibbutz, campers (chanichim) and counselors (madrichim) talk about heady topics like radical justice, equal worth, unionization, socialism and Labor Zionism.
They learn Hebrew, engage in physical labor and debate topics like whether O Canada adequately addresses the reality of First Nations, the fate of the Palestinians, and how to make a radically inclusive society within Israel. It’s Camp Miriam, part of the network of Habonim-Dror camps across North America. Among the founders of the camp was my grandmother, Marian Margolis, and I spent one memorable summer there as a counselor in 1990. Read more …
Lila Sarick, Staff Reporter, Wednesday, June 10, 2015
JCamp180, a philanthropic organization based in Massachusetts, is the reason why Ontario’s Camp Gesher has brand-new cabins and a much more sophisticated board of directors. Read more ….
NEW YORK (Press Release)–The U.S. Area Elections Committee chair has found that there is no basis for the request made by the ZOA to disqualify the Hatikvah progressive Zionist slate, established for the upcoming World Zionist Congress elections in the United States. Ironically, the ZOA is attempting to delegitimize the ideological heirs of those who established the state of Israel and since that time have helped sustain the Zionist dream. Ameinu, Partners for Progressive Israel, Habonim Dror and Hashomer Hatzair, the organizational members of the Hatikvah Slate, have presented a platform that represents today’s mainstream peace and democracy camp of Israel. Read more …..
December 26, 2014 11:32am
(JTA) — Jacques Wagner, the governor of the Brazilian state of Bahia, was named the federal government’s next minister of defense.
President Dilma Rousseff tapped Wagner, 63, and 12 other new cabinet ministers on Tuesday following her re-election in October.
Born in Rio de Janeiro to Jewish immigrants from Poland, Wagner, a former activist with the Zionist Habonim Dror movement, was elected governor in 2007. He had previously served as minister of labor under former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Read more …
KRISTEN MOTT CJN Staff Reporter
February 28, 2014 10:30 am
With cellphones, iPads and computers, children are constantly plugged in to technology. But when it comes time to attend an overnight summer camp, unplugging from technology is crucial. “The whole idea is socialization and actually talking to people face-to-face and not texting or ignoring them, so we can build community,” said Shelley Goldwater, the executive director of Habonim Dror Camp Tavor, a Jewish overnight camp in southwest Michigan. “They’re so addicted to being on computers and such that they don’t even know what to do with themselves.”
Camp Tavor has always had a “no technology” policy in place for campers. Camp staff have access to computers to plan activities and are allowed to bring their personal cellphones to camp, but are not allowed to use their phones around the campers. Read more ….
By Heidi Redlitz
A vibrant overnight summer camp for Jewish youth ages 8 to 17, Camp Gilboa fosters a lifelong commitment to collective responsibility, equality, and knowledge of Jewish history and culture. Located in the San Bernardino Mountains, it has since 1936 been the west coast branch for Habonim Dror, an international Labor Zionist youth movement.
Camp Gilboa has no shortage of typical camp fun, from kayaking and archery, drama and Israeli dancing, to nature hikes and team-building activities. Yet in its community-oriented approach to work and learning, “campers are participants and creators of their own space and experience,” says Dalit Shlapobersky, Camp Gilboa’s executive director.
To embody their social-minded ideals, Camp Gilboa encourages youth leadership so that campers become proactive camp counselors and adults. The camp is entirely self-maintained: Alumni and parents open and close camp each season, while campers, college-level counselors, and adult staff make it run through the summer. Since Shabbat is run by students, it becomes personally relevant to each camper. READ MORE ….
NEW YORK (JTA) — Think Expedia or Hotels.com or countless other vacation discount finders online, but instead to connect kids to Jewish camps.
The Foundation for Jewish Camp announced Monday that it is piloting a new program this summer offering first-time campers from middle- and lower-income families camp sessions at prices that are 40-80 percent below the camps’ standard rates.
Called BunkConnect, the program, in partnership with the Center for Entrepreneurial Jewish Philanthropy, will make available 1,100 discounted slots at 35 camps in the Northeast, New England and Mid-Atlantic regions. While only families from those regions are eligible to participate this summer, the FJC hopes to expand the program to Jewish families and camps throughout North America in future years.