“Teaching kids to count isn’t nearly as important as teaching them what counts.”
Education is the cornerstone of the Morasha experience. Camp Morasha integrates the best in informal and formal Jewish education in all of its programming and activities through a transformative and fun, co-ed, outdoor summer experience for Jewish youth. Through commitment to Torah principles and engagement with nature and the larger world, the camp inspires and develops the minds, bodies, hearts, and souls of its campers, nurturing their commitment to Torah, Modern Orthodoxy, and Zionism; developing their proficiency in sports, swimming and the arts; and nurturing a community defined by kindness, sportsmanship, personal responsibility, good citizenship, and mutual respect.
Morasha is a 24-hour, 7 day a week community in which campers, counselors, and staff live, eat, play, pray, and learn together. It is a laboratory for life in which our campers not only learn but practice respectful behavior and speech. Morasha is a safe and nurturing environment in which our campers and Yachad members discover the Tzelem Elokim (divine image) in others, and in themselves.
The Torah is a tree of life that nurtures our campers and enables them to LEARN Torah in formal and informal ways from passionate, inspiring teachers, counselors and staff, and from each other. They then have the chance to LIVE that Torah in their bunks and on the ball fields, with teachers and peers. Torah learning, mitzvah observance, and Zionism define the natural rhythm of Morasha, every minute of every day, and help our campers grow in their service to Hashem.
“If I’m not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I?” These words by Hillel are the keystone of personal and communal responsibility. At Morasha, campers learn and live what it means to be dependable and conscientious members of a family, a group, a community, a people, and a nation. Morasha inculcates the value of good citizenship — as Jews, Americans, and supporters of Israel.
Gratitude is our attitude – from the first tefilot we recite in the morning, to the brachot in the Dining Room, to the routine “thank you” expressed by campers and staff. Morasha campers learn to be thankful for the good fortunes from which they benefit, living and expressing their appreciation throughout their camp experience. After all, appreciation is the essence of a Yehudi, a Jew.
Out of the classrooms and onto the fields, courts, lake, pool, art room, stage, and beyond, Morasha campers develop their technical skills, confidence, leadership, and self-esteem. Learning how to do things right through instruction, practice, challenge, and experience, campers develop skills in athletics, aquatics, adventure, and the arts.
At Morasha, we aren’t simply looking to give our campers something to do – but to teach our campers to approach everything they do with a sense of passion, spirit, excitement, and enthusiasm. Whether it’s through a Color War or Shiria, zmirot or teffila, Morasha is a place for spirits to soar and for souls to be inspired. And that infectious spirit goes home with our campers and lasts, very often, a lifetime.
All for one and one for all. Living together in a bunk, playing together on a team, traveling together on a camp trip, and working together on a project all contribute to the creation of bonds and affection and the satisfaction of mutual achievement. All this creates a unity through which campers, counselors, and staff become the Morasha family.