Children at CampSimcha
enjoy outdoor games and
held trips.

Happiest

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102

At "Cancer
Camps,"
children
who face
untimely
deaths
embrace
life.

RUTH LITTMANN

STAFF WRITER

I

t's a place where, if
you have a full head
of hair, you might
look a bit odd...a
place where chil-
dren take drugs dai-
ly, but not for a
high...a place where young
people can shirk maturity
and act goofy and wild.
Located southwest of the
Catskills in upstate New
York, Camp Simcha is a 160-
acre kosher "cancer camp." It
is a place where, for three
weeks each summer, 100
Jewish youth can experience
vacation like regular kids.
The children come from all

parts of the world. Some are
grandchildren of famous Or-
thodox rabbis. Others are Re-
form. Two things children at
Camp Simcha have in com-
mon: They're Jewish and
they're very, very sick.
Elimelech Goldberg, rabbi
at Congregation Young Israel
of Southfield, is director of
Camp Simcha. He is also a
black belt in karate. The Or-
thodox martial artist, who
lost a daughter to cancer 13
years ago, says Camp Sim-
cha's fields, fir trees, wooden
cabins and lake mark the
happiest place in the world.
"There's so much joy in the

Rabbi Elimelech Goldberg

camp," he said. "It's hard to
describe the intensity of emo-
tion. It puts into perspective
what life is and what we
have, what our real chal-
lenges are, and ultimately,
what our purpose for exis-
tence is. It makes things so
much clearer."

At first, the rabbi worried
about attending a camp for
children with cancer. The
memory of his daughter is
acute and so is the pain of her
death. But to Rabbi Gold-
berg's surprise, he discovered
that Camp Simcha is not an
overcast corner of New York
— a place where ailing youth
hang their heads in despair
and self-pity.
Quite the contrary.
Campers play tennis, boat,
fish, laugh and sing. They
tease Rabbi Goldberg about
being "that Orthodox karate
guy with the black hat and
the black belt."

