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In 1935 the Labour League (later the United Jewish People's Order) bought Eldorado Park near Brampton, Ontario from the Canadian National Railway to establish Camp Naivelt. The camp opened in 1936 and functioned as a camp for children and families and ran a teacher training facility. Political and social activism was a significant part of Camp Naivelt. Its mission was to promote progressive socialist philosophy, tightly integrated with secular Jewish and Yiddish cultural traditions. A key element of the Camp Naivelt mission was to foster a deep and meaningful understanding of secular Jewish culture and folklore, the Yiddish language, music, folk art and dance.
Camp Naivelt, 1936-present
- Address
- Eldorado Park
- Source
- Landmarks
In 1935 the Labour League (later the United Jewish People's Order) bought Eldorado Park near Brampton, Ontario from the Canadian National Railway to establish Camp Naivelt. The camp opened in 1936 and functioned as a camp for children and families and ran a teacher training facility. Political and social activism was a significant part of Camp Naivelt. Its mission was to promote progressive socialist philosophy, tightly integrated with secular Jewish and Yiddish cultural traditions. A key element of the Camp Naivelt mission was to foster a deep and meaningful understanding of secular Jewish culture and folklore, the Yiddish language, music, folk art and dance.
- Address
- Eldorado Park
- Time Period
- 1936-present
- Scope Note
- In 1935 the Labour League (later the United Jewish People's Order) bought Eldorado Park near Brampton, Ontario from the Canadian National Railway to establish Camp Naivelt. The camp opened in 1936 and functioned as a camp for children and families and ran a teacher training facility. Political and social activism was a significant part of Camp Naivelt. Its mission was to promote progressive socialist philosophy, tightly integrated with secular Jewish and Yiddish cultural traditions. A key element of the Camp Naivelt mission was to foster a deep and meaningful understanding of secular Jewish culture and folklore, the Yiddish language, music, folk art and dance.
- History
- At its peak in the 1950s, Camp Naivelt had approximately 90 small cottages, a communal dining hall, a dance hall, a youth recreation hall, a grocery store and a camp office. The community also included a camp director’s cabin, arts and crafts cabin, infirmary, and a communal washroom and shower area known as, “The Ritz”. Activities ranged from lectures on current issues, films, poetry readings, Yiddish theatre, kultur vinkls (cultural corners), folk dancing and singing to boating and swimming, volleyball and other sports tournaments, hikes and nature walks and campfires. Some 300 children would attend camp during the summer and, at its height during the 1940s and 1950s, as many as 5000 people would fill Camp Naivelt on a summer weekend.
- Category
- Camps and Resorts
- Source
- Landmarks
