Camp Balaton Opens With 125 Campers and a New Mission

More than 125 campers from Europe, Israel, and North America are arriving at Camp Balaton for a summer of friendship, Yiddishkeit, and Jewish pride, launched by Rabbi Shlomo Koves and directed by Rabbi Tzemmy and Sophie Bassman.

Six years ago, a small CTeen chapter opened in Budapest.

This week, that small beginning turns into something much bigger.

More than 125 campers from Europe, Israel, and North America are arriving at Camp Balaton for a summer of friendship, Yiddishkeit, and Jewish pride.

CTeen Hungary was launched by Rabbi Shlomo Koves, Head of Chabad Mosdos in Hungary, as part of the growing network of Chabad programs serving Jewish families, children, and teens across the country.

Soon after, Rabbi Tzemmy and Sophie Bassman opened the first CTeen chapter in Budapest. The need was obvious. Jewish teens were looking for something real. Not another speech. Not another classroom. They needed a place where Yiddishkeit felt alive — through friends, Shabbos meals, trips, programs, late-night conversations, and the feeling that being Jewish is something to stand tall about.

What began as a local peulah in Budapest quickly reached far beyond the city.

Today, Camp Balaton, one of the Chabad mosdos across Hungary operating under the leadership of Rabbi Boruch Oberlander, Head Shliach of Hungary, has become a summer home for Jewish campers from around the world.

This Sunday, the campers arrive at the historic Camp Balaton grounds, a Chabad-run campus set on more than 100 acres near Lake Balaton.

The staff are already there.

They came early for a full staff Shabbos and training. There are bunks to set up, schedules to learn, trips to prepare, activities to plan, and a hundred details that need to be ready before the first bus pulls in.

But that is not the real work.

The real work is the shlichus.

At Camp Balaton, a counselor is not just there to run an activity or keep a bunk in order. A counselor is a dugma chaya. Someone who notices. Someone who listens. Someone who can help a camper feel that Yiddishkeit is not far away, not forced, and not meant for someone else.

It belongs to them.

Camp will still have everything campers wait for all year — sports, swimming, boating, trips, night activities, color war, music, and the kind of friendships that only happen in camp.

But this year, there is also a new layer running through the summer.

The camp theme is Journey of a Nation.

Developed in partnership with Bader Hillel High of Milwaukee, the program is built to help campers see Jewish history not as a school subject, but as their own story.

Not dates.

Not facts.

A chain.

From Avraham Avinu to Yetzias Mitzrayim. From exile and return to survival against every enemy and every prediction. From the courage of earlier generations to the responsibility of our own.

The theme will come alive across camp — in bunk discussions, team challenges, night programs, camp-wide reveals, farbrengens, trips, and the quiet moments between staff and campers that often leave the deepest mark.

For younger campers, it may be a story, a game, a song, or a hands-on activity.

For teens, it may become a serious conversation about identity, courage, purpose, and what it means to live today as a proud Jew.

A conversation about Yetzias Mitzrayim can become a conversation about freedom.

A story of Jewish survival can become a question about courage.

A moment from history can help a camper ask, “Where do I fit into this?”

That is the point of the summer.

For every camper to leave knowing that being Jewish is not just a label. It is a mission. It is a privilege. It is a chain. And they are part of it.

For Rabbi Tzemmy and Sophie Bassman and the Camp Balaton leadership, this summer is another step in a story that began with a small group of teens in Budapest and has grown into an international camp experience.

It is the Rebbe’s vision in action: reach every Jewish neshama, wherever they are, and help them see that Yiddishkeit is not only their past.

It is their future.

This week, on the shores of Lake Balaton, 125 Jewish campers will take their place in the journey.

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