30 | JUNE 27 • 2024 
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TOP: Azaria with a group of children. BOTTOM: Many adults had improved 
lives, including better sleep, thanks to swimming, organizers say.

thing can exist, but in these 
dark moments, we also have 
some light, and the swimming 
classes are a source of power 
and light in the darkness.
” 

SOURCE OF FRIENDSHIP
In addition to cheering each 
other on while swimming, 
they’
d eat together and talk 
about swimming as well as 
whatever else was on their 
minds. A swimmer marking 
a quiet birthday even chose to 
spend that day with the swim-
ming community. 
“If she chose to be with us 
on her birthday that means we 
mean a lot to each other,
” he 
says. “We have built a commu-
nity.
” 
Ella Azaria, a former 
Detroiter and Camp Tamarack 
counselor who now lives in 
Herzliya, started making the 
four-hour trek to Ein Gedi and 

staying a few nights during 
the week to help out as a swim 
instructor after learning about 
it on Facebook in December. 
“We’re here to be with them 
and talk to them, to listen to 
them and just see if they’re 
OK,
” she says, adding that most 
of the instructors also have a 
degree in psychology. “So, it’s 
not just teaching them how to 
swim.
” 
They have all different types 
of conversations along the way, 
she says, adding some people 
want to talk about what they 
have been though, others don’t. 
“They lost family, friends, 
neighbors, kids, grandparents, 
husbands, wives — they lost 
so many people close to them 
and they can’t believe that it 
happened,
” she says. “
After the 
lesson, they’re smiling. They’re 
happier. It makes their day and 
their week a lot better.
” 

continued from page 29

OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER

Lincoln Shopping Center

Greenfield and 10½ Mile

Advance America
ALDI 
Bling Bling
Book Beat
Church’s Chicken/White Castle 
Conservative Cuts
Dollar Castle 
DTLR
J Anthony
Kroger
Lee Beauty Supply
McDonalds
Medical Weight Loss 
Metro PCS 
Metropolitan Dry Cleaners
Mookey’s Beans & Greens 
Original Bread Basket
Rainbow
Street Corner Music 
Step In Style
Suit Depot 
T Nails
Top That

Lincoln 
Shopping Center

