Camp Boiberik’s Dove of Peace

A legendary symbol from the golden age of Yiddish secular summer camps has just reappeared at the Yiddish Book Center to great excitement. This beautiful, hand-embroidered dove of peace once hung in the dining room at Camp Boiberik in New York’s Hudson Valley. For decades, it was at the heart of the camp’s pageants and rituals, such as the Felker Yontev (Holiday of Nations) which celebrated the idea of world peace.

The Center rescued the camp’s Yiddish library - and the dove - soon after Boiberik closed in 1979. We rediscovered it in the process of preparing our new core exhibit, and it will spread its newly-cleaned wings in that display. Now we want to hear your stories of Boiberik and especially of the dove. Do you remember seeing it at the camp? Did you sing songs about it (“In Boiberik we are soaring free / The white dove, the dove of peace”)? 

Our bibliographer and exhibit co-curator, David Mazower, is eager to hear from you. Please email him: [email protected].