CMC strives to create a warm, comfortable and safe community for all our staff and campers. Working at Camp is like no other job. You’ll challenge yourself, discover skills you never knew you had, make a lasting, positive difference in the lives of children and be rewarded in ways that cannot even be put into words. Working at Camp Mountain Chai will strengthen your leadership, teamwork and communication skills, preparing you for your future career. Camp friends are the best friends, and you will make lifelong friendships with amazing people from all over the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

Cabin Life

Camp is an experience in communal living. You and your co-staff get to create your own rituals and culture in your cabin, making a unique experience for campers each year. For example, you may wake them up with the same song each day or do the same activity before bed each night. Some of the best times to bond with your campers happen during downtimes in the cabin, such as rest time after lunch (menucha) or shower hour before dinner.

Meals

Prior to each meal, we meet at our flagpole (degel) to regroup, sing and cheer. After washing our hands, we head inside where we gather the entire community in our dining hall (chadar ochel). Staff sit with their cabin, assisting campers and sparking conversation at the table.

We provide 3 meals a day plus an afternoon snack and an evening staff snack. Coffee, tea, and fruit are always available for you. To learn more about our food, please click here.

Activities
  • There are a total of five activity periods in one day, with three cabin activities and two chugim, also known as electives. We encourage you to actively participate in all camp activities with your campers. Specialists and counselors will have the opportunity to lead chugim (chugim last for one week – same time each day). See sample schedule for details.
Role Model

Day and night, you are responsible for your campers. You are their role model, acting as their older sibling, parent, and their biggest supporter. You will set the example for them as we sing and cheer at flagpole (degel) before meals, and guide them in keeping themselves and their cabins clean. You will be their biggest cheerleader as they try new things, and their rock when they are having a tough day.

Cabin/Unit Programming

Staff assist our programming team in planning programs for their cabin or unit. Following dinner, you and your campers will head to evening program (which might be with your cabin, unit, or all of camp). While most of these programs take place in the evening after dinner, there are occasionally daytime programming slots as well. Every evening program concludes with our nightly ceremony (siyum), a short and sweet ritual that bookends each day at camp. While it may take you a few days to learn the words and melodies, they will become familiar and siyum will likely be one of your favorite moments of camp.

Nights
  • At the end of evening program, staff divide responsibilities. Some will return to the cabin with your campers, some will escort campers to the health center for night meds, and others will stay behind to assist in cleaning up evening program. Campers and staff will reconvene in the cabin for your nightly bedtime ritual. After that ritual is complete, one staff member will be on duty (shmira) with the campers in the cabin while the rest attend a short unit meeting before having time to relax, unwind, and hang out with friends.
Time Off

During each day, staff will have dedicated time off. Additionally, each evening staff who are not on duty (shmira) will have time off until curfew (usually midnight). We provide staff snack in the evening and make sure you have fun and meaningful programs throughout the summer as well. Staff also receive a day off every week, where you may choose to sleep out of camp. Camp provides free internet and computer use for staff.

Jewish Life

We welcome adults of all faiths to work at Camp Mountain Chai. We embrace a values-based approach to Jewish living. We expect you to come with an open-mind and nothing more. We encourage participation in our rituals as a role model for our campers. Campers and staff feel the comfort, spirit, and love of our community. We do not have daily prayer services at Camp. We call some program spaces by their Hebrew names. We welcome a delegation of Israeli staff, creating unbreakable bonds with our homeland.