Earlier this month, the New York Times featured a story about Camp Be’chol Lashon (“In Every Tongue”), a summer home-away-from-home for Jewish children of color. The two year-old camp is operated by Be’chol Lashon, an organization aiming “to strengthen the Jewish people through ethnic, cultural, and racial inclusiveness.” While Camp Be’chol Lashon offers standard camp fare like canoeing and sing-alongs, the camp also provides a Jewish experience that speaks to a broader understanding of what being a North American Jew in the 21st century is. The infusion of globalism into the camp ethos (e.g. making challah covers of fabrics from India) serves to reflect the increasing diversity within the American Jewish community. With the last decades’ rise of conversion, adoption, and intermarriage—along with the segment of our community that has always been racially diverse—close to ten percent of the American Jewish community is now non-white. Still, because the Jewish community has often been slow to acknowledge these demographic changes, Camp Be’chol Lashon has made it a mission to provide an open Jewish setting for children who may not always feel welcome in more Ashkenazi-biased North American Jewish communities.

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