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AUGUST 2021 | The Jewish Home OCTOBER12, 29, 2015 | The Jewish Home
THIS WEEK, WE’RE TALKING TO…
Simcha Day Camp
BY SUSAN SCHWAMM
1, 2, 3…8 weeks of amazing summer fun! For the last few weeks, our children have been basking in the sun, swimming, singing, and soaking up the fun every day. How are they spending their time away from their desks? In this series, we speak with camp directors and head counselors to learn more about our community’s amazing, spectacular, incredible, marvelous, unbelievable (you get the point!) camps. NESTLED IN THE HEART OF FAR ROCKAWAY, SIMCHA DAY CAMP IS WHERE HUNDREDS OF CAMPERS ENJOY THEIR SUMMER SPLASHING IN THE POOL, SWINGING THEIR BATS, SMILING, AND SINGING THE WHOLE SEASON THROUGH. WITH NINE ACRES OF FUN – COMPLETE WITH BALLFIELDS, A HUGE IN-GROUND POOL, AND AN AIR-CONDITIONED GYM – THE BOYS ARE CONSTANTLY ON THE GO. THIS WEEK WE SPOKE WITH RABBI TAUB AND RABBI SUDWERTS TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THE NONSTOP FUN AND RUACH THAT PERMEATES THE CAMPUS EACH DAY.
Rabbi Taub and Rabbi Sudwerts, thank you for chatting with us in the midst of your busy day. Simcha Day Camp has been around for a long time. Tell us how it all began. Rabbi Sudwerts (RS): As one of the longest standing day camps in the neighborhood, SDC has been around since 1978. How many campers spend their summers at SDC? Rabbi Taub
(RT): We have around 900 campers from the Five Towns, Brooklyn, Queens and West Hempstead. We even have some boys from as far as Texas, Florida, Ohio, Brazil and Canada. That’s huge but you manage to be so organized. Tell us about your different divisions. RS: There are seven divisions in SDC. Our Juniors division is led by Morah Etty
Slansky, who has over 25 years of preschool experience to draw from. SDC Juniors has their very own Sports Director, Rabbi Shmuel Rada, who focuses on teaching the boys the fundamental skills of all the major sports. These precious 4- and 5-yearolds learn to swim in deep water with WSI certified swim instructors in our Olympic-sized in-ground pool. The MIDs division goes on various trips throughout the summer as well as en-
