Frequently Asked Questions
Moshava Ba’ir Metro West is located at the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy Campus in Livingston, NJ. Address: 110 S Orange Ave, Livingston, NJ 07039
Moshava Ba’ir is for children entering kindergarten through entering 7th grade. Our program is carefully and thoughtfully developed to be age and developmentally appropriate for these ages across the board, from swim and sports, to chinuch, specialties and arts.
We offer both free swim and Red Cross swim instruction on a daily basis. Our swim program has low swim-instructor to students ratios and many WSI certified swim instructors. Free swim and swim instruction will take place in the 41’ by 21’ aboveground heated pools we install on the Kushner campus for the summer. The pools have wooden decks alongside them to create a ground level at the water’s surface. They are centrally located on the campus and private. We use “tot docks” to create a shallower standing area for our smallest campers. The campers have a blast at the pool!
Our bunks are separate gender, with the exception of campers entering kindergarten, which is co–ed. In our younger divisions we maintain a 1:5/6 ratio of campers to counselors and a 1:6/7 campers to counselors in our older divisions, following or exceeding ACA standards.
We run a week of intensive counselor training in advance of the summer, highlighted by a shabbat at Moshava IO, as well as regular follow up workshops that offer professional development to our staff over the course of the summer. In addition to the supervision our division heads and Rosh Moshava offer, our camp psychologist mentors and offers guidance to our counselors.
We believe that Moshava Ba’ir offers the oldest, strongest, best trained, and best supported madrichim of any day camp out there!
Each week our older divisions take one major trip, and we will also have one exciting event on campus. Examples of trips include amusement parks, berry-picking, boating and rock climbing. On campus events include carnivals with blow ups, petting zoos, and concerts. One highlight of the summer for our older campers (entering 4th – 5th grade) is the opportunity to go on an overnight to Camp Moshava Indian Orchard, in Honesdale, PA.*
*Our overnight to Moshava IO is dependent on bunk space in Moshava IO and therefore may not happen in certain summers.
As a Bnei Akiva camp, we love the sun, outdoors, and nature. Our beautiful campus features a baseball diamond, soccer and football fields, tennis, volleyball and tetherball courts, climbing wall, track and field, garden and archery range. We are also uniquely well prepared for inclement weather, and our campers enjoy a full program of activities even on the occasional rainy or very hot day. The Kushner school campus offers an enormous air conditioned gym including basketball courts, indoor hockey, soccer, and dodgeball.
We also enjoy a beautiful auditorium/ performance space, art studio, music room, dance studio, drama space, cooking, and baking rooms, and bunk rooms that serve as home bases (with swim changing tents) for all of our bunks.
Our number one priority at Moshava Ba’ir is always the safety and security of your children. The Kushner campus is in a secluded, suburban area. We control access to the grounds at all times. We are staffed by full time security guards (armed). In addition to the experienced camp professionals running the program and the many staff with CPR and First Aid training, we employ a full time nurse as camp health director for the summer.
Our application process is first–come, first–served. Once an age group is full, applicants are placed on a waiting list. In the event that space becomes available, spots in the program are allocated on a first come, first–served basis. When multiple applicants are in the same position on the waiting list, spots are allocated by lottery. In all cases, we will not cash an applicant’s deposit check if we cannot offer the applicant a place in the program.
Our priority is always the health and safety of all our campers and staff. Together with our medical advisory board and the Metro West Board of Health, we will develop a health and safety plan. With the evolving nature of the virus and vaccines, we will supply our guidelines closer to the start of camp.
