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“Let’s hear some ruach (spirit) in this chadar ochel (dining hall)!” Sentences like this abound at Jewish summer camps around North America, alongside Hebrew songs, games, and signs. Through insightful analysis and engaging writing, Hebrew Infusion explains the origins of this phenomenon and what it says about Jewishness in America.
List of contents
Introduction
Part I Past
1 Hebrew Infusion in American Jewish Summer Camps, 1900-1990
2 Camp Massad in the Poconos and the Rise and Fall of Hebrew Immersion Camping
3 Camp Ramah: A Transition from Immersion to Infusion
Part II Present
4 A Flexible Signifier: Diversity in Hebrew Infusion and Ideology
5 The Building Blocks of Infusion
6 “Sign” Language: Visual Displays of Hebrew and Jewish Space
7 Bringing Israel to Camp: Israeli Emissaries and Hebrew
8 Conflicting Ideologies of Hebrew Use
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the author
Sarah Bunin Benor, Jonathan B. Krasner, and Sharon Avni
Summary
Each summer, tens of thousands of American Jews attend residential camps, where they see Hebrew signs, sing Hebrew songs, and hear a camp-specific hybrid language. Using historical and sociolinguistic methods, this book explains how camp directors came to infuse Hebrew in creative ways and how their rationales and practices have evolved over time.
