Get your Gaga ready with one week of mini camp from Camp Alonim in Simi Valley.

About Mini Camp

For campers entering grades 2-7
June 23 – June 30

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Camp Alonim family!

If you choose to register your child for camp, you will become part of an institution that has served thousands of Jewish children with distinction for over 50 years.  We take great pride in our reputation, and we are confident that you will be impressed by the caring of our staff, our attention to both physical and emotional safety, and the quality of our program.  We not only look forward to providing a rewarding experience for your child this summer, but we also hope to share in the joy of helping your child grow into a fine, well-rounded adult over many summers to come.

We see the camp experience as a three-way partnership between the camp, the parents and the camper. Only when all three of the partners participate, can the camper be successful. For our part, we are committed to providing an extremely meaningful summer experience in a safe environment. The camper’s part is to come to camp with an open mind and an open heart, ready to abide by camp policies. The parent’s part is to help their camper understand camp policies and prepare their camper to arrive at camp with confidence and excitement.

Kids, this is your opportunity to enter a world that is just for you: fun, friends, a chance to be yourself away from home and school, and a place where kids feel safe and at ease.  You will be so busy doing things and making friends that you'll never want the summer to end, and you'll count the days until you can return!

About Camp Alonim

Camp Alonim is a program of the American Jewish University, an organization founded in 2007 when the Brandeis-Bardin Institute merged with the University of Judaism.  Originally, Camp Alonim was a program of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, which had a long and rich history.  Dr. Shlomo Bardin was an educator who believed that American young people were assimilating at alarming rates and sought to create programming to stem this tide.  He started with the Brandeis Collegiate Institute (B.C.I.), which is a summer residential program for college students to explore the place Judaism will hold in their adult lives by engaging in art, music, drama, Israeli folk dance, and learning with dynamic scholars.  In 1947, 2,200 acres in Simi Valley were purchased and B.C.I. settled into its permanent home where it has been inspiring college students for over 60 years.   

Dr. Bardin established Camp Alonim in 1953 with the same educational philosophy as the original program: to truly touch young people, they would have to experience Judaism through their senses--through art, music, Israeli folk dance and drama. In the nearly 60 years since, we have added sports, nature, and interactive learning to the repertoire of experiences we offer our campers.  Both Camp Alonim and B.C.I. are still thriving today and run simultaneously during the summer months in separate areas of the Brandeis-Bardin property.

In 1972, the neighboring land owner, James Arness, star of TV’s “Gunsmoke,” donated his 950 acres, making the Brandeis-Bardin property 3,200 acres.  Since then, 200 acres by our front gate have been sold, bringing our property currently to approximately 3,000 acres.  This is the second-largest piece of land held for Jewish communal purpose, second only to the State of Israel.