Summer Programs
Just 30 minutes from Kalamazoo, MI and 2.5 hours from both Chicago, IL and Detroit, MI, Camp Tavor is located on a beautiful private lakefront along Lake Kaiser in Three Rivers, MI. Our camp property includes a beach and lake swimming area, swimming pool, sports fields, arts and crafts and music facilities, a lakeside amphitheater, numerous hiking trails that connect the many shtachim (living areas), and a variety of indoor and outdoor gathering spaces to host stimulating, enriching, and varied daily activities.
Check out our glossary page for an explanation of the intentional shift from chanichim to chanichimot!
After focused consultation with public health experts and leaders from the camping communities that successfully operated in 2020, we’re focused on bringing our camp community together - safely - in person this summer at Tavor! We know that our campers are longing for camp, and we’re committed to doing everything in our power to bring our community together.
Each camper lives in a shetach (living area), organized by grade in school. Within each shetach (living area), chanichimot (campers) sleep with about 4-6 of their peers and 1-2 madrichimot (counselors) in either ohelim (large, canvas tents with a wooden or cement platform) or tzrifim (cabins). In addition to the group of madrichimot (counselors) with each shichvah (age group), a mashatz (supervisor) provides additional support and supervision to each group. Each shetach includes a bath and shower house and each shichvah (age group) has its own moadon(community gathering area) for group activities and to encourage community building.
As you review our sessions for 2021, returning families will notice that our sessions have changed. We’ve arrived at this new session structure after considerable consultation with our health team, reviewing the survey responses from our amazing Tavor families, and focus groups with Tavor parents, staff, and tzevet (summer staff).
This structure will provide a strong foundation upon which we can best adapt for a variety of different covid-19 mitigation strategies and best serve our Tavor community, in offering an opportunity to bring our community together safely. While we’ve done a lot of work to put this structure together, we know that conditions may change, we will communicate openly with you throughout the year to let you know if we decide that we need to make any changes to best serve our community. Thank you for your partnership and flexibility as we plan for a historic summer.