Jewish families and communities affiliated with the B’nai Brith (BB) Camp near Kenora, in northern Ontario, have learned who will run the camp this summer, in the wake of a parent-led campaign to oust the co-executive director.
Jacob Brodovsky was no longer in that role as of April 17, when the board of directors sent a letter saying he was “amicably” parting ways with BB Camp.
The announcement followed a variety of accusations by parents related to anti-Israel sentiment—even though, eight days earlier, the board had issued a letter stating he would be retained in the role, despite the criticism.
Adding to the confusion has been that Brodovsky, a 15-year veteran of the camp, was hired along with his spouse: Lexie Yurman, who shared the role as co-executive director, and is currently on maternity leave after giving birth to the couple’s second child.
Yurman’s employment status was not noted in the letter, The CJN’s inquiries to the camp office were not returned, and neither of the couple replied to requests for an interview. The board chair, Steven London, referred The CJN to the board’s letters when reached for comment.
In an email April 27, the camp now announced that two alumni, Sarah Gould and Aliza Millo, have been hired as co-directors—at least for this coming summer. The note also acknowledged it had been a tense 10 days for everyone affiliated with BB Camp.
How the controversy unfolded
In the weeks leading up to Brodovsky’s exit, communications from parents and posts on social media—including letters from parents to the camp board viewed by The CJN—referenced stories about his supposedly dissociating from Israeli flag-raising, or discouraging a focus among campers on yellow ribbons and concerns for hostages.
The CJN is unable to substantiate these claims, even after speaking to parents of campers.
However, those parents shared letters of concern sent to the camp board along with the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg (which funds this BB Camp in part, although it plays no role in its operations) about the initial decision to retain Brodovsky.
One of the more recent occurrences, which appears to have set off this particular imbroglio according to camper parents, involved the former co-director’s “liking” a social media post about a pro-Palestinian event hosted by a known local anti-Israel activist.
Along with his work at the camp, Brodovsky is an acclaimed musician, who won a 2024 Canadian Folk Music Award for Songwriter of the Year. He became co-executive director, along with Yurman, in 2020—although the COVID-19 pandemic postponed their in-person management opportunity that summer.
The BB Camp located on Town Island, south of Kenora on Lake of the Woods in Northern Ontario, celebrated 70 years in 2024. According to a blog post about the anniversary published at The Times of Israel, Yurman estimated 300 to 350 campers attended each session—including teenage leaders and staff in training—along with teen participants for springtime programs. (BB also attracts non-Jewish campers, who are estimated at 15 percent of attendees.)
Fixtures of the camp since their youth, Yurman and Brodovsky met, got engaged, and were married on-site, in Kenora. Each worked at the camp on Town Island for more than a decade prior to being hired as co-executive directors.
Support unexpectedly reversed
BB Camp’s letter of April 17 stated the board of directors “has worked tirelessly to balance a multitude of hard issues” in the weeks prior to parting ways with Brodovsky.
The message further denounced the “nature and content” of the postings its co-director appeared to endorse, accompanied by promising to improve in certain areas.
New policies will include adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism into the code of conduct—which employees and board members will be required to sign. BB Camp says it will review and update its mission statement and core values statement “to better reflect the camp’s fundamental support of Israel,” hire a Jewish education coordinator, and a form an Israel engagement subcommittee.
“Our campers will continue to do what they have been doing for decades: proudly sing Hatikvah daily while the Israeli flag is lowered, participate in meaningful and inclusive daily prayer services, enjoy the ‘Shabbat Procession’ and Friday challah, and feel a connection to Israel and Judaism through our programming,” the letter continued.
But the executive director couple were also commended for their support of Israelis last summer, the first session after Oct. 7, 2023.
“They engaged with the community to raise funds which were used to bring young Israeli campers from destroyed communities in the Gaza envelope, along with a chaperone, to camp for a session. This provided an incredible relief to those kids and gave our community’s kids a chance to connect with Israelis who have suffered so greatly.”
Questions surround decision
While some evidently advocated for Brodovsky’s swift dismissal, other parents wonder what, or who, was served by what they perceived as succumbing to pressure after an initial show of support—and doing so just two months before the next summer session.
Two parents who spoke with The CJN did so on condition of anonymity. One additional parent shared letters sent to the camp board and the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg.
For one of the parents who spoke with The CJN, an opportunity for intra-community dialogue was sorely missed. Effectively, a vocal minority got their way when BB Camp and Brodovsky parted ways, he says.
“That bothered me more than anything, that speculation that the—I’m not going to call them false accusations, but accusations based on children’s perceptions or children’s interpretations” seem to have been accepted by parents who were “taking them [the accusations] as fact,” he said.
“To me, this has turned into a bit of witch hunt.”
He says his own children’s experience didn’t track with what he describes as hearsay, and he questions whether perceptions may have been embellished by other campers, or in how situations were interpreted by their parents.
“No one can convince somebody that [their] perception is wrong, but I think we’re talking about a small minority that has become the loudest voice, and that’s what it feels like,” he said.
“Again, those things [at camp] might have happened. He might have appeared certain ways during certain, you know, prayer ceremonies or flag-raisings,” though he can’t be certain, he said, noting that a director, while in session, may be preoccupied at a given time with any number of things.
“I don’t think there [was] ever a blatant ‘you can’t support Israel’ or ‘you can’t wear a ribbon’ or ‘we’re not singing Hatikvah, we’re not acknowledging Israel’s right to exist,’” he said. “My kids come home with a stronger Jewish identity every summer.”
It’s a small community, he points out, while positing that if these issues were conspicuous at camp last summer, he thinks at least the older teenage campers would have noticed and discussed it. A “quintessential mountain out of a molehill” was created to retroactively characterize Brodovsky’s point of view, according to the camper parent.
“They needed more than just [his] liking of the posts.”
“Was he [Brodovsky] naive or ignorant to the reality of liking a post? For sure. Should he be reprimanded? Sure. But this is next level crazy, especially since there’s no past history of any inappropriate behaviour from him, and [this] will undoubtedly have a much bigger implication about growing the divisiveness within a community that instead needs to come together more now than ever.”
The parent says a “town hall” meeting would have been more helpful than what’s playing out—especially for the purpose of setting an example for children about needing to learn from mistakes.
“Currently all Jacob is going to learn from this is that he is not safe with his own within his own community, and is now a polarizing figure despite his countless years of dedication to our community, our children, and a place that is beyond special to so many people’s hearts.
“This is all very sad on so many levels.”
Parents have a “difficult reality to navigate” in talking about the current Israel-Hamas war in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7 attacks.
“When my kids come home and [ask] ‘why are Israelis killing people?’ You know, that’s a hard thing to have to explain, but there’s an answer… but it’s still a difficult narrative, a difficult conversation,” he said, noting he is strongly pro-Israel but does not support current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “There’s atrocities on both sides.”
While lamenting the BB Camp has severed ties with a couple uniquely dedicated to the community, this parent fears reprisals for his family if he were to speak out publicly.
“I should be able to say my name proudly and why I have these feelings, but the community has shown that we’re not safe right now to do that.”
Status of partner still unconfirmed
“The communication around ‘is Lexie staying on?’ has not actually been communicated,” said the parent.
The solution for summer 2025, with Sarah Gould and Aliza Millo signing on as co-directors, doesn’t appear to answer that question beyond Yurman’s maternity leave.
“I think the push and the desire from the loudest voices to remove [Brodovsky]… the implications presently and long term [of that], I don’t think have been thought out.”
Despite potentially awkward conversations about the situation, he doesn’t think it will affect whether parents send their kids this year. (Many camp families are based in Winnipeg, as well as in Toronto and other parts of Ontario.)
Still, this parent is stuck with a sense of a reality where it’s “not feeling safe within your own community to express” one’s views, including politics.
“When we sit around the Passover seder, we can have an open dialogue and conversation and all feel safe. I know within my Jewish friend group, we can all have an open dialogue and conversation that’s safe, even if there’s dissenting views,” he said. “It’s within the wider community where people are starting to feel unsafe, it’s within the wider community where we don’t know if we say something [that it] wouldn’t be held against us.
“How do we move forward from this? How do we not again become divided?”
He’s concerned about the loudest voices outweighing a more equitable forum.
“A town hall would have been a much better way [for the camp] to gauge the temperature, to see: ‘Is this really an issue that the families that we support, the families that we rely on… is this an issue that’s going to have an impact on how we run this camp?’
“That’s the piece that will, I think, bother a lot of the parents… they didn’t get a chance, to stand up and say: ‘Yes, Jacob make a mistake, but here’s what he’s done for my kids, here’s what he’s done for the community, here’s what he’s done for camp.’
“Instead it was just a broad brushstroke… and humans are very nuanced. ‘You liked a post and now this is who we think you are’… his identity has come down to what seems to be a singular moment in time.”
Hiring two new co-directors, even if an interim move, has put him at ease now that he knows what the camp is doing.
“I believe the camp will be in excellent hands with Aliza and Sarah at the helm,” he said.
Parents supporting split still concerned
One parent who had wanted the camp and Brodovsky to part ways says she has “renewed hope” for this summer with two new co-directors.
Still, in her view it took too long for the board to come to the decision, after initially standing by Brodovsky.
The view of this parent is that it’s now essential for BB Camp to have firm policies related to views on Judaism and Israel.
“In these uncertain times, when there’s so much antisemitism, anti-Israel sentiment [that’s] now using Zionism as if ‘equate-able’ [comparable] to terrorism … [if] people [who are] supposed to be founding leaders in community don’t stand tall, and proudly, quickly, and swiftly,” that can leave community members, like parents, feeling uncertain about trusting such leaders.
“Since Oct. 7, so many of us carry a weight. Going to Jewish summer camp… to carry this knowing this should be a place where you’re welcomed and free to openly be and talk about Israel ties, this is a connection we all know,” she said.
She feels BB Camp should be a place where, unlike the larger worlds of high school, or university life, kids “don’t have to constantly think about being Jewish.”
“Jewish summer camp for so many people [is one of the] largest connections to Judaism… if you’re feeling [that the] person running camp is not aligned with that, how do you carry on?”
