In September 1940, the HaNoar Ha'Ivri conference reached a unanimous decision to establish an immersive Hebrew-speaking camp, an idea initiated by Shlomo Shulsinger, who came to the United States from Mandatory Palestine in the 1930s.

[1] The camp's name, from the Hebrew word meaning "foundation", was inspired by a line from the poem Birkat Am [he] by Hayim Nahman Bialik.

[3] While deemed a success, members of HaNoar Ha’Ivri felt that Massad had failed to realize its potential due to interruptions from the campers’ everyday life, with the campers' English- and Yiddish-speaking families and the secular non-Jewish atmosphere of the city diluting the transformative effect of Massad's Hebrew culture.

[5] In 1951, Massad launched its Machon Ma’ale (Hebrew: מָכוֹן מַעֲלֶה) program for the preparation of Hebrew-speaking counselors, with Professor Hillel Bavli serving as its first director.

After the Shulsingers retired in 1977, their successors attempted to orient the camp toward stricter religious observance in effort to address the changing realities of Jewish life in the United States and attract more Orthodox campers.

[11][12] A number of explanations have been given for the decline of the Massad movement, such as the rise and expansion of denominational camps like the Conservative-sponsored Camp Ramah, the Shulsingers' retirement, the availability of summer programs in Israel, the growing weakness of the American centrist Orthodox community, the suburbanization of American Jewry, and a waning birth rate.

The Massad movement sought to create a rich and authentic Hebrew Jewish life in the United States, and promote national renewal in Israel.

[6] Starting in 1966, Massad had a delegation of 25-30 Israeli counselors each year (selected by the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem), who participated in all areas of camping.

[9] The streets of the camp and its buildings were named after Theodor Herzl, Hannah Szenes, Henrietta Szold, Hayim Nahman Bialik and other Zionist heroes.

[7] Given the camp's goal of an immersive Hebrew-language environment, Massad became the locus for a large amount of new Hebrew vocabulary, to describe American sports for instance.