28 | DECEMBER 5 • 2019
continued from page 26
the learning our students
engaged in during the school
year, combining the best of
education with the best of
camp.
“With Temple Kol Ami’
s
school theme this year being
‘
Wherever You Go, There’
s
Always Someone Jewish,’
the
thought was that it would be
helpful for our students to
explore their Jewish identity
in partnership with others
they would otherwise not
have known outside of their
congregation.”
For Rabbi Daniel Schwartz
of Temple Shir Shalom, being
a part of the pilot camp pro-
gram seemed like a natural
fit for Shir Shalom families.
“Providing a camp pro-
gram with Jewish content
was the perfect extension of
our educational program,
and we were thrilled to part-
ner with the JCC, Tamarack
camps and the other syna-
gogues who were part of the
planning partnership.
“We were excited our fam-
ilies would be able to join
with like-minded families
and benefit from strong
programming with new and
familiar faces who would
bring excitement and joy to
this summer experience.”
According to Deborah
Morosohk, director of edu-
cation at Temple Beth El,
“Our Beth El students had an
amazing experience at Camp
Sababa. They loved being
immersed in Jewish themes
while doing all the best camp
activities like swimming,
sports, arts and more. We are
hoping this one-week experi-
ence will lead to our families
being more likely to choose
Jewish overnight camps as
their children grow older.”
Rabbi Arianna Gordon,
director of education and
lifelong learning at Temple
Israel, says, “Temple Israel
was excited to partner with
the JCC on Camp Sababa
this summer in order to
provide additional informal
Jewish engagement opportu-
nities for our families. Our
campers had an amazing
week — they loved getting
to know other Jewish kids
in the community, learning
new songs and cheers, and
exploring themselves and
their Jewish world!”
As a camp mom and a
Temple Israel rabbi, Rabbi
Jennifer Kaluzny was very
glad that her family and her
congregation participated in
camp.
“My kids loved camp
Sababa. They were able to be
together in one small group
and spend the day playing,
singing, learning, swimming
and having fun all in a Jewish
environment. They were so
proud of the beautiful family
book they made and pre-
sented to us at the end of the
week, when all the families
celebrated Shabbat together.
It was Sababa!”
For more information about Camp
Sababa, contact Jeffrey Lasday at
jlasday@jccdet.org. Lasday is the
COO of the Jewish Community
Center. This story was first pub-
lished on myjewishdetroit.org.