Not surprisingly, the fighting between Israel and Iran has forced air traffic in and out of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport to stop for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately for the Jewish overnight camps serving the Twin Cities community, it’s forcing a significant change to what the camps look like this summer.
Herzl Camp, which has been bringing campers from Israel since 2011, said in an email Sunday that the 25 Israeli campers who were slated to arrive later this summer may not be able to as the two largest U.S.-based carriers are canceling flights to Israel.
“We are devastated to share that we currently see no viable way to bring this summer’s group of Israeli campers to Herzl,” Executive Director Tommy Hoffman wrote. “We are still searching for options, reaching out to contacts, exploring every possible route, and we won’t stop trying until the very last hour. But the reality, right now, is not promising.”
Herzl Camp, Ramah in Wisconsin, and OSRUI all have Israel campers and staff as part of their summer communities. OSRUI senior staff did not return calls or emails seeking comment.
Most of the staff got there in time; Jacob Cytryn, Ramah Wisconsin’s executive director, said most of their 80 Israeli staff made it by June 8.
“There’s another 15 or 20, including senior positions, [whose arrival] are up in the air right now,” Cytryn said. “And we’re expecting about 65 Israeli campers over the course of the summer.”
Cytryn said as many as seven were supposed to arrive in time for the beginning of camp, which was June 16, with the vast majority of campers arriving for the second session in mid-July.
“We’re remaining cautiously optimistic, [but] with serious concern for getting these kids [to camp] who are supposed to come in the next week or two,” he said.
Hoffman said that three of the 14 staff were unable to get to Herzl – two were called up to reserve duty while a third is blocked by the ongoing flight stoppage; 11 staff and four ozrim (counselors in training) are there in time for the campers, who start to arrive on June 17.
Ramah and Herzl both get help from different organizations in Israel to help place campers. Ramah works with, among others, Campers2Gether, which is a program of the Jewish Agency for Israel. Ramah is also part of an international camp footprint and affiliated with the Conservative Jewish movement, whose Noam youth group in Israel also sends kids to Ramah.
Yuval Koren, the director of Israel-based CampUSA – the organization that Herzl works with to bring campers from Israel each summer, said that they try to fly on El Al when they can, and try to have them fly direct when they’re able. But if they can get kids to camp this summer, he’s concerned about the ability to get them home. Cytyrn has similar concerns, but they faced some of those challenges last summer as well.
“We had similar numbers of Israeli campers and staff, and a number had their flights canceled and delayed because of the various airline cancellations,” he said of last year’s travel experiences. “For the moment, we’re mostly avoiding major impacts on the camp experience. So those very well may come in the next few weeks, and the human toll of this is already quite real.”
Both Hoffman and Cytryn talked about the challenges their staff who are already at the camps are facing.
“We are glued to the news, checking our phones, worrying constantly,” Hoffman wrote. “It’s hard to put into words how deeply we feel the weight of this loss – not just for us, but for the kids who were looking forward to something joyful, something hopeful, something different.”
Said Cytryn: “I’ve got like 60 Israeli 20-somethings in camp who are watching the news. Some of their neighborhoods or friends’ neighborhoods have been the sites of these direct hits. And no matter what happens at home, they’re stuck here. We’re doing everything we can to support them and hold them and do all the things we need to do.”
Hoffman said Herzl remains committed to the Israel Camper Program. He said CampUSA asked that the funds donated to camp for this purpose be held in trust for next summer.
Cytryn said that there is financial component for both camp and Israeli families in the event travel – if possible – becomes more expensive or the campers and staff are only able to come for a fraction of the time they were planning.
“We are going to be as maximally flexible as possible, both to get our staff and to get these kids to camp, but families and people are going to have to take into account, you know, there could be some financial implications for them,” he said. “What we’ve been dealing with for the last 18 months is unprecedented in terms of the airlines that are just canceling over and over again flights because of what’s going on in Gaza and Israel and now this Iran thing is totally unprecedented.”
Hoffman said it was an emotional time at camp when he had to break the news to the staff on Sunday morning, June 15.
“We are crushed. But we are not giving up,” Hoffman said. “These campers matter too much. This program means too much.”
My grand daughter is a counselor in training this summer at Herzl. This experience will add to her tool box of experiences of growing up and maturing and dealing with adversity. She is bright, she is strong and she will assist and help those who need support.