Eden in the News

“The camp’s ‘no body talk’ rule makes it “this utopian, wonderful kind of place where you’re not judged on anything except your spirit.”

“I love it because it comes within the context of education,” Tova Garr tells Lilith. “It actually frees girls up, and boys for that matter….the value isn’t just the environment, it’s being able to notice what kind of internal conversation you’re having with yourself. How much of our day is spent thinking about what we look like? For many girls, that’s a huge part of their day.”

For four years in a row we’ve been named one of the “50 most innovative and inspiring Jewish organizations in North America” by Slingshot! Read about us here.

On December 13, 2012, Speakers’ Lab presented “Is Jewish Education Broken?,” exploring new visions and models for liberal Jewish education in the 21st century. Skip to 19:20 and watch speaker on the left talk about Eden Village camp.

“With Eden Village Camp, I’m seeing a side of my children’s personalities that wouldn’t be there if they hadn’t had this chance to explore new ideas,” says Bluma Acocella.

Please can we go to this camp?” my older son asked me after a parlor meeting in my town with the director of an overnight camp. “I really want to go!” my younger son said.

“A small but growing number of environmentally and socially responsible Jewish farms are popping up around the country to create a whole culture of Jewish farming combining biblical precepts of charity and gratitude with sustainable agricultural trends like permaculture and composting. One such farm is a joint venture by the Jewish Farm School and Eden Village Camp in Putnam Valley, N.Y.”

“Yoni Stadlin does more than just talk about honoring trees on Tu B’Shevat — he devotes vacations to “speak” for them. A month ago, the 33-year-old Bala Cynwyd native flew to Northern California for his fifth stake-out high in the boughs of an ancient Redwood that would have been chopped down years ago if not for the continual presence of guardians like him.”

Where in the world can a young camper serve as a goat shepherd, make smoothies by a bike-powered blender, eat solar oven-baked challah, and experience a living Judaism that puts Jewish teachings about caring for the land into practice?

My visit this past week to Eden Village Camp, in Putnam County, was window into this age-old bond within a modern culture and timeless human occupation of working the land. It is the first Jewish overnight environmental camp for children, merging the movements to reintroduce nature into their technological fast-lane lives, discover and express concern for the environment, learn where food (especially healthy food) comes from – all while in a value rich program that celebrates Jewish traditions.

Daniel, a yarmulke-wearing 13-year-old from Worcester, Mass., stopped pedaling the camp’s bike-powered blender (whipping up strawberry-banana smoothies) to answer a reporter’s questions. “I LOVE this!” he exclaimed. “I have made a bunch of friends here. I like the art and music, the herbalism and the soccer — all of it!”

Campers engage in organic gardening and bee keeping, outdoor and wilderness adventure, green-friendly arts and crafts and natural sciences as well as weekly Shabbat celebrations and morning prayer and reflection time on the weekdays. Campers share locally-grown, mostly vegetarian meals – many of which they’ve helped to grow or cook.

This is much more than kids coming and learning about film, music and culinary arts,” [Yoni] said. “We will also have the sense of ritual, the fun things they are going to be doing and learning together: meals, Shabbat celebrations, community service, nighttime activities and meetings.

[I]nstead of games of tennis there will be pickling and permaculture. Rather than visiting the canteen for ice cream, kids will pick snap peas to munch from their bunk’s own “snack garden.”

A day after Vivian Lehrer and Yoni Stadlin got married, they received the best wedding gift of all: a $1.1 million grant to pursue their fantasy project, a Jewish sleep-away camp focused on environmental sustainability.

“We got some pushback saying starting a camp was a lot harder than you think — sort of like, when you convert to Judaism, you get told ‘no,’ ” [directo Yoni Stadlin] said. “But we found out this was a collective dream of many people.”

Located one hour north of New York City, the beautiful camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, inspired, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and a vibrant Jewish spiritual life.

“Eden Village is not only the front edge of the Jewish environmental movement, but the future of the Jewish community,” incorporating many of the values the Jewish community cares about, said Nigel Savage, executive director of Hazon.

Eden Village hopes to renew the “Jewish wisdom that speaks to the environmental concerns that today’s young people care about, creating a substantive, relevant Judaism that is attracting youth who otherwise might have chosen a secular camp.”

You may find a Campers work in the garden and share the fruits of their labor. Some of the plants campers grow are basil, mint, tomatoes and leaf lettuce.

Volunteers gathered to build trails, till fields, sing, and dance. The program plans to develop environmental awareness and Jewish identity and is the only camp with Jewish environmentalism as its founding principle.

The Yiddish Forward, July 2, 2009 — Click the image below to read the article (it’s in Yiddish!).