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Where Are You From?

A

while ago, I was think-
knew where his shoes were. Me!
ing about how I would
As if I’d actually know!
like to do nothing
Amazed, I asked him, “Where
more than read a book and
on Earth did you come from?”
ignore the world around me
His answer: “The other room.”
for the rest of the day. It was a
I guess it’s the word “from” that
feeling I sometimes had while I
leaves room for interpretation.
was a teenager, but back then I
My all-time favorite souvenir
Rochel Burstyn
could actually do it. Just sit on the
is a “Niagara Falls, New York!”
couch and read while everything
magnet with the words “Made
in my life kind of faded into the
in Canada” stamped on the back.
background.
Then last year my husband went to Israel
It was kind of a shock to discover that,
and bought back a tzedakah box. We were
as a parent, I couldn’t get away with that
so pleased to have a piece of Judaica, feel-
anymore. So there I was, itching to read
ing all special about the fact it was from
something longer than a magazine article,
the Holy Land, until we noticed the “Made
fondly reminiscing about the “good old
in New York” sticker at the bottom.
days” of my teenage years when I actually
When the parts are from New York and
could.
the assembly’s done in China, some of
I was lost in wonderful memories —
these cheap souvenirs probably have more
when my little boy walked into the room.
frequent flier miles than my entire family
Slightly disoriented, I stared at him like
put together!
he’d just walked off a freshly landed time
That question, “Where are you from?”
machine. Here I’d felt like I should be wor- can turn out to be rather tricky. A person
rying about pimples and exams, and all of
can be from many different places. There
a sudden this little guy is here and asking
are your birthplace, the city you grew up
me if he can have another cookie and if I
and where you live currently. Then there

are all us locals who say we’re from Detroit
even though we really live in neighboring
cities.
As an Australian expat, this wasn’t new
to me — I grew up in St. Kilda, a place no
one’s ever heard of, so we all say we’re from
Melbourne. Why do we do this? So what if
people answer, “What? Where’s that?” when
we name our hometown? If we answer, “St.
Kilda’s near Melbourne” or “Southfield’s
near Detroit,” then everyone’s nodding and
smiling in comprehension again. Maybe
if we all start answering “Southfield” (or
whatever your city’s name is), it would stop
being a no-name small city no one’s heard
of because people are actually owning up to
the fact that they live there.
The word “from” implies a distance and,
technically, where we’re from is hardly as
important as where we’re heading although
it can be motivating to occasionally look
back and see how far we’ve come.
But we need to keep moving forward or
else we end up missing out. As the saying
goes, the past is history, the future’s a mys-
tery and today is a gift. That’s why we call
it the present.

*

editorial

Jewel Of The Community

C

amp Maas, a program of
Tamarack Camps in Ortonville,
built a bridge in 2002 that spans
across the world. That year of the second
intifada, with family activities in Israel
curtailed because of security concerns
and Israeli camps and school programs
closed, community leaders in Detroit
devised a plan to bring 320 Israeli teens
to camp in Michigan.
Fourteen years later, the Israeli
Camper Program, a program spon-
sored by Tamarack Camps, the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and
the Partnership2Gether Region of the
Central Galilee (Nazareth Illit, Migdal
HaEmek, Jezreel Valley), has become the
vehicle that spans the bridge between
two cultures — Israeli and American —
strengthening Jewish identity for both
and making each community stronger.
Each year, 84 high-performing Israeli
teens compete for the opportunity to
come to Camp Maas. They are selected
based on their social, language and lead-
ership skills. They attend five prepara-
tion seminars, one weekend retreat and
three parent meetings to prepare them

for their Detroit summer experience that
often heightens their sense of Judaism.
“These teens often say they come
to Camp Maas as Israelis and leave as
Jews,” says Tamarack Camps CEO Steve
Engel. “For our Michigan campers, the
Israeli campers break down barriers
through a shared living experience and
create person-to-person connections
that foster lifelong bonds in the Detroit-
Israel community.”
The experience doesn’t begin and end
with summer camp; it is the start of a
multi-year commitment for the Israeli
teens.
Upon their return home, Israeli camp-
ers enroll in community service projects
in preparation to serve on the Israeli
staff of Federation’s Teen Missions or to
return to Camp Maas as “TSS” counsel-
ors in training on the Teen Service Staff.
Eviatar Baksis grew up in the heart
of the Michigan Partnership2Gether
Region in Israel. He was only 14 when
he came to Camp Maas along with
that first group of Israeli campers
in 2002. Today he leads Federation’s
Israeli Camper Program delegation at

Tamarack Camps. “Life-changing” is
what he calls it.
Parents of local campers play weekend
hosts to the campers, and the connec-
tions formed among host families and
Israeli campers manifest themselves in
many ways, often resulting in lifelong
friendships between families and trips to
and from Israel to share in one another’s
special occasions.
These host families are not only lead-
ers in our local community, they become
members of Jewish Detroit’s extended
family in Israel as well.
The Israeli Camper Program at Camp
Maas is the largest in North America
and unique in its three-pronged spon-
sorship. The intangible benefits it pro-
vides Metro Detroit cannot be measured.
“What we have created here is real —
a strong extended family, the essence of
community,” Camp Maas Director Lee
Trepeck says. “Mishpachah! That’s who
we are. A family.”
Jewish Detroit must remain ever-
grateful that this “jewel” resides in our
own backyard.

*

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August 11 • 2016

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