Chapel Hill was a quiet place, with a vision of a spot in the clearing of the woods bearing a cross on a platform. It took years for Sheryl Biesman (1973-78) to realize that YWCA on the podium stood for Young Women’s Christian Association. She was Jewish, but felt no prejudice and if there had been, she would not have camped there.
Kerry Weber (1952) recalled the marches up to Chapel Hill, singing all the way, but another incident occurred that she had not forgotten. “Something that impressed me was the day I heard two girls talking to a Jewish girl. One was Episcopal and one was Catholic. They told the Jewish girl she shouldn’t be in a Christian camp, and she told the Catholic girl, you’re not Christian, you’re Catholic!”
“I am Jewish and there were very few of us at that time in Bay City and at camp. I remember climbing up to Chapel Hill on Sundays all dressed in white. I loved it,” said Laya Hennes (1939). “To join in the singing touched my heart. In a Jewish service, it is so different. I love my religion, but it is not in English. There was something so familiar and wonderful when I heard those melodies and words, especially in the midst of the trees overlooking the lake.”
Ilene Zacher (1959-62), as the oldest Jewish girl in her school, remembered she mouthed the words to the Christian songs on Chapel Hill, but did not recall if she was able to “opt out” of the services. She never experienced any prejudice, and remarked “You have to remember in that day, we still said the Lord’s Prayer in school, so I took those things in stride.”( Her father was very involved in the Anti-Defamation League and was also one of the soldiers who liberated the prisoners in Dachau.)
She said the era in which she attended camp was also the time the Jewish camp movement started. “The “Y” camps were always well-known and when I went to Tamarac, it was not as nice. It was more like a retreat and did not have the feel of Camp Maqua.”
Catholic girl Jeananne Grego (1966) was from a family of five. She recalled telling a friend she had gone to Camp Maqua and she announced it was where all the rich Jewish girls went! But, during the interviews, I had many girls tell me that the reasonable price and atmosphere was the draw for them to attend.
“There was a huge group of Jewish girls, including myself, that went together from Flint every year,” said Shelley Harris (1965-75). “We never felt any religious pressure or prejudice, and loved the weekly procession up to Chapel Hill wearing our Sunday whites for a very ecumenical service. After lunch at the lodge, we would all change our clothes. Only the Catholic girls rode into town for mass.”
“My initial memories of my experience included the realization that I had just met my first real Jewish friend at camp—Marcie Gotlieb. I had known Jewish people from Bay City, but I had never had a friend that was Jewish, “said Sarah Smith (1968-75).” When we were growing up, my parents didn’t say he’s black or she’s Jewish or they are—-we just knew people as people. But, Marcie’s Mom had a dog with painted toenails and she ate bagels and lox and cream cheese! Now, I am married to a Jew.”
Elaine Levinsohn (1927-30) entered into all the activities and was an outgoing and easy-going child. “I loved camp and had many friends, including my cousin’s Gentile friends. We all liked each other and there were no prejudices or cliques that I can recall.”
But, young girls who were not raised with an awareness of other cultures or religious differences often misunderstood certain traditions. One sad event happened when Pat O’Tool (1944-52) camped. A young girl named Valerie Goldberg was on the receiving end of such a misunderstanding.
“I hate to admit to was what we did to that poor little Jewish girl, who said she could not make her bed on Saturday, because she was not allowed to work. Do you think any of us girls helped her so we wouldn’t lose points in our hut? No, we just stood by angrily, hating that she wasn’t making her bed. We had no understanding back then. Probably the meanest thing we did was to strip her and throw her out naked and lock the door because she didn’t make her bed. It is terrible what a bunch of girls can do when they are together. I can’t imagine doing that today,” she said with much guilt.
But, the lessons were learned sometimes the hard way, and sometimes with humor. Cara Prieskorn always had a way of bringing life down to its basics when she camped 1966-71. “I think it was the first year at camp and when I got home my Mom asked if I had been nice to the Jewish girls, and I said who were they? I know there were no Jewish girls in Cass City, but I finally figured it out. They were the girls who wore all those cute Ladybug outfits, like those one-piece romper things that were popular. Some had curly hair, and then we realized there were some girls who actually showered before dinner. They were Princesses! We were like WHAT? Who showers before dinner?’”
If you were Jewish, did you ever feel bias of any kind at camp?