Moldova Camp

Personal feedback from campers:

1) Elena Grossman, age 12
"I dreamed all year about going to camp.  Some of my friends had already been to this camp, and as soon as registration opened, I signed up.  When I arrived at camp it was like a fairy tale come true.  The counselors played important characters from the Bible.  Each day, we moved further along on the time-line of the Jewish people.  My favorite day was the Exodus from Egypt.  A day before the Exodus, a good Pharaoh came to visit us.  It was Friday, and the good Pharaoh really enjoyed it when we lit candles and had a Shabbat meal together.  Then, the next day, the bad Pharaoh appeared, and on that day we met Moses who took us out of Egypt.  Then we went on a trip through a big forest where we encountered many difficulties.  But in the end we received the Torah and the 10 Commandments.  On the last day of the camp we had a video trip to Israel on a big screen.  I saw how beautiful Israel is, how you can study in Israel and go on Birthright.  I can picture myself there in Israel, the country where I want to live when I get older.  I really want to grow up a soon as I can.  Thank you for a wonderful camp."

2) Alexander Finkelstein, age 10

"Before this camp I had never been away from my parents—not even for one night.  The counselors of the JAFI camp kept calling my parents and telling them about the camp.  I come from a small city, where there are not many children at all, let alone Jewish kids my age.  That's why I wanted to go meet new people, but on the other hand I was scared—I didn't know what to expect.  My Dad said that on the 4th day of the camp there is visiting day and he and Mom would visit then, and so I agreed to go.  I was really scared when I got on the bus to go to the camp, but on the bus ride everyone started singing songs and having a good time and I realized that this was going to be fun.  When we got to camp it was real heaven for kids.  We were met my Adam and Eve (played by counselors), and that night we were saved by Noah.  The next day we met Abraham who went to the Promised Land.  At camp I made myself a kippa during Arts & Crafts and later I wore it for the first time in my life.  My favorite part of camp was Shabbat because I had never experienced it before.  The girls lit candles and covered their faces with their hands and they read the prayer, and after that we all sang Shabbat songs that we had never heard before.  Then we had a wonderful, tasty meal.  I will never forget this camp and especially this Shabbat night." 

Krasnoyarsk Camp

Igor, a 20-year-old counselor who made aliyah a few years ago, was originally from Krasnoyarsk.  It gave Igor great personal satisfaction to find that some of his co-counselors had once been in his youth-group when he was a Jewish youth-club counselor in Krasnoyarsk. The JAFI summer camp is located just outside Krasnoyarsk.  One day, the activity was to go into the city for a "Quest" quiz game, in which campers ran from place to place in order to find answers to questions.  The questions and places were designed to have children discover the Jewish history of Krasoyarsk.  Igor says that he, a native of the city, was astonished to learn about the different synagogues and Jewish places of interest that used to be in Krasnoyarsk.  On a different topic: Igor reports that the use of the diary of Anne Frank was very powerful for campers.  Several of the girls came up to him and said that it was important for them to learn Anne Frank's story, that it connected them to Jewish history and personalized it. 

Minsk Camp, Belarus

Zhenya, age 15, is from Bobruisk, a Belarus city of approximately 230,000 with about 3,000 Jews.  Zhenya did not know he was Jewish until his mother happened to learn about the Jewish Agency's summer camp in Minsk and decided to send Zhenya to the camp.  Zhenya's father was very reluctant to send Zhenya to a Jewish camp.  The father is a career army officer who keeps his Jewishness secret due to anti-Semitism, and it was out of the fear of anti-Semitism that Zhenya had not been told that he was Jewish.  Andrei, Zhenya's camp counselor, says that the fact that Zhenya came to camp was a complete miracle.  He and other counselors had to repeatedly call Zhenya's father and persuade him that the camp was safe.  Zhenya did go to camp and he loved every minute of being there.  He says that if he had gone to camp earlier he would have been an active participant in a Jewish youth club.  Zhenya says that he is going to tell his parents that being Jewish is not scary and that in fact it is important to know one is Jewish and to learn about one's history and traditions.  He also added that now having been at camp, he is very happy to be part of such a great nation and he will continue his Jewishness as much as he can.  Zhenya hopes that when the time comes he will teach his children about Judaism; he does not think it right that he has to be the one to teach his parents about Jewish tradition.  Zhenya would like all of the Jewish children in Belarus to know that they are Jewish.  As Zhenya was leaving camp, he said he has never experienced so much positive emotion and that he is going to join a JAFI Jewish club starting this year.