Ellen Braunstein
Jewish sleepaway camp gave Matthew Freedman a transformative experience that cultivated his Jewish identity and his careers as an elementary school teacher and assistant director at Golden Slipper Camp.
Freedman spent an unforgettable eight years as a camper at the Jewish sleepaway camp in the Poconos.
“So much of camp for me was just developing that independence starting from age 7,” said Freedman, who lives in Holland. “It really showed me that communal living component; that I’m a member of a community, that my actions or inactions not only affect me but others around me.”
As a camper, Freedman made a strong connection with a counselor in his late 20s. Scott Davis, his mentor, has since died, but that relationship “influenced me to want to be that impactful in other people’s lives as he was to me.”
While at Bloomsburg University, he worked five summers as a camp counselor at Golden Slipper in Stroudsburg. He became a teacher after college and earned his master’s degree in education at Gratz College in Melrose Park.
In 2021, he joined the administrative staff as coordinator of special events at Golden Slipper in Stroudsburg.
This season will be his first as assistant director in charge of Jewish programming and recruitment.
“We are trying to demonstrate how Golden Slipper embodies the values of Jewish wisdom, he said.
To that end, he procured a 35-session curriculum called Kulam (everyone in Hebrew) that teaches mental, emotional, social and spiritual health.
“It is designed to empower and foster relationships and promote individual well-being,” he said.
Counselors will navigate the curriculum, developed by the nonprofit Moving Traditions, starting on a bunk level and then broadening to the whole community.
“It just helps create a safe, comfortable space for people to interact and be part of a Jewish community whether they’re Jewish or not,” he said.
“With children, their brains aren’t developed yet. It’s easy to be egocentric and not understand those concepts,” he continued. “But when you are at overnight camp, you’re forced to mature and develop those relationships with others. You’re just thrown into a situation where you have no choice but to understand and develop those skills.”
Freedman works as a teacher at Willowdale Elementary School, his latest assignment in the 19 years he has been with Centennial School District. Golden Slipper is a part-time job for him.
Teaching offers him a new challenge every day.
“I have no idea how the children will react, absorb and demonstrate the content,” Freedman said. “No matter how much planning and forethought I put into something and how well I think it’s going to go, children are an uncontrollable variable. I like that. It keeps me on my toes. I don’t experience complacency because every day is different.”
As a classroom teacher, he incorporates social, emotional and learning aspects into his instruction.
“I do emotional check-ins with students as they enter my room. I don’t know the emotional baggage that a kid comes in with, but what I can control is how I react to them, how I speak to kids, how I help them navigate what they’re going through for them to reach that individual well-being,” he said. “A popular phrase I say in my classroom is ‘I want kids to be the best version of themselves.’”
Freedman grew up Jewish in Northeast Philadelphia in a family that was more traditional than religious. Jewish values and observance became more important as an adult raising two sons, Brody, 11 and Meyer, 9, with his wife of 14 years, Stephanie.
Stephanie Freedman is the director of organization development at the nonprofit Moving Traditions, a Jewish youth organization.
The couple met during a summer at Golden Slipper Camp.
“It’s definitely important to both of us to embody the value structure of Judaism,” said Freedman, who plays ice hockey with his sons in his off hours.
The family belongs to Ohev Shalom of Bucks County. Their children attended preschool at Congregations of Shaare Shamayim in Philadelphia.
All of his accomplishments go back to his years as a camper at Golden Slipper, Freedman said.
“It helped me develop authentic relationships and caring about a community or a greater good — something other than myself,” he said.
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
