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Reviewed by:
  • Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps by Sarah Bunin Benor et al.
  • Adi Sherzer (bio)
Hebrew Infusion: Language and Community at American Jewish Summer Camps. By Sarah Bunin Benor, Jonathan Krasner & Sharon Avni. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. vii + 394 pp.

Hebrew Infusion is an unconventional book written by two linguists (Bunin Benor and Avni) and a historian of education (Krasner) that critically examine the place of Hebrew in American Jewish summer camps. The book is composed of two main parts. The first uses historical methods to study the development of Hebrew in summer camps, and the second utilizes ethnographical-anthropological techniques to analyze the place of Hebrew in contemporary camps.

The main argument of the book and the two fundamental terms it wishes to coin are well presented in its first pages. The authors identified a register they name "camp Hebraized English" (CHE) that integrates Hebrew words (mostly nouns) into the day-to-day English that is used in American Jewish summer camps. The Hebrew words are not meant to develop a distinct Hebrew vocabulary or Hebrew fluency, along the lines of the Ulpan Ivrit B'Ivrit method, but to create a synthesized language, inherent to the general American Jewish atmosphere summer camps aspire to create. They define this stance to the language as "Hebrew infusion" and explain that "infusing Hebrew to forge communal and transnational connections presupposes that these connections only require a nominal and symbolic acquaintance with Hebrew" (3).

The authors suggest that this rationale of Hebrew infusion is opposed to that of "Hebrew immersion," which aspires to provide campers with full language skills. This way they move the focus from the volume of Hebrew integrated into camp life to its rationale and objectives. As the purpose of the book is to analyze a particular linguistic phenomenon [End Page 83] with Jewish summer camps as a prime example, this new focus is rather effective. However, as the authors themselves admit, this brings under the umbrella of "Hebrew infusion" a variety of Hebrew practices: "Just as an infused drink can have only a hint of berry or a strong flavor, the infusion metaphor emphasizes that Hebrew can be integrated to varying degrees" (3). "Hebrew-rich" camps implies a wide vocabulary of words and thus "Hebraized" the entire public sphere of the camp, while other camps keep Hebrew in defined and limited time slots (like religious services or activities focusing on Israel). These very different versions of "Hebrew infusion." certainly do not create the same camper experience, and I was not convinced they represent the same line of thinking, either. In this context, the argument of Chapter Four, that different camps "use elements of Hebrew as a way of emphasizing their particular brands of Jewishness," is fascinating but not fully demonstrated (140).

Moreover, the exact border between "Hebrew immersion" and "Hebrew infusion" is unclear. In the first chapter the authors examine the widespread manifestation of Hebrew infusion practices as a tool for identity development; the second chapter examines Hebrew immersion camps (mostly Massad Poconos); and the third chapter thoroughly examines the changes in the place of Hebrew in Ramah camps. These chapters articulate well the very existence of "immersion" and "infusion" as two different models. However, it appears that despite the differences, the objectives of both models are not that different. After all, in most cases, "Hebrew immersion" camps were aimed to strengthen American Jewish identity and not to serve as preparation for making aliyah, and "Hebrew infusion" camps also provided a basic level of Hebrew in order to strengthen Jewish identity.

In addition, the authors do not delve deep into the differences between what they call "textual Hebrew," referring to "Hebrew in the Bible and in rabbinic literature from ancient to premodern times," and "Modern Hebrew," referring to "the fluid and dynamic nature of contemporary varieties of Hebrew" (9). While the infusion of some "textual Hebrew" in camps that aspire to strengthen Jewish identity is quite obvious, the usage of "Modern Hebrew" to that end is more interesting and surprising. The fact that "some younger campers […] felt that the (modern) Hebrew words they were encountering at camp would help them understand prayers...

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