TORONTO — After nine years of teaching Judaism through rope-climbing and water-skiing, Camp George is celebrating its 10th summer with a new director.  

Jeff Rose, LEFT, the former director of Camp Sabra in Missouri, is planning to expand the camp’s interactive Jewish education with new programs.

Rose, who has a degree in education and a lifetime of camping experience, isn’t trying to change the direction of the camp.

“I’m just ushering it into the next 10 years,” he said. “I won’t change the basic pillars. [My goal] is to make Judaism a little more engaging.”

Camp George uses informal lessons to integrate Jewish teachings into everyday life. The lessons include skits and interactive videos about Judaism.

“We don’t give them a textbook,” said Ira Schweitzer, a faculty member at the camp and the director of education for Temple Sinai. “We’re trying to teach in a fun way. I do things down at the ropes course to teach about co-operation, or I’ll go mountain biking. Some staff use arts and crafts. We’re not bound by walls.”

Rabbi Erin Polonsky, who is also from the Temple Sinai, uses the camp’s environment to take a different approach to education.

“You can be a little different than [you might be] in religious schooling. You can go outside – if we wanted to, we could just sit outside under a tree or have class in the middle of the night and talk about the stars. There’s all kinds of possibilities,” she said.

Camp George, located on Maple Lake, just southeast of Parry Sound, Ont., is the only Canadian camp that is part of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ). Staff members use the camp’s 200 acres of space as a classroom. Bike paths, rope courses and the surrounding waterfront are used for religious teachings.

“We make the Jewish culture surround them. [The camp] is built on a peninsula, so we have a lot of water activities,” Rose said. “Jewish programming might have a stigma – it’s not synonymous with camp, but we pride ourselves in [the fact that campers] don’t know that they’re learning.”

Rose will use his experience to make the camp even more interactive through daily services and new programming.

“I grew up [camping] in Ontario. I put everything I’ve learned into practice, I try to duplicate the things that I loved,” Rose said. “We do daily prayers where the kids are actively creating their own services through creative readings or skits. We need something different every year.”

This year, Rose plans on introducing a videography program in which kids can shoot videos around the camp about Judaism and turn those videos into half-hour news shows.

He also plans to expand the music program by bringing in more instruments for campers.

Deborah Cooper, who is part of the steering committee, is enthusiastic about expanding this program.

“The bigger vision is to have children more involved. If they’re more involved in music, it will give them a part to play in the services,” she said.

Cooper sees Rose’s experience and personality as an asset to the camp. “I think any director of a Jewish camp is an educator. Jeff is aware of this. He’s a great people person – that’s what drew [the committee] to him,” she said.

“Jeff comes with a great treasure of experience. URJ camps are different – they blend the best of Ontario camping with Jewish camping and Jeff understands both.”

Camp George is made up of faculty and staff from educational and religious backgrounds. Rabbis and Jewish educational directors live at the camp.

“One of [our] greatest resources is the number of Jewish professionals at camp. It’s somehow very different when a kid can sit down on a log and chat. They get to know [each other] as people,” Cooper said.

Rose also sees this as an asset.

“[Jewish professionals] are around camp all the time. I think kids like it. They see them as human beings. The idea is to make Judaism a living thing,” he said.

Rose hopes to continue to immerse campers in Judaism through the Tikkun Olam program.

“It’s the Jewish value of repairing the world,” he said. “[Campers] are taught to give back to the community. Last year they learned to respect elderly people, this year we’re looking at collaborating with the Koby Mandell Foundation [which helps Israeli children traumatized by terror].”

 Rose also plans to use the Birthday Angels program to help teach kids about charity. Through this program, campers who are celebrating a birthday will be able to sponsor a birthday party for a disadvantaged child in Israel.

Ron Polster, the former director of Camp George, has seen the camp grow in the past five years.

“It’s a young camp, we needed more of a community spirit,” he said. “It’s become more of a summer continuum. Campers looked forward to [coming back] and becoming CIT’s [counsellors-in-training] or staff.”

Cooper has high hopes for Rose.

“He’s a passionate person. We’re thrilled to have [him] with us,” she said.