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Yama/Jewish Diaspora

Cherkassy Family Camp: Celebrating 20 Years of a Diaspora Connection

Each summer for the past 20 years, more than 100 people make the trip to Cherkassy Family Summer Camp along the Dneiper River in the Ukraine. Kids, parents, and grandparents come for a ten-day multi-generational Jewish experience. They celebrate Shabbat, they learn about Israel, they participate in a group b’nai mitzvah, they sing Jewish songs, and many of them, for the first time, explore their Jewish identity.

“This camp and others like it throughout Eastern Europe build Jewish community where there are so few opportunities to do so,” says Paula Saginaw, chair of Global Connections.

Jewish Federation of Greater MetroWest NJ, in conjunction with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, has a strong partnership with the Cherkassy Jewish community. The city of Cherkassy has a population of about 2,500 Jews, with an additional 2,000 living in the surrounding region. Over the years we have supported this community through various projects addressing both social welfare and Jewish renewal. We have been supporting the most at-risk populations through this difficult time of civil unrest. But what we are most proud of is our impact on reviving Jewish life in Cherkassy through the Hebrew school, the women's group, the community center, and other Jewish groups.

By far, though, the most meaningful project we support in Cherkassy is the summer family retreat. This summer, in conjunction with the 20th anniversary, we will be sending a mission to commemorate the event with the campers. The camp is staffed by young adults from our Greater MetroWest community and from our partner communities in Israel. There are people speaking English, Hebrew, and Ukrainian, but all are committed to creating a meaningful Jewish experience for the campers young and old.

Following are Family Summer Camp accounts from three perspectives – one from Israel, one from Greater MetroWest, and one from Cherkassy.


By Ronni Kollender
Ronni is an Israeli and a former post-army shlicha who worked with college students in our community.

I can’t describe in words the amazing experience called the Cherkassy Family Summer Camp. At first I was a bit hesitant about the language barrier, a new place, new community. But quickly I learned that language is not a barrier when you have warmth, love, happiness – you really don’t need words to communicate. Every child, or child at heart, pierced into my heart with a smile, a look. The light in the kids’ eyes after a few days together was just contagious. It was amazing for me to see and be part of the appreciation of all the participants in the camp, experiencing a bar/bat mitzvah, doing Havdalah, and enjoying for real (and maybe for the first time) all the beautiful things about our Jewish identity. In camp my Jewish identity got stronger and I was reminded more than ever that we are all one nation and have an unbreakable bond.


By Danielle Rockman
Danielle grew up in the Greater MetroWest community. She attended Golda Och Academy and was a camper and a counselor at NJY camps. She has been a counselor at Cherkassy Family Summer Camp twice.

In Israel, our team of madrichim met various people who work for the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Joint Distribution Committee. Quite a few of the people we talked to described our duty in Cherkassy as “providing aid to the vulnerable.” While that may have been the case, I think it’s safe to say that the people at camp in Cherkassy impacted my life just as greatly as I hope to have impacted theirs. Never in my life have I met people so appreciative, loving, giving, intelligent, curious, kind, and fun, despite whatever hardships they may be enduring in their personal lives. Many of the families at camp come from little to almost nothing, but their positive outlooks on life have taught me that not everything is about the money in our bank accounts or the clothing on our bodies.
            
Something else that strongly affected me at camp were the Shabbat services. When I went to Cherkassy for the first time two years ago, I wondered what Shabbat would be like because the majority of the people there do not know any Hebrew. As soon as we began to sing Shalom Aleichem, however, I began to cry. We were people from three different countries who spoke three different languages but we were all Jews singing the same songs and melodies of Shabbat, and that was really powerful. At camp it doesn’t matter if you’re American, Israeli, or Ukrainian. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, or if you’re old or young. At camp we celebrate and we love Judaism and Israel, and most of all, we love one another.


By Anna Taibishlak
Anna grew up in Cherkassy and attended the Cherkassy Family Summer Camp ten times.

Last summer was my tenth time at the Cherkassy Family Summer Camp. Ever since I was 9, my dad and I set off for the unforgettable ten days of fun and family enjoyment. My older sister Yana also went to the camp.  All the way from being a camper to a counselor, I realized how important it is for me to be a member of the camp family. Year after year, the camp gave me a lot of new memories, skills, and friends. The thing that I like most about it is that this camp is not only aimed to entertain kids and their parents, but also emphasizes the importance of Jewish values through different activities. This is the place where we talk about friendship, family, and traditions. Although the camp lasts for ten days only, we try to make the schedule as bright and intense as possible. From my experience I can say that the Israeli and American madrichim that come every year make the camp’s ambiance. Kids love them and we become close friends. I hope that one day I will come there with my own kids as my sister did for the first time this year.

November 2015

 

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