Overnight camp is a Jewish rite of passage for many young American Jews, a place where they can be untethered, active, and free, to spend time with their Jewish peers in a serene setting.
Unlike in America, children and teens in Israel don't flock to sleepaway camp. But one special group of Israeli teens had the chance to experience the joys of overnight camp this summer. They visited Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, with a busy one-day stopover in Chicago, for 10 days in July and August.
"It was amazing to meet new friends," said Ilai Butelmann, one of the Israeli participants. "I practiced my English, and the [American] campers tried to speak Hebrew with me."
In their time at Ramah, the 15 visiting teens-the only surviving high school students from Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was decimated by Hamas on October 7-were able to reclaim for a few moments a modicum of the innocence, joy, and childhood that was stolen from them two years ago.
Their visit was made possible with support from JUF's Israel Emergency Fund, in collaboration with the Jewish Agency for Israel, JUF's overseas partner. Over the past two years, the Chicago Jewish community has embraced the community of Nir Oz; JUF temporarily relocated the majority of its residents to Kiryat Gat, in the heart of JUF's Partnership Together region, while their ravaged community rebuilds.
Then, this summer, JUF provided a special opportunity for Nir Oz's teens and two counselors to come to the camp, covering their 10 days of expenses on the ground, while the Jewish Agency for Israel facilitated and paid for their travel arrangements.
The teens stayed in their own guest house and engaged in some of their own programming. They also joined the American campers for activities, including sports, swimming, and art classes.
The teens were matched with Camp Ramah, in part, because it's a Hebrew-speaking camp.
"Most of the staff and campers already speak Hebrew, and Ramah offered a comfortable and sensitive environment for the teens," said Paula Harris, JUF Senior Associate Vice President of Community Outreach and Engagement, who helped facilitate the trip. "Camp Ramah welcomed the teens warmly and offered them a needed respite from their daily lives and the trauma they have experienced."
Each of the teen visitors has been traumatized by the events of October 7, having lost friends and family that day, either murdered or taken hostage into Gaza. One of the teens was, himself, a former hostage.
"It was healing, because they finally felt free," said Alon Motola, an Israeli counselor who has engaged with these teens for the last year and a half. "They didn't have to care about everything they usually have to care about every day. They just got to have fun."
The best part of the trip? No cell phones. By unplugging from their typical daily lives, they were able to leave some of their troubles back home, and create some sense of sanctuary, at least for a fleeting time.
"These teens were able to step away and have an experience that was 100% positive," said Ofer Bavly, a JUF Vice President and the Director General of JUF's Israel Office. "For 10 days, they could be isolated from the news, isolated from the bad things going on in Israel, and really focus on being teenagers."
Chicago 10th grader Sydney Tennenbaum, a longtime Ramah camper, first got to know some of the Israeli visitors during a pottery class. Now, she keeps in touch with her new friends over social media. "We're living such different lives, and we speak different languages, but at the same time we're all just kids-and we're all Jewish," she said.
She has never been to Israel but hopes to visit soon. "Talking to them has helped me feel more connected to Israel," she said. "Now I have friends to visit there."
