Rabbi Yosef Bendrihem is the director of Camp Yedidim in Brooklyn, New York

How I got started

Almost 16 years ago, I was a rebbi in Rav Shmuel Miller’s yeshivah on Avenue J and Ocean Avenue. I rewarded my 11th grade class with a skiing trip, and I had such an amazing time with them it inspired me to continue the fun into the summer. We started Camp Yedidim in Rabbi Miller’s building for the first three years before moving to Yeshiva Toras Emes on Avenue N, and we’re still here.

The best advice I ever got

Rabbi Alexander Dembitzer, who was the menahel of Rabbi Miller’s yeshivah when we were there, advised me that Yedidim for older boys should run for longer hours. When I thought about it, I realized there wasn’t any camp in Brooklyn that had supper and a night seder for older boys. I made a camp for boys finishing sixth grade and up, it runs until 7:45 p.m. so we can have a day and evening filled with learning, sports, swimming, and trips. It gives the boys of Brooklyn the opportunity to be in a summer program that stimulates them and doesn’t leave them with a lot of downtime at home, not knowing what to do. The longer schedule’s a big draw for local boys, and it’s a lot of fun for us to arrange, so it works out all around.

It’s not a competition

We’re not looking to compete with sleepaway camps. We’re attracting different kids — boys who want to stay local, whose parents want them to stay local. Of course, there are kids who really want to be at sleepaway camp, so I tell them between our longer days and variety of overnights we’re similar to sleepaway camp, so enjoy it while you’re here, and im yirtzeh Hashem soon you’ll get a chance to go to sleepaway camp. We keep the boys busy in a protected environment, so Yedidim is competitive in the sense that we offer the same amazing experiences as overnight camps. For example, we take four overnight trips — three of them are two-day trips and one is a three-day trip, and the rest of the weeks we go on local trips. We go to places like Niagara Falls, Boston, Connecticut, Philadelphia, Lake George, and more, and we use coach buses, visit attractions, and rent out water parks and amusement parks.

What makes a camp special

The staff, for sure. A dedicated staff that give a lot of personal attention to the boys, not just during the summer but through the year, help the boys grow in so many wonderful ways. I’ll never forget when we had an uncle and nephew go through camp together. They were two of the finest boys we ever had as campers, they had such incredible middos and so much energy, and they eventually became two of our best staff members.