Even in the best of years, Jewish summer camp is a place laden with emotion — homesick kids alongside cliquey, hormonal teens, under the not-so-watchful eye of underpaid and overeager college-age counselors, all chanting Hebrew songs and seeking genuine connection in a period of four or eight weeks. Put all of this together in the wilderness, and a mythology of curiosity, exploration and Jewish joy will surely follow. 

This summer, in a year of deep pain for the global Jewish community, the normal, beloved intensity of camp has merged with all the subterranean sadness and anger and division that has bubbled up since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Dozens of Jewish summer camps in North America have welcomed hundreds of young and often traumatized Israeli counselors and campers, as well as scores of American Jewish kids and staff members who are seeking a refuge from antisemitism and conflict back home and on their campuses. Many camps are leaning in on Zionism as a core value — something they’ve always believed, but that many camp leaders think is more important to emphasize now than ever before.

What’s a Jewish camp to do, then, if some of its most committed community members want to return, this time as self-identified anti-Zionists? The camp leaders face a choice: inclusion at all costs, or remaining true to their values. 

Jewish institutions including synagogues, rabbinical schools and nonprofits are grappling with whether — and how — to draw red lines on Israel. For instance, Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Theological Seminary, the two flagship Conservative and Reform rabbinical schools, have largely declined to articulate a boundary, allowing students who identify as non-Zionists and anti-Zionists to matriculate, despite the institutions’ commitment to Zionism. 

One prominent Conservative-affiliated summer camp offers a case study in what happens when a Jewish organization takes a firm position, opting to stick to its central values even at the risk of upsetting some longtime community members. That’s what happened at Camp Ramah in New England, which drew the ire of some alumni after deciding not to rehire an anti-Zionist counselor — and earned the admiration of others for standing by its principles.

Soon after Oct. 7, a long-serving counselor shared a post to her Instagram page from Jewish Voice for Peace saying that Jews ought to oppose “genocide” in Gaza. Israelis who had worked with her in the past were upset by it, and they told her so (and told others). Because the post had been shared on social media, the counselor’s identity as an anti-Zionist — a belief she has held for many years, she told Jewish Insider, but had not shared with camp leadership — became public knowledge. Ramah’s senior staff then had to decide if there was a place for a rosh eidah, or group leader, who publicly aligned herself with an anti-Zionist organization. (The counselor requested anonymity to speak candidly about the hiring process.)

Ramah New England is part of a network that includes nine sleepaway camps in North America, all of which prioritize Zionism. A mission statement adopted last summer by Ramah New England (also known as Ramah Palmer) lists 10 core values: health and safety, mitzvot, Jewish education, Zionism, community, sacred space, kindness, belonging, role modeling and joy. An Oct. 18 missive from Rabbi Ed Gelb, the camp’s CEO, attempted to offer clarity on what is considered acceptable when it comes to Israel — and what is not. 

“Ramah New England is a Zionist Jewish Summer Camp. We support self-determination and statehood for the Jewish people in our ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel,” Gelb wrote. “Within our community, there are a wide range of acceptable opinions on what precisely this State of Israel should look like, what the government’s policies should be and how Israel acts [toward] the Palestinian people and on the world stage.”

He then laid out what he described as “double yellow lines” that mark the limits of camp-approved discourse on Israel: “There are also limits to what is acceptable debate in a Ramah context. Like a multilane highway, there are double yellow lines on both sides of the highway that we must adhere to,” Gelb wrote, before stating three sentences that delineate those yellow lines: Hamas’ Simchat Torah attack was pure evil, without any attached qualifications. Israel has an obligation to protect its citizens and remove the threat of further Hamas attacks. And Israel should prosecute its just war against Hamas in a way that minimizes Palestinian civilian deaths as much as possible.

When the counselor who had shared the JVP post met with Gelb for her job interview in late October, she said that he quickly got down to business, and asked if the sentiment she shared on Instagram accurately reflects her views. When the counselor — who grew up going to camp every summer and spent three years there as a counselor — said yes, she did believe Israel is committing genocide, Gelb responded that she would not be invited back to camp this year. 

“It was so sad, and so confusing. I was just devastated to literally not be allowed to go back to the place that I have devoted so much of my life to, and have loved so much,” the counselor told JI last week. She acknowledged, though, that even if camp had not made the choice for her by declining to hire her, she still may not have returned: “I don’t think after this past year, I would have been able to go back, like, morally, and as a person of conscience. I don’t think I could have stomached a summer there,” she said.

In an email to JI, Gelb declined to comment, citing confidentiality around personnel matters. “We are disappointed when, after careful consideration, we are unable to hire someone for any reason,” he wrote.

The hiring decision prompted an open letter, which has not been previously reported, that was signed by 146 Ramah New England alumni and sent to the camp’s leadership in December. The signatories urged the camp “to hire candidates based on their aptitude and passion for the job at hand, not their personal beliefs about Israel or Zionism.” The letter reflected a profound divergence from the camp’s commitment to Zionism, and a lack of understanding about why Israel is kept so central to the camp’s stated mission of “inspir[ing] a lifelong love of Jewish traditions, values, and community.” The signatories declared that their love for camp must be kept separate from Israel.

“Camp Ramah New England is home to many campers and staff members deeply critical of Israel and Zionism, and these people come to camp in spite of, and not because of, its commitment to Zionism,” the letter’s authors wrote. “Campers and staff may have diverse and dissenting opinions about Zionism, but that should not bar them from being part of our community.” 

Camp leadership was not swayed by these points, but the open letter prompted Gelb and Elizabeth Waksman, the president of Ramah New England’s board, to respond to the alumni with a letter of their own. In it, they outlined why they think it is critical to uphold Zionism as a core principle.

“We are not alone among Jewish and non-Jewish employers alike that are navigating employment issues resulting from the Israel-Hamas war. Yet, you can imagine and appreciate our heightened interest as a Jewish educational summer camp in ensuring that our staffs’ publicly stated beliefs align with our mission,” Gelb and Waksman wrote. “If you read our statement on Israel, you will see that the range of acceptable debate is very wide. At the same time, there are limits for all sides and our families trust us to adhere to our principles. They have a right to expect that all staff will promote our publicly stated mission.”

Gelb doubled down on that point in an email to JI last week. “Camp cares deeply about our alumni and values personal connections to members of the Palmer community who have contributed greatly over the years, and we welcome direct dialogue to find shared understanding,” he said. “At the same time, we make a sacred promise to our community that we will faithfully adhere to our public educational goals, including that we are a Zionist camp (unapologetically so).”

If Oct. 7 was a turning point for camp leadership, who decided that outspoken antagonism toward Israel would no longer be acceptable among its staff, it was also a breaking point for some anti-Zionist staff members who had previously sat stone-faced through prayers for Israel and other Israel-focused programming but showed up anyway. Gelb’s decision not to rehire the counselor who had shared the JVP post prompted at least two other staff members, close friends of hers who also identify as anti-Zionists, to decide not to return this year. 

The letter did not reckon with the fact that some alumni of a Zionist camp had emerged from their years there either inclined toward anti-Zionism or skeptical of the camp’s Zionist mission. Still, Gelb told JI that the staffing process overall was unaffected by the defections: “There are always challenges, but this year was one of the easier years and we are thrilled with our staff,” he said in an email. 

Despite all the controversy, camp began in late June, just like it does every year, with hundreds of smiling kids. On opening day, as buses from across New England and the greater Washington, D.C., area arrived at the camp in Palmer, Mass., a new activity awaited campers: Tekes Yisrael, an Israel ceremony. 

“This tekes was a great opportunity to show our commitment to Israel engagement right from the start of the summer,” Pamela Kekst, Ramah New England’s assistant director, wrote in a blog post. “We hope that doing it on the first day of camp reinforced the importance of Israel as a value in our community.”

Gelb kicked off the summer by singing “Hatikvah.” After hearing a number of speeches from Israeli staff members, hundreds of campers stood up, alongside their counselors, ready to move. The program would not be complete without raucous Israeli dancing.

CLARIFICATION: This story was updated on July 16 to clarify the specific rabbinical schools that are grappling with how to address Israel.