These famous Jewish people went to Jewish Summer Camp – Hey Alma

Whether you’ve been to camp or heard one too many stories about it, there’s no denying that Jewish summer camp is a touchstone of the modern Jewish experience. Summer camp is a place where Jewish culture and religion blossom, lifelong relationships are formed, and kids can just be kids. But that experience is not unique to us, the plebeians! Many Jewish celebrities have also attended a Jewish summer camp.

In honor of summer and Hey Alma Camp Week 2024, here are a few famous Jewish people who attended Jewish summer camp.

Ben Platt

Before Ben Platt was a Broadway star and recording artist, he was a photographer at Camp Ramah in California. According to Ben, Camp Ramah was “the first place where I was allowed to create for myself what kind of Jew I was going to be.” So obviously it had a big impact on his life.

Other highlights of his time at Camp Ramah include winning the color fight with the Adom (Red) team and singing songs like “Guys & Dolls” in Hebrew. It seems that all of his brothers, including the equally talented Jonah Platt and Henry Platt, also attended Camp Ramah.

Ethan Slater

On the other side of the country, Broadway actor Ethan Slater went to Camp Ramah in New England! Ethan was raised in a relatively involved Conservative Jewish community. His family was part of the Ohr Kodesh congregation, where he later became a bar mitzvah. He also attended Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School through middle school and took classes at Shoresh Hebrew High in his synagogue while still in secular high school. However, he initially went to Camp Rama because his father was a camp doctor.

“I went there as a labor hero, but I stayed until I was 16,” he explained.

Bryan Greenberg

Like Bob Dylan before him, “One Tree Hill” and Hallmark Hanukkah movie “Round and Round” star Bryan Greenberg went to Herzl Camp in Wisconsin. He was a guard there between 1989 and 1993.

Seth Rogen

Jewish summer camp is not just an American experience. Canadian Jews like Seth Rogen have also spent their summers surrounded by Jewish culture outside the country. In the case of the “Knocked Up” actress, she went to Camp Miriam in Canada, which is associated with Habonim Dror, a Labor Zionist youth organization.

“I loved summer camp. It was very developmental for me. Every change in my behavior as an adult came from my peers at summer camp,” Rogen said in an interview with the magazine of Interview with Nick Kroll.

He joked, “Yes, I went to a Jewish summer camp on the left side. They were left-wing Jews so I think there were also no Jews there because that would have been against their liberal values. ”

Doug Emhoff

Here’s hoping this ruling goes well: Doug Emhoff, VP Kamala Harris’ husband, could be the first spouse to go to Jewish summer camp.

As a teenager, Emhoff attended Cedar Lake Camp in the Poconos. At the age of 13, he was voted “the greatest athlete” in his age group, which, as the writer and assistant of Hey Alma, Sophie Vershbow, pointed out on Twitter, “Voted ‘most athletic’ at Jewish summer camp says very little about Doug’s athletic skills and. everything about his ability to attract chicks in 8th grade.”

The Second Man returned to the camp in 2023 to talk to the current campers about Jewish life and cleanliness.

Ralph Lauren

While Old Jewish Men (OJM) are here to remind you that famous Jewish fashion designer Ralph Lauren was born Ralph Lifshitz, we’re here to remind you that he went to Jewish summer camp. Most notably, he spent time at Camp Massad in the Poconos.

In addition, some important comments…

Adam Sandler

Apparently, there is a mystery as to whether Sandman attended a Jewish summer camp at URJ’s Camp Eisner in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Adam, if you are reading this, confirm or deny!!

Nick Kroll

Camp Wildwood, where comedian Nick Kroll and Jewish “Big Mouth” co-creator Andrew Goldberg spent the summer, is not exactly a Jewish summer camp. In an interview with Interview magazine with Seth Rogen, Kroll said the camp was “JEW dash ISH.” He explained: “It was 90 percent Jewish, but it was not a Jewish camp.”

Beanie Feldstein

Like Nick Kroll, Beanie Feldstein never went to Jewish summer camp. He spent his summer at the famous theater camp Stagedoor Manor. However, summer camp is an important part of Beanie’s life.

“I grew up going to summer camp for ten years, and my parents and both sets of grandparents met at summer camp, so camp is a family of love in my family,” Beanie he told Vogue when they covered his summer camp. -themed wedding to Bonnie-Chance Roberts. Even if we’re wrong, it sounds like Beanie’s grandparents met at Jewish summer camps.

Welcome to Hey Alma Camp Week 2024! We celebrate the special event that is the Jewish summer camp. Check back throughout the week for your articles, pop culture moments and fun memes covering Jewish summer camp.