Our Mission & Vision

Creating an integrated and organic Jewish experience.

Our Mission

The mission of Camp JRF is to provide experiences for children, youth, and families through the blending of formal and informal educational approaches that promote strong connections to Judaism, Reconstructionism, and positive human values. Experiences at camp are based upon the civilizational approach developed by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and upon the Values of Spiritual Peoplehood, the cornerstones of Reconstructionist educational philosophy. The creation of community is central to living Reconstructionism in a round-the-clock setting. Experiences at Camp JRF are integrated with experiences in No'ar Hadash, the youth movement of JRF, so that year-round congregational experiences influence the camp program and in turn the camp program influences those congregational experiences. In so doing, the connection between camp and city, between summer and the rest of the year, becomes a seamless whole for our participants.

Our Vision

Our vision is for an integrated and organic Jewish experience. While Mordecai Kaplan wanted to create a Jewish Center in New York, at Camp JRF we are creating a Jewish center in the Poconos and in the souls of our youth. We are planting Jewish values in their hearts and minds, and they then bring these values to life while playing sports, creating art, swimming in the pool, trying the challenge course, and exploring nature. We don’t go to the beit tefillah (outdoor sanctuary) for Judaism and then go somewhere else for the rest of our day – it all happens in one place in real, connected, and exciting ways so that Judaism becomes a central part of our varied selves. Together, we reconstruct Judaism and, similar to Kaplan, make it a modern and meaningful part of our lives; as a center for modern Jewish life, we allow our youth to make Judaism their own. Camp JRF is a place from which a joyful and vibrant core Judaism flows, a community in which our campers and staff transform their Jewish lives – both during the summer and beyond, and a place from which the Reconstructionist movement continues to set the standard of creating meaningful Jewish experiences in contemporary society.