Early years The HaNoar Ha’Ivri movement () was established in 1937 to build a Jewish life in the United States that promoted
Zionism and the
revival of the Hebrew language. In September 1940, the HaNoar Ha'Ivri conference reached a unanimous decision to establish an immersive Hebrew-speaking camp, an idea initiated by Shlomo Shulsinger, who came to the United States from
Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s. The camp's name, from the Hebrew word meaning "foundation", was inspired by a line from the poem '''' by
Hayim Nahman Bialik. In its first season in 1941, Massad operated as a day camp at
Far Rockaway,
Queens with Shulsinger as camp director. While deemed a success, members of HaNoar Ha’Ivri felt that Massad had failed to realize its potential due to interruptions from the campers’ everyday life, with the campers'
English- and
Yiddish-speaking families and the secular non-Jewish atmosphere of the city diluting the transformative effect of Massad's Hebrew culture. Lacking funds to purchase its own camp, in its second season Massad shared the facilities of Camp Machanaim, an
Orthodox Jewish camp in
Monticello in the
Catskill Mountains, with an enrollment of forty-five campers and ten staff members. In the summer of 1943, Massad finally relocated to its own site in
Tannersville, in the
Pocono Mountains.
Growth and development Massad's enrollment grew steadily during the 1940s as it attracted campers from various
Jewish denominations. To meet the growing demand, Massad opened a second camp, Massad Bet, in
Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania in 1948. Massad Gimmel opened in nearby
Effort, Pennsylvania in 1966. In 1951, Massad launched its Machon Ma’ale () program for the preparation of Hebrew-speaking counselors, with Professor Hillel Bavli serving as its first director. In 1960, Massad opened up a new division called Prozdor (a preparatory program for the Machon) for 15-year-old campers. In the 1950s and 1960s, Massad drew the majority of its campers from the
Talmud Torahs and
day schools in
New York, admitting mainly campers with
Hebrew educational backgrounds The bulk of the camp populations came from the
centrist Orthodox community, especially from the students of the
Ramaz School and
Flatbush Yeshivot. The Massad camps had their largest camper enrolment in the 1966-68 summers, with 914 campers in 1966, 937 in 1967, and 925 in 1968. Among other prominent visitors to the camp,
Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Goren visited Massad Alef in 1974.
Decline By the 1970s there was a downward trend. In 1971, for the first time, campers who chose so were accepted for a one-month session. In 1974, facing rapidly declining registration, Massad Gimmel was sold. After the Shulsingers retired in 1977, their successors attempted to orient the camp toward stricter religious observance in effort to address the changing realities of Jewish life in the United States and attract more
Orthodox campers. However, Massad's enrollment continued to decline. Massad Bet closed after the 1979 season, and Massad Alef followed suit in 1981. The Massad Alef property was bought by the nearby
Camelback Mountain Resort, while the Massad Bet site was used as a camp by the
Bobover Hasidic community until 1996. A number of explanations have been given for the decline of the Massad movement, such as the rise and expansion of
denominational camps like the
Conservative-sponsored
Camp Ramah, the Shulsingers' retirement, the availability of summer programs in
Israel, the growing weakness of the American centrist Orthodox community, the
suburbanization of American Jewry, and a waning
birth rate. Moreover, Massad lost much of its camper base as it became increasingly perceived as both not traditional enough for Orthodox Jews, and too traditional for the growing number of
secular,
Reform, and
Conservative Jews. The related Canadian Massad movement created three camps in Canada,
Massad Alef at
Lac Quenouille, Quebec, Massad Bet in
Torrance, Ontario, and
Massad Gimmel in
Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba. The Quebec and Manitoba camps are still in operation. Camp Massad of Manitoba is now the only Hebrew-immersion camp outside of Israel. ==Culture==