With season set to begin, major US Jewish summer camp operator files for bankruptcy

Overnight and day camps owned by Simad Holdings say programs to proceed as scheduled

By Zev Stub

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Today, 12:48 pm

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Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

A company that runs a network of Jewish summer camps across the United States has filed for bankruptcy, raising concerns about potential cancellations, even as camp operators insist that programs will proceed as planned this summer.

The news broke just weeks before many overnight and day camps are set to begin the summer. Camp organizers have been gearing up for a record-breaking season, after nearly 200,000 youths attended Jewish-affiliated camps in the US last summer, according to the Foundation for Jewish Camps.

Earlier this month, New York-based brothers Michael and David Shabsels filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey, both personally and through their TASE-traded umbrella company, Simad Holdings. The brothers own 22 overnight camps and eight day camps across the Northeast, including Camp Lavi in Pennsylvania, New York camps SHMA, Achim and Mesorah, and Blue Star Camps in North Carolina.

These camps operate as for-profit businesses, and are not affiliated with youth movements like Bnei Akiva, Ramah, or the Union for Reform Judaism. Many charge upwards of $8,000 per camper for overnight programs, with some costing over $15,000.

According to company filings, Simad has assets of nearly $500 million, and liabilities of hundreds of millions of dollars above that. Last December, the company raised NIS 620 million ($195 million at the time) in a bond offering in Tel Aviv, but in May, it said it was defaulting on bondholder payments.

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Some $34 million was also found missing from the company’s first-quarter financial statements, transferred to the owners’ other companies. Simad initially described the transfer as an error, but the company later said the funds could not be returned, leading Israeli authorities to open a criminal investigation into possible securities law violations.

US courts have ordered the company’s existing cash holdings to be used to pay expenses and salaries for the camps to operate as normal during the summer season. Sources at camps owned by Simad told eJewishPhilanthropy that they expect their programs to proceed as planned.

According to the Foundation for Jewish Camps, a record 198,730 campers and young adult staff participated in Jewish camps last summer across 168 day camps and 161 overnight camps. That figure, which does not include Simad-run camps, was nearly 9% higher than 2019’s pre-pandemic high, and nearly 30% higher than 2021, it noted.

The foundation recently announced a five-year plan to ensure that every Jewish child has access to an affordable Jewish camp.

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