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Photos by Brett Mountain

To Life!

:COVER

Campers Amanda Wigler and Rachel Zuckerberg, both of West Bloomfield, with an unidentified camper and Emma Green of Huntington Woods

Home Away From Home

Israeli campers
share in a summer
of adventure and
Jewish learning at
Tamarack.

Robin Schwartz
Special to the Jewish News

T

he thrill of zipping across the
water on skis, with wind on her
face and waves at her feet, is
something Hanna Ivri, 14, of Nazareth
Illit recently experienced for the first
time at Camp Tamarack in Ortonville
Ivri, an Ethiopian Jew, is one of
80 Israeli campers who traveled to
Michigan for a summer of fun, adven-
ture and Jewish learning as part of the
Israeli Camper Program sponsored by
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit. The multicultural camping
opportunity for Israeli teens (ages 13-15)
and their American counterparts began
in 2002. The program just completed its
sixth successful summer.
"To be here is so exciting:' Ivri said
looking across the wooded grounds

of Camp Maas, Tamarack's residential
camping facility. "This place is so beauti-
ful; you have a lot of green space and
everything's so big."
Two groups of 40 Israeli campers took
part in separate sessions June 26-July
20 and July 24-Aug. 16. The Israelis are
immersed in Tamarack's program, shar-
ing bunks with local Jewish teens and
participating in daily activities from
swimming, horseback riding and kayak-
ing, to Shabbat services, an archaeologi-
cal dig for relics buried by staff members
and other creative Jewish programs.
"The key to the program is that they're
integrated into our camp, so you really
can't tell the difference anymore between
Israeli and American campers," explained
Tamarack's executive director Jonah
Geller of Farmington Hills. "The goal
here is to build a real partnership. That's
what truly makes the program special."

Unforgettable Experience
"It's a really big experience for me said
camper Yotam Jacoby, 12, of Timrat, who
like many of the Israeli youngsters, trav-
eled to the United States for the first time
to be part of the program. More than 300
candidates were considered for the 80
spots at camp; selections are made based
on community involvement, leadership
skills and English speaking ability. The
3 1/2-week program is subsidized by
Federation donors. Each camper's fam-
ily pays 25 percent of the roughly $3,800
cost.
"This year, for the first time, all of our
campers were from Detroit's Partnership
2000 Region in Israel's Central Galilee
said Naomi Rockowitz the Jerusalem-
based director of missions and exchanges
for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan

Israeli Campers on page 32

August 23 • 2007

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