JCC Camps at Medford opened for business in the summer of 1942 and has served as a summer home away from home for thousands of South Jersey families. Camp might have looked very different in 1942, but the energy of the place stays the same. Spend five minutes of your summer at camp, and you will see why campers and families return year after year, generation after generation. When you walk into camp from the bus yard, you pass these colorful feather flags that display the middot (Jewish values) that proudly define the mission of our camp. To honor the 75th anniversary of camp, we decided to bring it back to our roots and focus on these middot as the theme of our summer.
We are bringing it back to our shorashim, roots, and using eight of our main middot 
(values) as the inspiration for summer 2017. The middot we are focusing on include the following; Shalom Bayit- peace in the home, Mishpacha- family, Kavod– respect, Simcha– happiness, Ahavat Yisrael- Jewish Peoplehood, Tzedakah– justice, B’tzelem Elohim– everyone created in G-d’s image, Rachmanut– compassion/good sportsmanship. Every week focuses on a different Jewish value, which are universal values that transcend religion and age. These middot truly define what we strive for at the JCC Camps at Medford, and we hope that every single camper will leave camp having embodied these Jewish values.
A typical day at camp includes activities such as swimming, sports, arts, and adventure. We are striving to use these middot as a framework for all of our camp activities. For example, a Camp Shalom camper might learn how to interact with her new bunkmates through some fun icebreakers based on the value of Shalom Bayit – peace in the home. Our LITs are constantly learning about kavod – respect for each other and their future co-counselors. Rachmanut, compassion or good sportsmanship, is a central value to all of our sports and adventure activities. Our specialists and counselors are going to be working hard all summer to instill these values in your campers, and we welcome you to bring them into your homes to carry camp with you all year long.