A “How,” Not a “Why”: Introducing Dan Baer, the New Director of Szarvas Camp

Jewish camping has been at the heart of Dan Baer’s life since he was a young child. Passionate about creating meaningful summer experiences for young Jews, Baer is now bringing this sense of purpose to his role as the new director of Szarvas, the JDC-Lauder international Jewish summer camp in rural Hungary. 

In this Q&A, we sit down with Baer to talk about his background, what led him to Jewish camping, and why he’s both thrilled and honored to lead Szarvas. 

Tell us your story. How did you get involved in Jewish life and camping?

I grew up in Akron, Ohio, in a very small Jewish community, and I’ve been a part of Jewish life since the beginning. My Jewish journey started probably at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) preschool in Akron and continued through the city’s very small Jewish day school. 

When I went to high school, I became a BBYO teen and was active in Hillel in university. One summer, my BBYO advisor, who also was running a camp in the Cleveland area, said, “Come work with me this summer. I need a lifeguard.” My first job was folding towels at the fitness desk and lifeguarding at the JCC, spending time at my advisor’s camp. 

When I was growing up, I attended Camp Wise, the local JCC overnight camp — it served primarily affluent suburban youth. But the camp my BBYO advisor ran was quite different. It was both a day and overnight camp. The day camp was similar to Camp Wise, and the overnight camp served primarily underprivileged Cleveland and Akron youth, kids in and out of foster care, single-parent families, or zero-parent families where older siblings were playing that role.

Those sound like two completely different camp experiences.

Those day-camp kids who were coming from decent schools and living in good areas needed a sense of freedom. They needed to have recess and play and get away from school and soccer practice and violin and homework. 

The overnight camp kids needed something else: structure. Many of them had never had three meals in a day. They weren’t used to having lunch at 12:30 and expecting another meal at six o’clock. They would rush to fill their plates when we were serving family style, not understanding that there was more food available in the kitchen. 

Summer after summer, I watched camp work for totally different sets of kids with different needs. But I also saw that, no matter where they come from or their background, all children need and deserve and are enriched by camp. That conviction drives what I do.

What makes Jewish camping so unique and important? 

Camps, especially overnight camps, are one of the few places outside of Israel where a kid can live in a Jewish majority — and in a place designed to be Jewish through and through. 

It’s a place where you have a mezuzah not only on your cabin, but on every building around you. It’s a place where you can fly the Israeli flag proudly and the buildings and spaces and events can have Hebrew names. It’s also a place where the schedule is based on the Jewish week, running Sunday through Saturday, culminating in Shabbat and then Havdalah. Simply put, camp is the first place many kids are able to have such an immersive Jewish experience.

I think that Jewish camping is more important today than it’s ever been. With rising antisemitism around the globe and the war in Israel, Jews are feeling unsafe in their own homes and communities. The sense of safety Jewish kids feel at camp is very real. 

Last summer, you served as a consultant for Szarvas. What most surprised and impressed you about this place? 

At many Jewish camps across North America, madrichim (counselors) see themselves primarily as caregivers. They ensure their campers get up in the morning, that the kids’ mental and physical health is taken care of, and that they’re brushing their teeth and wearing clean clothes.

At Szarvas, the madrichim do all of this important work with an added element — the madrichim really see themselves, and conduct themselves, as Jewish educators, and they’re only 18, 19, 20 years old. Each day, there’s a Jewish topic and theme that the campers focus on, and the madrichim help create the curriculum. 

I was also struck by how global the camp is. At Szarvas, I was one of the few people whose primary language was English. At Shabbat, campers speak in many different languages, but then you’re singing Hebrew songs, and suddenly it feels like you could be plopped into any synagogue or Jewish community around the world. Most importantly, we’re all sharing this experience together. 

What do you want campers to take away from this experience?  

As camp staff, we focus our energy on the summer. But the end goal isn’t for campers to walk away and say, “I had a really good experience.” The end goal is for them to bring that experience home. It’s for the other 50 weeks of the year, when they’re back with their families, where they’re finding some tradition that they liked at camp and practicing it with those around them. 

Then there’s the community piece. The Foundation for Jewish Camp did a study showing that those who attend Jewish overnight camps are more likely to be engaged in their communities back home — they’re more likely to become Board Members, Jewish communal professionals, donors, and lay leaders. I know that Szarvas will continue to be that pipeline to Jewish leadership for young Jews around the world. 

Most importantly, there are things that kids get out of camp we’ll never know about. These are moments that, 10 years later, they’ll still cherish. They’ll carry that memory with them, and it’ll have a positive impact on the rest of their life. 

I think that Jewish camping is more important today than it’s ever been — the sense of safety Jewish kids feel at camp is very real.

What’s your vision for Szarvas for the next 5 or 10 years? 

Last summer, I had the incredible opportunity to visit a few JDC-supported camps in Europe —  the Atid camp in Poland, Jewgaton in Bulgaria, as well as Olameinu in the Baltics. I watched how those programs had evolved and adapted the Szarvas model for their own countries. 

Now, I think Szarvas has the chance to create a dialogue between itself and these camps. For instance, we could bring madrichim from these European camps together for shared learning. We’ve already done something similar here in the United States, where we’re doing Jewish programming for madrichim across a wide range of camps. 

It’s also not lost on us that madrichim are actually just as much consumers as they are producers of Szarvas. In their role as mentors and Jewish educators, they’re taking just as much away as the campers are. By focusing on that young adult age group, we can proactively help them to become the Jewish leaders of the future. 

For me, Jewish camp is a “how” not a “why” — the Szarvas experience is a powerful way to enhance vibrant Jewish life so that, later on, they can go and build it for themselves. I can’t wait to continue this crucial work at Szarvas. 

Dan Baer is the director of Szarvas, the JDC-Lauder international Jewish summer camp in rural Hungary, where he served as a consultant in summer 2024. Before that, Baer was Camp Director at Camp Seneca Lake in Rochester, NY, where he launched an internship program for young alumni. Prior to that he revamped the staff training process and led recruitment efforts as the Director at Camp Mountain Chai in San Diego, CA. 

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