Jared Kaufman is a JCC lifer.
Right now, he serves as camp director at JCC Camps at Medford — but that’s just the most recent entry in his Katz JCC resume.
He started off as a camper before he became a lifeguard with the Cherry Hill JCC. Then, he moved up to swim instructor, swim team coach and, eventually, aquatic manager with the camp.
So, when he graduated college and was given the chance to become aquatics director with the JCC, he had only one stipulation: that he could spend his summers working at the camps in Medford, helping kids have the same wonderful experiences that he did when he was growing up.
“That was the deal,” Kaufman said. “It is truly where I feel the best connection to my own Judaism and to this culture.”
At the JCC Camps at Medford, Kaufman gets to step outside of his office and engage directly with the young people who inspired him to enter Jewish communal work in the first place.
“Being able to provide [this experience] to kids the same way it was provided to me was that clicking point, and it’s what I really want to do in life,” he said.
As camp director, Kaufman oversees all that goes on at the JCC Camps at Medford, which means that he does more organization and administration than he has in previous positions. He still finds plenty of time to be in the presence of the campers, though, which isn’t typical of every youth camp director.
“For the most part, you still get to bond with them, just in a little bit of a different way, maybe not so directly the way I used to in the past,” he said.
Jewish professional life in Cherry Hill means a lot to Kaufman. While he isn’t currently a member of Temple Beth Sholom, his family is, and he has been to many services and events there. Kaufman served as director of the shul’s high school Hebrew school program, which he said brought him closer to Judaism and the rabbis at Temple Beth Sholom. The most special part of this job, though, was getting to take four separate groups of teens to Israel on their confirmation class trip.
He said that it’s special to get to see a young person experience Israel for the first time.
“You go to Israel and see the sites and experiences, but when you go with a group of kids, you see it through them, too. They go to the Western Wall, a place that they’ve only seen in pictures or videos — their reaction — there is nothing like it,” he said. “My trip to Israel in 10th grade really connected me, and so to do that for another generation of kids is spectacular.”
In his role at JCC Camps at Medford, Kaufman has seen plenty of Jewish kids connect to their own culture, but he has also seen a dynamic that he considers to be just as important: non-Jews growing to appreciate Judaism.
He shared one story of a camp employee who isn’t Jewish but leads the Hamotzi every morning from memory. There are campers who go home and sing Hebrew songs that they learned at the JCC Camps.
“We’re not davening; we’re not praying — this is about bringing Jewish culture into their lives. When parents email me or I see these experiences, that’s what it’s about,” Kaufman said. “I think it’s just as important as the Jewish community connecting with their Jewish roots.”
For Kaufman, this is more than work; it’s a purpose. The Marlton resident said he loves what he does and is excited to start again each day.
“A lot of times in Jewish nonprofit work, at the end of the day, for me, it’s hard to walk away knowing that my experience was very successful and that I want to help [other kids] have the same experience,” he said.
