August 14, 2006
 "The children have had to deal with the fear of hearing constant sirens. The camps give them a chance to deal with that fear in a safe place." Children from northern Israel displaced by the month-long fighting in Lebanon have been attending day camps in the center of the country. Many of their families sat out the war in stifling hot bomb shelters, but organizers of the Chabad-Lubavitch Youth Organization camps said that at least the children benefited from some much-needed distraction.

"The people living in the north understand the importance of these camps," said Rabbi Aharon Prus, who visited the north several times during the war and witnessed the impact of the war on ordinary Israelis. "The children have had to deal with the fear of hearing constant sirens. The Chabad camps give them a chance to deal with that fear in a safe place."

In the camps, trained counselors organize activities for the children to replace the summer camps in their home towns that were cancelled because of the war, provide relief from the boredom of sitting in a bomb shelters, and most of all help them cope with the trauma they have experienced.