The Magic of One Family Camp

by Emily Berg

I made the three-hour trip north from Jerusalem to Tel Hai for the One Family Fund Summer Camp Visitor's Day dinner. I was really curious and excited to see what an Israeli camp looks like, and, needless to say, I was blown away. Arriving at the location shortly before the campers, my first impression was amazement at the beauty of the place: a lush green field surrounded, on all sides, by mountains. The sun was setting and it was breezy. "What a perfect place," I thought, "for a group of children to eat and play and dance into the night, creating what are sure to be lasting memories."

Suddenly, the silence was broken when a group of kids ran onto the field in matching green T-shirts, singing and cheering popular Hebrew songs with huge smiles on their faces. I couldn't believe how full of energy and spirit everyone was. It was really amazing and uplifting to see. What struck me most of all was the apparent closeness, the special relationships, that I noticed between the campers and counsellors. There was clearly so much love and trust between them. Everyone around me was holding hands, hugging and kissing one another. I saw little boys sitting high on the shoulders of teenagers; girls of all ages laughing and playing together; religious and secular children singing and dancing together. It was really something incredible.

When we sat down for dinner, a little boy approached me and said something, very quickly, in Hebrew. I replied that I didn't understand what he said but that I'm in Israel to learn Hebrew and maybe he could help me practice. So we started to do a little "question-and-answer" session. I learned that he is 12 years old, from Kiryat Shmona, likes sports and movies and has a younger brother who is annoying. And then I asked him, in Hebrew, why he was here. He looked at me and said, in English, "because my Abba exploded."  On August 3, 2006, two brothers were killed in Acco when a Katyusha missile fired by Hezbollah terrorists hit close to the family's home. One of them was this little boy's father and the other was his uncle.

I have spent the past three weeks reading profiles like this, updating information on many of these children, and learning the stories of the "attacks" that changed their lives so completely. I know what has happened to these kids; how much sadness and trauma and shock they have experienced. They are so young and they have been through so much stress and pain. They have lost siblings or parents (or both) something that I really cannot fathom.

But, at camp, these children were not sad. I couldn't believe that they were the same kids about whom I wrote things like "suffers from anxiety" or "has trouble sleeping" or "exhibits difficulty in interpersonal relationships." It really showed me how important One Family is to these children and their families.

I grew up going to summer camp. I know, first hand, how special it can be; how much of an impact it can have on a child's life. Camp has the amazing ability to let children escape the pressures, responsibilities and anxieties of everyday life. It allows them to connect to nature; to create strong relationships; to learn about themselves; to challenge themselves, to be carefree and independent, and, of course, to have fun. Camp has trememdous and magical powers. Through this incredible program, One Family gives this amazing gift of camp to children who need it the most.

For most of us, Israel is a vacation spot. It's a place where we go to have a good time -- to relax, hike, explore, eat, go to the beach, etc. But for a lot of Israelis, it has been a dangerous place and it is not always easy to live there.  If we really do think of ourselves as one people, one nation, one family, then we (the Jews living outside of Israel), have a certain duty and obligation to support the members of our family who have been affected by those who threaten us.