T

hey came from across 
the U.S. and even from 
Germany, virtually 
speaking. Many had not seen 
each other for more than 55 
years. Those years melted 
away as the first 
“campers” from 
Camp Tamarack’s 
Hebrew 
Immersion unit, 
Kfar Ivri, met 
over Zoom in 
February for a 
first-ever reunion.
Twenty-five of the original 
campers from 1964-1966 and 
several members of the coun-
seling staff met for three hours 
of reminiscing, catching up and 
singing songs in Hebrew.
The reunion was the brain-
child of two of the Kfar Ivri 
original campers, me (I now live 
in Richfield, Minn.) and Barbara 
Harris Klaristenfeld, who lives 
in Encino, Calif.
I arranged a successful reunion 
for the teenage cast members of a 
Hebrew-language production of 
Fiddler on the Roof last year. The 
Kfar Ivri camping experience was 
far more intensive, which meant 
that if we could find our far-flung 
old friends, the response was 
sure to be good. We managed to 
find 34 campers and staff mem-
bers; six have already died. Of 
the 34, 25 overcame time zones 
and prior commitments to come 
together and recall what was for 
many, one of the most formative 
experiences of their early lives.
Prior to the Zoom event, all 
Kfarniks sent their biographical 
information to all others on the 
list. This assured that everyone 
was up to date on each other’s 
family and professional status, 
regardless of their ability to 
attend the reunion. During the 
nearly three hours of the event, 

each participant shared their 
favorite memory of the sum-
mers spent at Kfar Ivri and how 
the experience impacted the rest 
of their life.
Celina “CeeCee” Aisner, now 
living in Colorado, told of what 
her Kfar Ivri summers mean 
to her. “When I first attended 
Kfar, I had been in the U.S. only 
four years — literally ‘off the 
boat’ — and felt I was always 
playing catch-up with my peers 
as I acculturated to the U.S and 
tried to deal with the normal 
developmental issues that we all 
faced at that age. 
“Kfar provided me with a 
safe and accepting environ-
ment where I could learn one 
way of being a Jewish kid in 
America. Before my first year 
at Kfar, I never had any Jewish 
religious experiences. At Kfar, I 
developed a deep appreciation 
of religious rituals, Shabbat ser-
vices and a sense of Jewish com-
munity. To this day, when I’m 
at a service, and I hear the old 
camp melodies, I feel a mystical 
connection to all the Jews in the 
world including all my ances-
tors, and I literally get shivers 
down my spine.
”

A LOVE OF HEBREW
We campers can only speculate 
what the motivations were for 
the United Hebrew Schools 
and Tamarack Camps in cre-
ating Kfar Ivri. Certainly, a 
major goal was to improve the 
Hebrew language abilities of 
the campers. More than one 
Kfarnik cited that it was the 
beginning of a “love affair with 
the Hebrew language.”
If another goal was to cre-
ate leaders for the American 
Jewish community, then that, 
too, was largely achieved. At 
least four rabbis spent time at 

Kfar Ivri: Sanford Olshansky of 
Florida, Daniel Shevitz of Los 
Angeles, and Beverly Weintraub 
Magidson of Albany, N.Y. Rabbi 
Joel Roth of New Jersey and 
Israel was head counselor in 
1964 and 1965. 
Others have long records of 
leadership in Jewish commu-
nal life: Andrew Beider was 
a founder of Yad Ezra in the 
Detroit area; Avrum “
Avery” 
Harris has taught Tanach for 
over 15 years in a California cha-
vurah; Zevi Miller, a professor at 
Miami University in Ohio, has 
been engaged with campus Hillel 
ever since he met his wife at the 
University of Michigan Hillel; 
Ron Sussman of Ann Arbor, 
who was the “maintenance guy” 
at Kfar Ivri in 1965 and 1966, 
has been engaged with Habonim 
Dror for more than 35 years. Still 
others made their careers with 
Jewish-sponsored institutions. 
Three made aliyah.
Rabbi Magidson said after 
the event that she felt the Zoom 
format was the best for this 
time and this group. Given the 
great geographic dispersal of 

the grown-up Kfarniks and our 
many family commitments, the 
likelihood of having a successful 
in-person reunion would have 
been dismal. 

A SECOND CHANCE?
For those unable to attend, 
they still will be able, thanks 
to 21st-century technology, 
to view a recording of the 
entire Zoom reunion on a 
password-protected YouTube 
site. Avery Harris called for a 
follow-up in the near future 
so that those who missed the 
event can have a second chance 
to share some time in person.
Will it happen? Will there be 
some movement toward having 
a weekend at Tamarack with our 
families in attendance as well? 
While the JN Archives have no 
mention of Kfar Ivri after 1988, 
for the campers at this reunion, 
the last words sung were the last 
words of the Kfar Ivri song: “We 
shall return to your gates.
” 

Doris Rubenstein retired from fund-

raising and now is a freelance writer 

in Richfield, Minn.

6 | MARCH 4 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

essay
Hebrew Campers Reunite — 55 Years Later

Doris 
Rubenstein

Kfar Ivri Staff 1965: Jerry Kohen (CIT), Frieda Minc, 
Mark Roth, Joel Roth and Barbara Roth Kramer, 
Danny Siegel, Barbara Harris (Klaristenfeld).

On “Beatnik Night” in 1964, Mark Schneider, Joel 
Roth, Eddie Betel and Zevi Miller got in the groove.

