History
The first Chabad-affiliated summer camp was a girls' overnight camp, Camp Emunah in Greenfield Park, New York, U.S. (where it still located), founded in 1953 by Rabbi Jacob J. Hecht. In 1956, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, directed some young men to open a parallel boys' overnight camp under the auspices of the Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch organization. He chose the name Gan Israel (