Israeli Campers, Staff Revel In Summer At Camp

When the summer ended at Herzl Camp on Aug. 6 and nine buses of campers returned to Beth El Synagogue, one bus kept on heading south to the airport – one that held campers and some of the staff that were part of the largest contingent of Israelis to spend a summer. Several were new campers, but many were returners excited to be back at camp

“I had a lot of friends here that told me ’If you can come back, we really want to see you,’” said Gal, a Kadima camper (going into ninth grade), who was back for six weeks this year. “I really loved that, because I have a bunch of memories and experiences that I wanted to come and have again. And Kadima is a great year that I wanted to have that experience.”

Of the six Israeli Kadima campers that spoke with TC Jewfolk, three are new to camp this year, but all live in the Gaza Envelope – the small communities within five miles of Israel’s border with Gaza, where the Oct. 7 attacks were launched. The campers and staff requested their last names not be used for security reasons.

“These guys just want to be teenagers hanging out, just like they’re teenagers hanging out,” said Tommy Hoffman, Herzl Camp’s executive director. ”The life that we’ve come to understand that they live, and the things that they see that we don’t see as American Jews, is very eye-opening.”

This year Herzl had 25 Israeli campers, a long way from the six that came more than a decade ago. Yuval Koren, who started Camp USA as a way to get Israeli teens to American summer camps. Koren was introduced to Minneapolis resident Wendy Smith, who, when the program started, helped pick the campers to come to Herzl and fundraise for the effort. 

“I have a warm heart for Herzl and the Minneapolis community since 2010,” Koren said.

With the summer over, getting kids home is turning out to be more of a struggle than usual. Due to the threat of escalating violence in the region with threats from Iran, many airlines, including Delta, United and Lufthansa, have stopped flying to Ben Gurion Airport. 

“All these kids staying in the States and we have to find out how to bring them back home,” Koren said. “It’s crazy what’s happening now.

“But let’s talk about the good stuff.”

The good stuff, Koren said, is the more than 250 campers his organization places at camps in the United States, and the demand is up. 

“[It’s] not because of the kids [or] because of the families. But because different communities in the States gave a lot of scholarship to bring these kids from the [Gaza envelope],” Koren said. “About 70 kids came from scholarships from Jewish Federations. Every year a few more Federations do it, and we can find more kids that are suffering not being in their homes, and give them some quiet time at camps.”

Koren met Smith almost 15 years ago when her family spent a year living in Israel. Since then, Smith has remained very connected to Koren, and the mission, of bringing Israeli campers to Herzl.

“We started with rising eighth graders the first year,” Smith said. “And then it kind of grew because kids wanted to return, and then their siblings wanted to come, and then they wanted to be ozrim (staff-in-training) and counselors. It got really exciting.”

One of those who both got their siblings involved and returned as an ozo was Netta Epstein, who was killed in Sderot on Oct. 7. His sister Alma was a camper at Herzl this summer. 

Smith said that Camp USA had already been sending kids from Israel to American camps, but hadn’t recruited kids from the Sha’ar HaNegev region – communities like Sderot and Netiv Ha’asara.

“[Camp USA] were happy to help us get kids from that region to go,” Smith said. “It was also about raising money, and we participate in helping fundraise for it and supporting the program.”

This year, the Herzl community raised around $187,000 to cover the costs of the 25 Israeli campers. Holly Guncheon, Herzl Camp’s director of advancement, said that in past years, the Israeli families paid a small amount to Camp USA so they would have some skin in the game. But this year, with the majority of them displaced and living in hotels or other places away from their homes, Koren said they would not be able to pay and camp decided to pay everything for them. 

“I love the fact that people care about it, and people get it, and a lot of people stepped up to fund it, and I hope it continues,” Guncheon said. 

“Its reached its fruition. It’s very real. Our Israeli campers are just campers, just like our American campers. They come back as staff, just like our American campers,” she said. “At one time, they were our little pet project. They don’t think of themselves as that anymore. They think of themselves as campers.”

As the program has grown to where it got to this summer, Guncheon said it’s “experiential learning at its peak.”

“You learn a lot about Israel from having a friend in Israel,” Guncheon said. “You learn a lot from being connected and when our kids go, they go visit family homes.”

Guncheon said that she had just left a group – the 1973 ozrim – that had come back to celebrate their 51st reunion.

“We talk a lot about camp best friends and camp friendships and how they last,” she said. “When the 2023 ozrim come back with their best friends, some of them will be Israelis. That’s the power of connection.”

Smith said the upkeep of the relationships over the years has been most gratifying for her, her husband Colin, and their family.

“It’s about building bridges and connections between Israelis and the American campers and feeling a connection to Israel,” she said. “I think that’s the most important byproduct of what has happened. I hear from other families that when they go to Israel as a family or in a group, they reach out to these friends that these kids have made at camp and visit.”

Rei, a first-time counselor and former camper, said that on his first day off this summer, he reconnected with friends he was a camper with.

“It’s been five or six years, I didn’t know what was going to happen,” he said. “But we immediately clicked again.”

Support systems

The Shabbat weekend after July 4 was dubbed “Back Home Shabbat,” which was planned by the Israeli staff, campers, and ozrim as a way to bring continued awareness to the ongoing situation for their American counterparts.

“It was touching for me to see how everyone unites together, and comforts each other when they need to, and respects Shabbat,” Omer, a B’yachad (entering 10th grade) camper, said on Herzl’s podcast this summer. “And everyone [is] all together and helping each other out, and showing love and respect to the Israelis.”

The Havdalah service that ended Shabbat featured the Israelis in a circle, with the Americans making a larger circle around them.

“It was inspiring,” Hoffman said. “It felt like we were giving you a big, giant hug. It was really touching.”

Hoffman said that the experience of having a large Israeli contingent helps the American campers and staff understand what they go through on a daily basis.

“It’s a big lesson that’s been maybe not deliberately taught, but it has been communicated,” he said. “And also it shows by them being here, half a world away, and being a part of the camp experience, that the camp experience is in their blood like…just the magic happens no matter wherever you are as a Jew and as a lover and supporter of Israel, which is what we are.”

Maddie Stillman, a third-year counselor, said that the Israeli and American campers have integrated well together.

“The American campers aren’t afraid to ask questions, and the Israel campers love to share stories,” she said.

Roy, one of the Israeli counselors, said the community should keep having the Israelis back.

“[The campers] had some rough first days, because the war was like all in their mind, they were missing home, first time in a camp on other side of the world,” he said. “But they got to know their friends, and they got closer with their cabins. They are feeling home right now. 

“All I want to say is, seriously keep having us here. The kids, it changes their lives. One of them had his first kiss here. They have some experiences that they will never forget. They will have this year of camp in memories for the rest of their lives.”

July 4 at Herzl Camp is usually a festive day, ending with a lot of fireworks exploding over Devils Lake.

But for the Israeli staff and the campers,  the day is one that brought a lot of trauma. The sound of the fireworks brings uncomfortable – often scary moments for the teens. It requires quiet time in a basement space, free from the explosions outside that bring painful reminders of daily life home in Israel.

But this year, when Independence Day came 9 months after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7 – in many cases the the villages that the campers and staff call home. 

“I’ve been having a lot more of a stressful time [at camp],” said Aviya. “I know nothing is gonna happen in Israel or here, but it’s just like, the after-effects is stressful.”

Eran, a camper from Netiv Ha’asara, was trying to live in the moment of being at camp.

“I came to camp to take my head off things and just forget about it,” he said.

Embracing American culture

Jason Goldstein founded Jewish Camp USA in 2014 as a way to help place international staff – mostly from Israel and the United Kingdom – at camps across the United States. 

“They love the experience of seeing an being a part of U.S. culture,” Goldstein said. “We work to place the staff in a camp where they have a need that the staff has a passion for.” 

This year, Israeli staff worked throughout camp, from being bunk staff to running the teaching kitchen. For Ben, a first-year Israeli staffer from Holon, he served in the Israeli Navy as a ship commander. So naturally, he’s working at the waterfront. While he had a great summer at camp, he said there’s a definite adjustment process.

“It’s hard because there is a difference of culture and language that’s really hard,” Ben said. “You need to find the words to describe your feelings and describe yourself in general. But I think that humans are human, and Jews are Jews. if you find the benefits and the things that combined [with] each other, you can connect to any person in any place in the world. 

“And we came here to do good and to meet some new people and do some new connections together.”

Goldstein said that despite the disruption of prospective staff applying to Jewish Camp USA and getting placed at the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, it ended up being the best year the organization has ever had.

“We saw some not make it to camp for a variety of factors: displacement, reserve duty, family issues,” he said. “It had a huge impact.”

Rei was a camper in 2016 and 2018, and would have come back to be an ozo in 2020 but camp was canceled because of Covid. Now he’s back as a staff member and has seen so many changes around camp from his last time in Webster. And while he wanted to be an ozo or first-year staff, the timing of when he was drafting into the IDF meant it wouldn’t work to come back in 2021.

“During the army, [the idea of coming back to camp] kind of died off,” he said. “But my sister came last year as a camper. And she told me all the stories and she showed me all the photos. And when she came back, I decided like I’m applying first thing. As soon as possible and applying.”

Sheer, a Kadima counselor from Ra’anana who works in Israel for Jewish Camp USA, said that Rei was the first applicant for this summer. 

“When JCUSA told me that camp decided to hire me, I was really excited,” he said.

Goldstein said that camps have helped their Israeli staff in different ways then in the past.

“Camp is really focusing more on mental health and wellbeing, supporting staff, and giving them chances to speak to home,” Goldstein said. 

Sheer applied directly to Herzl this summer; Jewish Camp USA got her to Herzl in 2023. 

“Herzl Camp is a home for me,” she said. “You can be whatever you want, no matter what. if you’re an Israeli, they do their best to welcome you. The Americans really want to know everything about you. I feel like I’m sharing my story, my life; things that are, like, basic to me, I feel they’re just fascinated by that. I’m so happy I’m here and we can do that.”

While it’s mostly fun and games at camp, there is a slight tinge of guilt.

“Being away from home…it’s not a big deal for me,” Sheer said. “But I feel like, sometimes, I realize what I’m doing and what my friends back home do. And that is the moment that I’m like, ‘What am I doing here?’”

Roy, a first-year staffer who lives near Haifa, said that his family being back in Israel is the hardest part for him. 

“The day before I flew in to the US. I had my entire family come to our house and say goodbye and we had dinner together. And I talked to my grandfather and I told him like, ‘I feel bad leaving now,’” he recalled. “He said ‘No, it’s your time to shine like go and fulfill everything you want to and like enjoy your time.’ And when I’m here at Herzl with all the amazing things happening here and being in nature, I’m thinking about the missiles my brother has to deal with. He’s 13 years old, he would have been in Kadima. The entire family is in the area of Haifa. And their lives are in danger now. And I got my bag and I left. It feels bad. It’s a struggle.”

Roy knows there’s nothing he can do when the sirens go off to stop what’s happening.

“I’d rather be there when something bad happens and be there for my family,” he said. “My presence will be enough, I think.”

Ben knows that he’ll be back in the reserves when he returns home; after serving four months of reserve duty after Oct. 7, he got called in early July about returning, but he said they “respect that I’m here.”

Goldstein said that this summer has been part of a year that no one wants to go through again. But as he’s traveled to different camps in the U.S. that he’s helped to staff, he’s seen the success that has come from it. 

“I’ve heard stories of what they’ve gotten to be a part of and I hope they’ve been able to enjoy it,” he said. “We’re really happy and proud. They’re doing a wonderful, brilliant job.

“[Camp] becomes a little part of their character and what they love. It’s a life-changing experience for us. Everyone we can support on that journey is why we do what we do.”

Sheer hopes as many Israeli kids can the experience she’s had.

“The Herzl magic is real,” she said. “I feel like every Israeli kid needs to experience that like as many as possible.”