Education, Tradition, Youth

Hello Spring Camp

About this project

The Hello Spring Camp (Szevasz Tavaszi Tábor in Hungarian) is a 4-5-day youth camp held almost every year since 2011. Its organizer is the Szarvas camp with three Jewish youth organizations active in Hungary: Hanoar, Shomer, and BBYO. The camp gives an opportunity for new people to connect, and for those familiar with the camp to get in the mood for the summer. The goal of the camp, in line with the mission of the participating organizations, is to create a community where entertaining Jewish education provides a basis to experience Jewish identity, for the participants to build a Jewish identity, and to experience community life.

Why is it important?

The Szarvas Camp and the youth organizations complement each other in many ways. While Szarvas Camp provides quality informal education to young people in the summer, the youth organizations do the same throughout the year. This realization inspired the idea of a joint camp, which provided an opportunity for the people at the organizations to get familiar with Szarvas Camp as well as the people working for Szarvas Camp and connect with the communities of the organizations. The camp also provided a community event for those who could not participate in the summer or attend the programs of the youth organizations every week.

Why is it special?

While the camp's support is provided by JDC, the planning and implementation of the programs and the education were in full partnership with the youth organizations. On every level, the diversity of the participating organizations was on display. The campers, the madrichim or youth leaders, and the camp leaders came equally from Shomer, BBYO, Hanoar, and the Szarvas Camp team. The multifaceted collaboration laid the foundation for professional thinking and the exchange of information among the organizations, which has been the basis of their partnership ever since, thus shaping the Hungarian Jewish youth scene.