NOAM "Elise" Summer Camps in Argentina
a Great Success
By Adrian Kohan, Shaliach for the Masorti Movement to Argentina
1,500 children from 16 different communities celebrated Chanukah this year in six camps that comprise the network of NOAM summer camps in Argentina, enjoying a vibrant and significant Jewish and Zionist educative experience.
Children and teenagers, ages 6 to 18 years old, experienced a taste of traditional Jewish life, lighting giant Hanukkyiot while learning about the traditions and halachot (laws) of the Festival of Lights. For many of them, it was the first time they celebrated the Festival of Heroism. Just as the Maccabim defended and renewed our way of life, our camps provide a similar opportunity for its participants. The camp setting is an invitation to the observance of mitzvot such as netilat yadaim (ritual hand washing before meals), birkat hamotzi (the blessing over bread), birkat hamazon (blessing after meals) hadlakat nerot (candle lighting before Shabbat), daily tefillot (prayers) and hanachat tefillin (putting on phylacteries), all of them aimed at creating the special spiritual atmosphere of Masorti Judaism.
Camp starts every day with an educational morning service in which rabbis, rabbinical students and madrichim (counselors) teach about our ancient traditions and values. In what has became a tradition, children who did not have the chance to celebrate their Bar or Bat Mitzvah, find an opportunity to express their commitment to Judaism in the NOAM camps by putting on tefillin and reading from the Torah for the first time in their lives, surrounded by their friends and educators. For those who already had their Bar/Bat mitzvah, a big tallit was extended forming a large chuppah, so that every child could stand under it and have his aliyah to the Torah, together with his/her group mates.
During this year's camps, we found a greater involvement of families and adults, making the camps an educational experience shared by the whole community. One congregation, Lamroth Hakol in Buenos Aires, went even further and organized a Shabbaton (retreat) for parents.
Shabbat marks the climax of our camps and campers look forward to this moment with much anticipation. Using the ocean as a landmark for “east” and the sunset as a background, the ruach of NOAM conquers the tefillah, inviting hundreds of kids at each camp to pray together with the sound of guitars and darbukot (drums), allowing for a special and renewed connection with the spirituality of Shabbat.
This summer, campers hosted a special visit with senior madrichim and camp directors from the North American Camp Ramah network. It was a strong experience for everyone. As the American and Argentinean camp models are noticeably different, the visit served to exchange ideas for mutual learning. One of the members of the Ramah mission noted: "Camp is run by young-people. Staff members are a couple of years younger than American counselors; the coordinators are all 25 or younger. There do not appear to be any authority figures; discipline is unnecessary. All have come together to create a sense of community and to accomplish something." The Argentinean madrichim, who go through a two year long course ("Darkei NOAM") before assuming the responsibility of becoming a Jewish educator and role model, were very moved by the interest expressed by their American mates though the visit.
"Knowing that somebody who lives thousand of kilometers away cares about what we do here is very important for us, it reminds us of the importance of what we are doing," said Jessica Yablowski, NOAM director at Benei Tikva, one of the main Masorti communities in Buenos Aires. Ramah madrichim were also impressed to see six year old campers participate in this educative experience.
The NOAM network of summer camps is one of the main pillars of the educational work of the movement. As chanichim meet every Shabbat during the year for activities, camp is both the perfect opportunity to attain closure of the educational year, and the highlighted event that motivates the kids towards the next year. And 1,500 campers and 500 staff members are a clear sign of the camp's success.
Yasher Koach to Adrian Kohan and the NOAM staff for their hard work in making the camps such a success. We are grateful to the Elise Lipsey Educational Fund, USY Tikkun Olam and the Jewish Agency for their support of the NOAM camps.
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Ramah Young Leadership Mission Visits Camp Elise, NOAM Argentina
By Eytan Hammerman
Nineteen current and past staff members from eight North American Ramah Camps visited with the Masorti community of Argentina from December 26, 2005 to January 4, 2006. A major highlight of the experience was three days spent at a “Ramah”-style Camps Elise, organized by two of the Masorti communities in Buenos Aires, Lamrot Hakol and B’nei Tikva. This camp is one of seven Masorti overnight camps in Argentina which vary in length from one week to three weeks. The camps conclude a full year of activities that take place in the individual communities. Campers (chanichim) and counselors (madrichim) have spent their entire year building relationships which culminate in these experiences at Camp. The Lamrot Hakol/B’nei Tikva Camp took place at a rented campsite outside Necochea, a beach town on the Atlantic Ocean, a seven-hour drive from Buenos Aires. Altogether, there were 350 campers and counselors. They slept in tents. Experienced counselors from North America, the Ramah visitors were quite impressed with a number of elements of their visit to the camp.
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Enjoying the kosher McDonalds in Buenos Aires
(the only kosher one outside of Israel)
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At Kehillah Atid, a community in northern Buenos Aires |
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| Ramah Staff with Lamrot Hakol Coordinator Ary Goldschmidt (second from left) and Masorti shaliach Adrian Kohan (center). |
For example, to be a counselor, one must take a 2-year course (for high school students) called "Darkei NOAM" that meets for four hours each week. It is difficult to be accepted to the course and madrichim feel a genuine sense of privilege to be chosen. Madrichim, who work all year long with the communities, serve as volunteers. We saw several madrichim preparing for an evening activity – that was to take place that evening – at 11 PM (while we were eating our dinner). Additionally, the American visitors were impressed by the youth of the entire camp. Madrichim are a couple of years younger than American counselors and the camp coordinators are all 25 or younger. And, some of the campers are six years old!! They fell asleep on the beach at midnight when the others from Lamrot Hakol insisted that they participate in the final night’s bonfire. The staff members were disappointed and even surprised that these youngest campers were sleeping and missing the final program. And, these aren’t even the youngest of campers -- in Buenos Aires, 4 and 5 year-olds sleepover at the synagogue’s retreat center!!
We joined in both communities’ weekday shacharit services. One community used a transliterated sheet (two-sided) with the various t'fillot; the other has made their own 20-page booklet. T’fillot were said entirely aloud; some people had instruments. One community did a skit during the service – the kids seemed to know many t’fillot by heart and, if not, to answer “Amen”. One young boy asked to put on tefillin during the service (we observed a few tallitot/tefillin) being used. One service leader had a set of tefillin that was taken apart – the various pieces were passed around to study. Both communities ended their services in song, with all participants linking arms in a circle. During the course of our time at camp, the power (and water) went out for about seven hours; no one seemed to notice or care. When it got too dark, a few cars were pulled up to illuminate the scene and some candles were lit in the dining room. Campers sang throughout the power outage, especially once it got dark.
Overall, our main lesson learned, perhaps, is how much can be done with relatively few resources. Camp costs approximately $7a day per camper with much of that being subsidized by the Lipsey / Winkelried families. Yet, the education, the passion, the enthusiasm and the connection to one another and to Judaism is just as strong as we might expect in a North American Camp which enjoys more extensive facilities.
Watch next month’s Masorti Olami - World Council of Conservative Synagogues monthly report for more details on this trip and how the North American Ramah Camps plan to maintain their new international relationships.
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News from Assembly of
Masorti Synagogues, UK
Reported by Michael Gluckman, Director of AMS
The annual NOAM Veida (conference) took place in December. Fifty NOAMniks assembled in Essex and deeply immersed themselves in the passionate, democratic debate about their movement. (See article below for more details).
The Great Masorti Learnathon which took place on December 4th was a great success. As one participant wrote, “I just wanted to let you know that I thought Sunday's activities were exceptional. I think there was a wonderful atmosphere and somehow the sessions seemed to be appropriate for those with a lot of learning and those with less learning...
Every session that I went to was interesting and thought provoking and the time simply flew by.” A huge thanks to Barbara Stern, Moira Hart and Frances Niman who masterminded the logistics and Rabbi Jeremy Collick who provided the rabbinic guidance to the planning and of course to everyone who taught sessions.
A thought-provoking and successful Chanukah Study Day on the Chanukah theme of "Courage" took place on Sunday, December 25 with the participation of Rabbis Jonathan Wittenberg, Chaim Weiner and Julia Neuberger. The day included study sessions using traditional and modern sources to reflect on courage in the Bible and Talmud, courage through Jewish history and moral courage in today's world. Participants also viewed the film "Korczak" on the legendary Polish pedagogue, Janusz Korczak, which was followed by discussion. The event ended with candle lighting for the first night of the holiday.
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Rabbis of Chilean Masorti Forum
meet with Mr. Zeev Bielsky
The rabbis of the Chilean Masorti Forum met with Mr. Zeev Bielsky, Executive Director off the World Zionist Organization (WZ0) and the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) during his December visit to Chile. Mr. Bielsky was escorted by Mr. Arieh Abir, Representative of the Executive of the WZO and JAFI to Latin America, and Mr. Claudio Gleser, shaliach of Education and Aliyah of JAFI in Chile.
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(left to right) Rabbi Efraim Rosenzweig, Rabbi Daniel Zang, Rabbi Julian Vainstein, Rabbi Pablo Lugt, Mr. Arieh Abir (Head representative of the Executive of the WZO and JAFI in Latin America), Rabbi Gad Romang, Mr. Zeev Bielsky (Chairman of WZO and JAFI), Rabbi Marcelo Kormis, Rabbi Shmuel Szteinhendler (Regional Director Masorti Latin American), Mr.Claudio Gleser (JAFI shaliach to Chile) |
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(left to right): Maggie Szteinhendler,
Mr. Zeev Bielsky,
Rabbi Shmuel Szteinhendler |
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NOAM UK Veida 2005
By Sam Roberts
For one week in December the chilly depths of Essex were warmed up by hot debate at NOAM Veida 2005. Veida is the chief policy-making forum of the youth movement and was attended by 50 participants aged 14-24. The first half of the event was packed with sessions intended to stimulate ideological debate and discussion, including an Israel panel discussion with the Jewish Agency Director of Shlichim, sessions on Masorti and Marom by our Student Field Worker Dave Goldman, an Israel Update by the Abba Eban Scholar of Cambridge University, Alex Stein, and the posing of the controversial question, “Is Ideology Dead?”
The second half of the event was the formal Veida element. Any delegate to Veida can propose a motion which, if passed by vote after formally being debated, becomes binding on the movement. The Veida was divided into Asefot (meetings) which comprised NOAM's five ideological pillars - Masorti Judaism, Zionism, Democracy, Tikkun Olam and Hadracha, and the more practical aspects such as Camps and Clubs.
Many motions were hotly contested, whilst some won near-unanimous support from delegates. The depth of understanding and genuine engagement with the issues facing NOAM and Masorti Judaism by the delegates shone through in the motions proposed and in the debates. Notably, NOAM re-wrote all of its ideological pillars (the eldest of which had not been formally changed since 1994!) to reflect the current opinions of the movement, and passed motions that innovate and strengthen our ideological commitments to prayer, Masorti Judaism, egalitarianism and social action. Veida set up committees to empower our leaders to take an active role in Tikkun Olam projects and Jewish life. All in all it was a great success and much enjoyed by all participants. The NOAM Movement Workers will now take on the exciting task of implementing the motions passed at Veida!
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