28 | DECEMBER 5 • 2019 

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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.