With their hometown in tatters, and the threat of more missile attacks looming over the horizon, some 160 children from Sderot, Israel, will be able to leave the nightmare of war behind them this summer as they attend camps in North America and Europe.
It’s an opportunity, say organizers, that many dream about.
“There is not one child here that hasn’t been hurt in some way,” reports Rabbi Moshe Zeev Pizem, co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Sderot, the northern Negev Desert town frequently targeted by Palestinian terrorists a few kilometers away in the Gaza Strip. “The children of Sderot have been hurt mentally, some have been hurt physically, and some have had their homes destroyed.”
Last year, Pizem and Rabbi Dan Rodkin, co-director of Brighton, Mass.’s Shaloh House, teamed up to send 10 Sderot children to the suburban Boston Camp Gan Israel, a Lubavitch-run day camp that Rodkin also directs, and 10 other children to a camp in New Hampshire. The children participated in outdoor activities such as jet skiing and deep sea fishing, but most importantly, says Rodkin, they got to let loose and have some fun.
“Last year, though, wasn’t enough,” continues Rodkin. “You have to increase in goodness.”
To that end, 10 other Gan Israel camps in North America joined the effort, as did camps in Denmark and Belgium. All told, 110 Sderot children will attend four-week programs in Manalapan, N.J.; Fairfax, Va.; suburban Philadelphia; Long Beach, Calif.; Chandler, Ariz.; Swampscott, Mass.; Brighton, Mass.; Running Springs, Calif.; Los Angeles; North Potomac, Md.; and Montreal. The others will be split between the two European camps.
Each camp is responsible for coordinating room and board with local host families. The entire effort, funded in part by George and Pamela Rohr, and Moris and Lillian Tabacinic, will provide airfare and health insurance for all the campers.
Transformative Experiences
Chanan Yakobov was one of the campers last year. At the funeral for his father, who was killed by a Palestinian rocket on Nov. 21, 2006, Yakobov told the media: “Without my father, I have no life.”
When he got to Massachusetts, however, a smile returned to his face.
“We had some very dramatic moments,” allows rabbinical student Yisrael Keel, the 21-year-old Israeli who served as Yakobov’s counselor last year. “Once, Chanan tried calling home after a rocket attack and nobody picked up. He was petrified.”
All turned out to be okay at home, and the carefree spirit of the camp soon won over Yakobov and his friends.
A Shabbat spent at some of the American campers’ houses was a real treat, says Keel. “The kids have stayed in touch ever since.”
“The children came to us full of fear,” relates Rodkin, “but the transformation was astounding.”
According to research by the Tel Hai College Resource Center in Israel, one in every three Sderot children suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. In pediatric populations, the condition is characterized by a combination of symptoms, including difficulty sleeping, nightmares, behavioral regression, bedwetting and fear of the outdoors. At least one parent of every Sderot child diagnosed with PTSD also suffers from the disorder.
“No child should be in that situation,” says Rodkin.
Adds Pizem: “As soon as these kids are in a place where they don’t have to think that something could happen at any second, they get a feeling of calm that is very important to them.”
In Arizona, where 10 pre-teen girls from Sderot will join Camp Gan Israel of the East Valley, camp co-director Tzipi Lipskier says that she and her staff are working to “give them the best summer experience ever.”
Her husband, Rabbi Mendy Lipskier, director of development at Chabad-Lubavitch of the East Valley, says that they’re “looking to the community as a whole” to underwrite all of the expenses.
“There are supernatural powers in an environment like camp,” says Pizem. “The goal is to give these kids a lot of strength and happiness.”
For more information, log on to www.sderotkids.org.
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