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August 8, 2003/Av 10 5763, Vol. 55, No. 50
Israel comes to the Valley
Emissaries teach children at local summer camps
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Yafit Bez, a delegate from Nazareth Illit, Israel, says she enjoys working in the family environment at the Tri-City Jewish Community Center. Pictured with Bez are, from left, Rachel Falk, Elizabeth Marks, Maya Gabay and Jaryd Edson.
Photo courtesy of Lisa Edson
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Israel is more than a place on the other side of the map for many Valley campers.
The Jewish Agency for Israel's Summer Shlichim Program brought eight Israeli shlichim (emissaries) to three camps in Arizona - four at Camp Charles Pearlstein in Prescott, three at the Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center Shemesh Day Camp, and one at the Tri-City Jewish Community Center day camp.
For 35 years, JAFI has been sending young Israeli men and women to not only teach, but to live, work and play with North American Jewish families.
According to JAFI, shlichim have visited more than 190 Jewish summer camps in the United States, Canada, Europe and South Africa. Last summer's 1,200 shlichim worked with more than 130,000 children.
"The goal of the Summer Shlichim Program is to send trained, experienced leaders who will bring Israeli/Jewish spirit and culture to summer camps and strengthen personal connections between the Israeli shaliach (emissary), campers and staff," according to JAFI's Summer Shlichim Program materials.
The shlichim are men and women ages 19-22 who have completed their army or national service, speak English and have experience working with children. Each shaliach is a specialist in a particular field: general counselor, arts and crafts, camp crafts and outdoor adventure, Israeli folk dance, Israeli song leading, Hebrew, sports, drama, nature and Israeli culture.
Yafit Bez, 21, is the shaliach at the Tri-City JCC this summer. She is from Nazareth Illit, and has completed her army service as a tour guide.
Bez, who plans to attend college to study chemical engineering when she returns to Israel, has family throughout the United States and Canada. She visited the States as a teenager, as a bat mitzvah gift, but this is her first time in Arizona.
She says she enjoys the intimate family environment of the Tri-City JCC.
"The people here are very nice, and it's a really small place so I get to know everybody better," she says.
A music specialist, Bez says she spends her days teaching Israeli culture and music.
"One Kabbalat Shabbat was very, very exciting ... because we did 'Hatikva' at the end of it and I was playing (piano) and all the children were around me and they sang together and my tears came," says Bez.
This is the third summer the VOSJCC has had summer shlichim at the camp. The three shlichim are Yaara Kipnis, an Israeli culture specialist, and two counselors, Adam Weiser and Dani Ziskind.
Kipnis, 20, is from Kibbutz Mahanaim in northern Israel. She recently finished her army service, which included a stint as a tour guide, followed by working at a jailhouse as a culture and education specialist for the guards, planning hikes, parties and holiday celebrations.
"It's not very nice to serve in a jailhouse, but I was the first one to do that there, so (the guards) were very grateful," says Kipnis.
At the VOSJCC camp she has her own classroom where she teaches Israeli culture three days a week. She has a lot of experience working with Israeli children and enjoys the chance to get to the know the children at the JCC.
"I like it here more than I thought I would," she says with a smile.
When Kipnis returns to Israel she plans to work for a year to save money to travel.
Weiser, 21, is from Kibbutz Lehavot-Habashan. He did his army service in a combat unit, and has experience working with autistic children. Although he's not sure what he'd like to do for a career, he's currently leaning toward special education.
Weiser is a third-grade counselor at the VOSJCC. While Weiser says he was looking forward to having fun this summer, he also felt that he had a more important mission.
"It's very important that people here - with the situation in Israel now - that they know about Israel, that it's not scary like they see on TV most of the time and to make it a little more comfortable for them to think about going there," he says.
Weiser says his experience has changed how he views America - people are friendly and more knowledgeable about Israel than he expected.
Each shaliach is housed with a host family or families for the length of their stay, and Weiser says he grew particularly close to his first host family, with whom he stayed for a month before they went to Israel.
"It was really hard to say goodbye because I really got connected to them," he says.
This year's shlichim were able to travel with host families to locations such as San Diego, Disneyland, Las Vegas and Sedona, as well as participate in dinners, activities and social events. They also devel-oped friend-ships with the other staff members.
"They get so involved with my American staff that they're having the true American experience," says Kim Biggard, camp director at the VOSJCC. "They are really learning what it's like to be a 20-year-old in Phoenix and ... what they've come back and said to me is that this is just the most incredible experience."
The cost for each shaliach is about $2,500, and Biggard believes the experience for the campers is well worth the cost.
"With Israel changing so much year to year, the kids are being informed on what it's like to be there," says Biggard. "They think it's very cool to have firsthand contact with a soldier. It incorporates more Hebrew, more Jewish values."
Contact the writer at beth_olson@jewishaz.com.
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