Camp Shomria is the name used by several Jewish

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

s associated with the

Hashomer Hatzair Hashomer Hatzair ( he, הַשׁוֹמֵר הַצָעִיר, , ''The Young Guard'') is a Labor Zionist, secular Jewish youth movement founded in 1913 in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary, and it was also the name of the group ...

Progressive Zionist youth movement in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. At present, Hashomer Hatzair North America operates two Camp Shomrias: one in

Perth, Ontario Perth is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Tay River, southwest of Ottawa, and is the seat of Lanark County. History The town was established as a military settlement in 1816, shortly after the War of 1812. The settlement ...

which has been operating since the late 1950s and takes campers from Canada and parts of the United States, and an older camp at

Liberty, New York Liberty is a town in Sullivan County, New York, United States. The population was 9,885 at the 2010 census. The town contains a village also named Liberty. The village is bisected by New York State Route 52 (NY 52) and NY 55, and is ...

, in the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas cl ...

, that was founded in the 1940s. Since 2003, Camp Shomria Liberty has included Israeli Arabs, Israeli Jews and Bedouins amongst its roster of campers in an attempt to break down barriers between Israeli Jews and Arabs

Similarly, since 2011, Camp Shomria Perth has hosted the program Heart to Heart, which is made up of 20 Palestinian and Jewish Israeli youth and is aimed at equipping participants with the skills to work towards a shared society back in Israel. Heart to Heart is co-sponsored by

Givat Haviva Givat Haviva ( he, גבעת חביבה) is the national education center of the Kibbutz Federation in Israel founded in 1949. It is the oldest institution in Israel promoting reconciliation between Jews and Arabs. History Givat Haviva, establish ...

. Although founded in the 1940s, the actual site in Liberty was once a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

training facility. Over the years, Hashomer Hatzair has operated other Camp Shomrias in California, Maryland, and in the Midwest.

Groups (kvutzot)

The camp is divided into ''kvutzot'', or groups. The names are taken from kibbutzim in Israel, such as Galon, Harel, Hazorea,

Sasa Sasa may refer to: People * Saša, a given name * Genjū Sasa (1900–1959), Japanese film director and critic * Sa'sa'a bin Sohan (598–666), a companion of Imam Ali revered by Shia Muslims * Sasa (politician), special envoy to the United Nation ...

, and Kfar Menachem. The campers are split into two age groups, with three years in each; Aleph, Bet, and Gimmel, which are arbitrary denominations corresponding to the beginning letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Campers older than twelve are in Tzofim, while younger children are in Chalutzim. Counselors-in-training are in a group of their own called Yedid in Perth and Kibbutzi in Liberty. Sixteen and older is Hadracha, or staff. During the second three-week period of their Yedid/Kibbutzi year, campers may (and most usually do) enter a program to go Israel, where they visit historical sites, gain exposure to Israeli culture, and spend time bonding with their kvutza. This program is also (and not coincidentally) called Yedid.

References

External links

Hashomer Hatzair - Camp Shomria CanadaCamp Shomria - Hashomer Hatzair USA

Shomria Shomria ( he, שׁוֹמְרִיָּה) is a religious kibbutz in southern Israel. Located near Lehavim, it falls under the jurisdiction of Bnei Shimon Regional Council. In , it had a population of . History Shomria was first established as a Nah ...

Youth organizations based in New York (state) Jews and Judaism in Sullivan County, New York Organizations based in Ontario Hashomer Hatzair {{Jewish-org-stub