Bulletin08.20.2011 -Eikev

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Inspiration, Insights & Ideas Bringing Torah lessons to LIFE! Largest Jewish Camp Network in World Turns 55 By Malina Saval and Joshua Runyan I n the spring of 1956, faculty of the central Chabad-Lubavitch grade-school yeshiva in New York faced the distinctly modern problem of summer vacation: They had no place to send their students to continue their studies during the summer months. A Lubavitch overnight boys’ camp had been established in the 1940s in Montreal, and since 1953, Camp Emunah in upstate New York provided a Lubavitch summer camp option for Jewish girls. But the New York students had nowhere to go and Rabbi Moshe Lazar sought out a solution. Just 22 years old at the time, Lazar approached the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, for guidance. On the face of it, the issue was relatively simple: The modern educational calendar had created a block of time in which kids were frequently without structure. But as so often happened when the Rebbe addressed a “problem,” he advised that this particular challenge actually offered a unique opportunity. Yes, there should be boys’ camp, the Rebbe responded. But it would be different: It would leverage the beauty of rural surroundings to provide a Jewish atmosphere, coupled with the warmth of Chasidic life, in a manner not possible in a year-round school environment. It would serve youngsters from both Jewish day schools and public schools and would allow each of them to partake of their favorite summer activities on the one hand, while simultaneously nurturing their spiritual identities on the other. Unlike other camps of the era, which served to protect religious students from wandering aimlessly through the summer, this camp would offer an open door to attract new students to the beauty of Jewish life. “There were a few Jewish camps in existence, but they were not doing much in the way of reaching out to children that were not already exposed to their Jewish backgrounds,” explains Lazar, now 76 years old and a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Milan. “The Rebbe was very enthusiastic and with his blessing and constant involvement, we were able to successfully turn our camp idea into a reality.” In April that year, with nary a few months to get things in order, Lazar rented a property in Ellenville, N.Y. The Rebbe named the camp Gan Israel, literally “Garden of Israel” in honor of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, the 17th-century founder of Chasidism known as the Baal Shem Tov. “The Rebbe said that all children should be shown the greatest love and from this love, they become closer to G‑d,” says Lazar. “The idea behind Camp Gan Israel was to create a combination of the spiritual and the material and show that there is no conflict between the two. In this way children can lead full and enriched lives.” Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, who first signed on as the camp’s learning director and today serves as its executive director, recalls the Rebbe’s directives as revolutionary. Far from merely comprising the two identifies of a camp and a yeshiva, the uniqueness of Camp Gan Israel lies in its ability to make each opposing strain inform and strengthen the other. In short, Camp Gan Israel is “a camp on the outside and a yeshiva within,” the Rebbe would later emphasize. “Nobody had thought that this was possible to do,” explains Shemtov, who also serves as chairman of Agudas Chasidei Chabad, Recently in the News 14 the worldwide umbrella organization of Chabad-Lubavitch. “Summer camp was always either a place devoid of the protections offered by a yeshiva environment, or was solely concerned on essentially relocating the yeshiva to the countryside.” The Rebbe offered a third way, continues Shemtov. “Camp could be a new opportunity to do what the yeshiva couldn’t do. It could be an island; it could provide an overall 24-hour experience.” (Educators today, backed by several recent studies, similarly point to the immersive nature of camp as providing a unique opportunity to instill and nurture Jewish values.) Of the three times the Rebbe travelled outside of New York City after ascending to the leadership of Chabad-Lubavitch, all three were to the original Camp Gan Israel and Camp Emunah. Offshoots of that first Gan Israel reflect the central importance the Rebbe placed on the summer camp experience, says Shemtov. “Each place may look different, but when you begin to pull at the strings, you’ll find they each have the same foundation.” The first summer brought together 92 boys. Today, 55 years later, Camp Gan Israel, headquartered in Parksville, N.Y., represents the largest network of Jewish camps in the world. Run by Chabad Houses and affiliated institutions in more than 40 countries, including Canada, Australia and Chile, its day and overnight programs serve both boys and girls and cater to Jewish children of all backgrounds. “I had the time of my life,” Jeffrey Klein fondly recalls of the 10 years he spent as a child at Camp Gan Israel in Fenton, Mich., eight as a camper, one as a waiter, and one as a certified lifeguard. “The way they took religion and intertwined it with fun activities such as sports, baseball, soccer and swimming was a very positive experience for me,” he adds, “and, as a result, my religious observance grew.” Klein was so inspired by his camping experience – he celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at camp in 1974, the summer he turned 13 – he convinced his parents to keep a kosher home and enroll him in a local Detroit-area yeshiva. Today, the prominent podiatrist has three grown children, two of whom also attended Camp Gan Israel. “The friends that I made at camp – the children of friends that I met at camp – are worldwide,” says Klein, who, decades later, still sings songs that he learned at camp as a seven-year-old, including the Camp Gan Israel anthem. “A lot of people who went to this camp are amazing” Jewish leaders. Camp Gan Israel’s alumni include Rabbis Shmuel Lew, director of the Lubavitch House School in London, and Rabbi Moshe Feller, director of the Upper Midwest regional headquarters of Chabad-Lubavitch. “The camp experience is attractive to all kinds of parents,” explains Shemtov. “The Rebbe turned camp into a tremendous instrument in attracting youth with little in the way of Jewish involvement, who then were able to strengthen Judaism in their own families.” Daniella Uminer, program director of the Chabad Jewish Center of Martin and S. Lucie County, Fla., says that she and her husband founded the local Camp Gan Israel before they established a Hebrew school. Their area has a small, assimilated Jewish population, she says. “We started out with 15 kids and now we have at least 60. We’ve grown over the years, and it’s been a great journey.” What distinguishes Camp Gan Israel from a typical summer camp is the one-on-one attention devoted to each child,
Inspiration, Insights & Ideas Bringing Torah lessons to LIFE! proffers Chanie Pinson, director of Camp Gan Israel in Pasadena, Calif. “We recognize that each child is unique in his or her abilities and interests, and therefore offer a variety of choices for the child during his or her camp experience,” says Pinson. “This flexibility ensures that each child thrives in the camp environment and leaves at the end of the day with the greatest of smiles, looking forward to the next day’s surprises and fun activities.” Brooklyn, NY - DA Hynes Unveils Kletzky-Inspired Safe Stop Program B rooklyn, NY - Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the creation of Safe Stop, an initiative which provides a safe place for youth, seniors and all others to go if they need help in case of an emergency to access information about the District Attorney’s Neighborhood Office Program and crime and prevention programs offered both by his office and the Police Department. Safe Stop is an idea which sprang directly from the community itself. Each year the District Attorney honors 31 Brooklyn women as Extraordinary Women for their devotion to neighborhood, community and public service. The District Attorney invites each honoree to bring fresh ideas to his staff about how to make their communities safer. About one year ago, Betty Cooney, Executive Director of the Graham Avenue Business Improvement District in Williamsburg, and an Extraordinary Woman in 2009, suggested reinstituting in Williamsburg the “Safe Haven” program, an NYPD initiative with which the District Attorney’s Office collaborated in the 1990’s. After speaking with Betty, other Brooklyn BID Executive Directors and NYPD Community Affairs, the District Attorney decided to launch Safe Stop. District Attorney Hynes said, “We are always looking for ways to make Brooklyn safer. We welcome suggestions from the community. Sometimes people who need help don’t know where to turn. Now, if someone is lost, has a medical emergency, or is a crime victim, they can go into any of these Safe Stop locations where merchants will have all kinds of information and resources for those who need help. They will be trained to know where to refer people and how to help them.” Participants of Safe Stop will display decals in their store windows identifying them as a designated Safe Stop location. The merchants will be trained by Executive Directors of neighborhood Business Improvement Districts (BID). They will make public safety information from the District Attorney’s Office and the Police Department available and refer nonemergency situations to the local District Attorney’s Neighborhood Office. The merchants will be directed to call 911 for emergencies that require immediate medical, police or fire response. Another component of Safe Stop is Assistant District Attorneys spreading the word about this public safety initiative through the Legal Lives Program, in which prosecutors appear in hundreds of schools throughout Brooklyn each year to present a law-related curriculum to students. Each Safe Stop merchant was selected by the Executive Directors of the participating neighborhood BIDs. There are currently 77 Safe Stop locations in Brooklyn: 45 in Sunset Park, 19 in Williamsburg and 13 in Park Slope with plans to add more merchants in other neighborhoods. 15 As Calm Returns to England, Leaders Consider Roots of Rioting www.vosizneias.com A fter nearly a week of rioting and chaos, a sense of calm has finally returned to the streets in cities across the United Kingdom. What started as a youth protest in North London last Sunday after the death of a London man quickly turned violent. Police struggled to quell the looting and destruction as it spread across London and other cities. As Britons have begun to sift through the rubble, the country’s leaders have turned to the issue of youth rebellion and the wanton destruction of property by children as young as 10 or 11, a reflection, in Prime Minister David Cameron’s words, of nothing less than society’s “moral collapse.” “Do we have the determination to confront the slow-motion moral collapse that has taken place in parts of our country these past few generations?” he asked at youth center in his home constituency of Witney in Oxfordshire. Rabbi Aryeh Sufrin, Chabad’s representative to Ilford, an East London suburb, and a 2009 recipient Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), runs Drugsline, a drug rehabilitation center providing crisis intervention, education, counseling, and family support. He agrees with the Prime Minister. “This wasn’t an issue of race,” Sufrin says. “All communities face the same challenges. We struggle to engage young people be it from the synagogue, the mosque or elsewhere. We must come off our pedestals as preachers and directly engage the youth.” Though Ilford itself was spared from most of the violence, Sufrin sees the roots of youth “disenfranchisement” as one across community lines. Sufrin’s organization plans on bringing British youth together in focus groups to directly address their feelings about what happened. Plans for a new curriculum will be put into effect this fall as well. “We have used this opportunity to carry the moral message of rebuilding family and finding positive role-models,” Sufrin says. “Only through positive reinforcement can we bring greater respect for those we encounter, be they family, stranger or government.” Despite his belief that the problem is deeply rooted, Sufrin says that the youth involved in last week’s violence were by far only a minority. He points to community members who took to the streets with brooms to clean London over the past few days. “If ultimately a small group of people can cause so much destruction, one can only imagine how many more can rebuild.”
Page 1: The Shul W E E K L Y M A G A Z I N
Page 4 and 5: Shabbos Schedule Celebrating Shabbo
Page 6 and 7: Partners - annual contribution of $
Page 8 and 9: Birthdays Menachem Av 21 Mr. David
Page 10 and 11: Challenges On The Road (Adapted fro
Page 12 and 13: Inspiration, Insights & Ideas Bring
Page 16: Get the Picture The full scoop on a
Page 20 and 21: Just for the Gals Just for the Gals
Page 22 and 23: REGISTER NOW! with Mrs. Nancy Poj K
Page 24 and 25: Encontrando tu Fortuna Por Elisha G
Page 27 and 28: j [ PA (786) 621-6339 (Office) (786
Page 29 and 30: In this Week’s Living Torah: A we
Page 31 and 32: Community Nachas Community Nachas A

Bulletin08.20.2011 -Eikev

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?