cover story cont.

raeli

Harrison Kovitz, 14, of Mt. Pleasant, Gahl Porat, 14, of Timrat,
Israel, and Zach Zimberg, 13, of Chicago
gLimiTr.

Noga Shachar, 21, of Jerusalem and Gab! Porat, 14, of Timrat
enjoy hummus during Israel Day.

Alyssa Stone, 13, Heather Rosenbaum, 13, and Emma Sriro,
14, all of West Bloomfield; Alon Rockowitz, 13, of Jerusalem;
and Zach Zimberg, 13, of Chicago

campers, three boys and three girls made the
cut. Three campers will partake in track and field,
including Nicole. The other three will swim, bowl
and play volleyball. The others include Chen Che-
fer of Kibbutz Gazit, Dvir Tafla of Shimshit, Nadav
Ympolsky and Anna Subotin of Migdal HaEmek
and Shaked Zippori of Ahuzat Barak.
Gahl is part of Specialty village. He says his ex-
perience at Camp Maas is the "funnest ever" be-
cause he's been able to do so many activities.
Harrison Kovitz, 14, of Mt. Pleasant and Zach
Zimberg, 13, of Chicago think having Gahl around
"is awesome."
"He's just like us; he's another good person,"
Harrison said.
Like Nicole, Gahl is anticipating his time in the
Israeli army.
"I want to go to serve my country, help all the
soldiers that serve," he said. "I see it as a privilege.
You really feel proud."
Both Nicole and Gahl say they definitely will
keep in touch with their American friends, espe-
cially through the typical teen methods: Facebook,
MySpace, e-mail and phone.

Dedicated Counselors
Tamarack's Israeli counselors have served their
country as infantry commanders, social workers,
air troopers, combat engineers and other positions.
About eight or more years older than their camp-
ers, these 20 young adults have shared the maturity,
growth and learning they achieved through their
time in the Israel Defense Forces.
Niv Touboul, 23, of Kfar Haim didn't really see
himself as a combat fighter upon entrance into the
army, but he thinks it was an amazing thing to serve.
He learned about leadership and organizing, skills
he's been able to use while working at camp.
This was his second summer as a counselor at
Tamarack. He said the "Jewishness" of Detroit is
great to see and feel.

teen2teen staff •

Front: Samantha Elkus, 9, of Royal Oak, and Jillian Morse, 8,
of Huntington Woods. Back: Or Zarbiv, 14, of Givat Eta; Nadav
Yampoisky, 14, of Migdal HaEmek; Chen Chfer, 14, of Kibutz
Gazit; and itamar Wilf, 14, of Bethlehem Hagillit.

Before Noga Shachar, 20, of Jerusalem came to
work at camp as a counselor, she taught 18-40 year
olds how to use a missile in the army.
A difference she sees between Israeli and Ameri-
can teens is that "they need to be older earlier in
Israel," Noga said.
Her absolute favorite thing to do is swim in the
lake early in the morning. Her fondest camp mem-
ory thus far has been making pitas with "small, lov-
ing girls," as she describes her campers.
Some Israeli teens think Americans may have
the wrong impression of Israel, partly due to news
media and general lack of knowledge.
"Some kids think it's always war in Israel, IT'S
NOT," Nicole said.
Gahl agreed that "Israel is not al-
ways how it sounds in news."
"My summer here is the best sum-
mer ever," Nicole said. "This place
[Tamarack] is the best place ever."

Gabriella Ring, 15, Is a sophomore at
Berkley High School.

hotline: (248) 351-5144 • kcohen@thejewishnews.com

Reporters: Gabriella Ring (Berkley); Jake Wayne (Birmingham Derby); Hadas Corey, Grace Klein,

Jacob Rosen, Spencer Wayne, Sydney Wolf (Birmingham Seaholm); Ariel Mann, Seth Samuels (Bir-

mingham Groves); Jamie Gorosh, Alexa Eisenberg, Lauren Lewis, Sara Smoler, Teddi Cantor, Rachel

Wein (Bloomfield Hills Andover); Jordan Birnholtz, Jessica Singer (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-King-

swood); Hannah Cohen (Farmington Harrison); Adina Applebaum, Rachel Brown, Avi Buckman,

Teens,

we want you in the
party pages!

411!

Let us know when your party is
and we might catch you on film
or send us your pictures at

partypages@thejewishnews.com

images must not exceed 5mb,
images will be edited by the T2T staff

B4 teen2teen August • 2008

Raquel Cohen, Carly Cykiert, Danielle DePriest, Rachel Goutman, Atara Lakritz, Rachel Margolin,

cn

Blake Orman (Frankel Jewish Academy, West Bloomfield); Jennifer Finkel (Hillel Day School, Farm-

ington Hills); Mitchell Barnett, Scott Scher, Stephanie Steinberg (North Farmington); Kale Davidoff,

Bridget Labe, Rebecca Liebman, Allison Shipper, Shaye Winer, Ariella Yedwab (West Bloomfield);

David Lehmann, Sarah Spitzer (Yeshivat Akiva, Southfield).

Photographers: Morgan Pomish (North Farmington), Allie Gold (West Bloomfield), Jessica Polk (FJA)
Cartoonist: Josh Loney (Bloomfield Hills Andover)

c")

0

5

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