Camp Miriam

Camps plan tentatively

Normally, this issue of the Independent would feature our third Camp Guide of the season, with several camps advertising their summer sessions, and several articles on various topics related to Jewish camp. But COVID-19 seriously affected last summer’s programming and it’s making this year’s planning difficult, to say the least. Camp Hatikvah and Camp Miriam – which are overnight camps – have been particularly impacted by the pandemic.

With record camper enrolment, 2020 was slated to be Camp Hatikvah’s best year ever. By the third week of March, however, it became apparent that the summer wasn’t going to go as planned. By the end of May, the Provincial Health Officer had announced that overnight camps would be prohibited from operating and Camp Hatikvah had to cancel its upcoming season.

“It was devastating,” said Liza Rozen-Delman, the camp’s director. “My heart immediately broke for the 700 participants and 80 young counselors who were signed up for our programming. After such a hard few months in lockdown, I knew everyone was hanging on to the hope that they would still get to go to camp. The fact that this was no longer a possibility was so hard for everyone. I just wanted to fix this for kids but was helpless to do so. It was a very difficult time.”

The cancellation also created a financial crisis, as there was no program revenue to cover fixed costs, such as insurance fees, site maintenance and administrative expenses. Camp Miriam faced financial issues as well, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver provided emergency funding to both camps last April.

“Our community made it clear that we would not face this challenge alone,” said Joanna Wasel, Camp Hatikvah board president. “They knew we were in trouble and they immediately felt the call to action.” By the first week of June, Hatikvah had raised enough money to cover all of their 2020 fixed operational expenses.

“This was one of the hardest years in the camp’s history and yet, in a strange way, it was also one of our most meaningful,” said Wasel. “The way the community stepped up for us is an incredible affirmation of the value of our work and the impact Camp Hatikvah has had on generations of people. It has touched us beyond words and we will be forever grateful.”

“Last spring, as the reality of the pandemic hit, it was as if the rug had been pulled out from under us,” said Leah Levi, registrar of Camp Miriam. “We were scrambling to figure out how to provide what we do each summer on Gabriola Island – the fun, magic, community, friendship and Jewish experiences that our campers have come to expect from us. It was very overwhelming and we were sort of lost, until our youth staff stepped up and started planning for what was possible: day camps in Vancouver, Victoria and Portland, and even online programming for those who couldn’t attend the day camps. We rented space with the JCC’s Camp Shalom at Vancouver Talmud Torah, and in Victoria at the JCC. Donors and the Vancouver Jewish Federation backed our plans with financial support and, as they say, the rest is history!”

The camp’s staff, who are all between the ages of 17 and 22, got “to spend the summer being mentors and learning valuable leadership skills,” said Levi. “Parents and kids were grateful that we gave them a break from each other and a fun, unplugged, Jewish, social experience during COVID. For over 200 campers, COVID-19 took a backseat for six-and-a-half hours a day, and they were able to enjoy a physically distanced ‘normal.’ Even though they weren’t on Gabriola Island, campers and staff alike felt that they were at Miriam. As one camper put it, ‘We learned that Camp Miriam is not a place, it’s a feeling and we can take it anywhere.’”

For this coming summer, Camp Miriam has opened registration for three two-week sessions on Gabriola.

“All registrations are considered ‘pre-registrations’ and everyone is on a waitlist,” said Levi. “We will only accept campers when we have permission from the B.C. health authority, as their decision made last spring to not allow overnight camp still stands…. If we do not get permission to open … we will offer similar programming as last summer.”

Hatikvah translates to “the hope” in English and, while COVID is still raging, Camp Hatikvah remains hopeful they will be able to operate this summer, too.

“We are full for the upcoming season,” Rozen-Delman said. “Kids need camp, perhaps now more than ever, and we are going to do whatever we can to get them back there this summer.”

Acknowledging that much of the situation is out of their hands, Rozen-Delman is planning for a variety of scenarios. “And, while it is hard to face so many unknowns,” she said, “we are determined to find creative solutions to whatever challenges lay ahead.”

Artistic responses

Gabriolans held a candlelight vigil after antisemitic graffiti was found at Camp Miriam. An arts festival will take place Feb. 7-9. (photo from You’ve Got a Friend)

Since Camp Miriam on Gabriola Island was defaced with antisemitic graffiti in December, Gabriolans have shown support for the Jewish community, including a candlelight vigil on Jan. 2. Next month, island artists, musicians and writers will gather together to present You’ve Got a Friend: A Festival of Jewish and Gabriolish Art, Words and Music. The Feb. 7-9 festival will feature Jewish-themed visual art, music and writing, all created by residents of Gabriola, among them Juno nominees and literary prizewinners.

“When people heard about the vandalism at Camp Miriam,” said Sima Elizabeth Shefrin, one of the festival’s organizers, “many said, ‘What can I do to help? How can I show my support?’ The festival is a chance to celebrate our friendship and solidarity with each other and to move things on in a positive way. We took the title, You’ve Got a Friend, from Carole King’s old song.”

The festival program includes visual art by Shefrin, Heather Cameron and others at the Gabriola Arts and Heritage Centre. The opening reception will take place Feb. 7, 6-9 p.m., and the gallery will be open Feb. 8, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Feb. 9, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The concert Oy! will feature Bob Bossin, Paul Gellman, Dinah D, the Today Only Klezmer Band and others. It will take place Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m., at the Roxy Lounge and Cultural Club, with tickets available at North Road Sports. Admission is a suggested donation of $15.

Earlier on the Saturday, at 3 p.m., Amy Block will lead a celebration for Tu b’Shevat, the Jewish new year of the trees, at the arts and heritage centre.

Finally, Nu? – poetry and memoir by Janet Vickers, Naomi Wakan, Lisa Webster, Shayna Lindfield, Gloria Levi, Lawrence Feuchtwanger, George Szanto and Bossin – will be held at the arts and heritage centre Feb. 9, 1-3 p.m.

You’ve Got a Friend is supported by Camp Miriam, the Gabriola Arts Council and Anne Landry. For more information, contact Cameron at [email protected].

Mystery photo … July 20/18

Camp Miriam, 1979. (photo from JWB fonds, JMABC L.09623)

If you know someone in this photo, please help the JI fill the gaps of its predecessor’s (the Jewish Western Bulletin’s) collection at the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. by contacting [email protected] or 604-257-5199. To find out who has been identified in the photos, visit jewishmuseum.ca/blog.

An evolving experience

Madrichim at Camp Miriam palling around in summer 1990. The author is in front. (photo from Mira Sucharov)

On a little corner of Gabriola Island lies an enclave of old-style Jewish utopianism. Modeled after a kibbutz, campers (chanichim) and counselors (madrichim) talk about heady topics like radical justice, equal worth, unionization, socialism and Labor Zionism.

They learn Hebrew, engage in physical labor and debate topics like whether O Canada adequately addresses the reality of First Nations, the fate of the Palestinians, and how to make a radically inclusive society within Israel. It’s Camp Miriam, part of the network of Habonim-Dror camps across North America. Among the founders of the camp was my grandmother, Marian Margolis, and I spent one memorable summer there as a counselor in 1990.

A lot has changed in Israel – and especially across the kibbutz movement – over the decades. I spoke to the current rosh (director), 22-year-old Leor Laniado, a student at the University of British Columbia majoring in environmental and sustainable geography.

The camp instils in its campers the value of “shivyon erech ha’adam,” a principle that every human being is of equal worth. It’s heady stuff for 10-year-olds who don’t measure themselves in terms of professional status anyway, but the idea is there. Alongside the usual fare of swimming, sports and crafts, campers choose a daily work branch where each task is valued. Fittingly, bathroom-cleaning detail has become one of the most popular options, Laniado tells me.

Campers also have a long tradition of running a kupah (common fund). An initial donation of pocket money is placed into a pot where campers decide how to spend it. Maybe the kids want to pool the funds for a party, maybe a portion will be donated to charity, maybe one camper needs a new toothbrush and applies to the treasurer – who is, of course, a fellow camper.

Rachel Fishman logged eight years as a camper before joining the staff. She values how much she sees Camp Miriam embodying the ideals of youth empowerment. Within limits, she points out, “youth are given space to make their own society.”

Trilby Smith spent 13 summers at Camp Miriam and is currently vice-chair of the camp committee. She sends both her kids to Miriam so “they can develop a sense of community defined by their peers, so that they can be in an environment that is open to questioning and thinking critically about Israel and what it means to be Jewish, and so that they can learn to be leaders.” And, she added, “So that they can have fun!”

Socialism isn’t the only tricky concept permeating the walls of the dining hall. (Yes, campers even do the dishes.) So, too, is Zionism. “I think that Jews in the Diaspora are facing a crisis of how to support Israel. A lot of madrichim struggle with this internally, especially studying in liberal universities,” Laniado said. It’s about “simultaneous love and criticism” at Miriam. “Recognizing that we’ve created a vibrant Israeli society, there’s a lot of work that remains to be done,” she said.

In Israel, Habonim-Dror partners with Hanoar Haoved on projects such as teaching English in Arab high schools. Called the Shared Existence project, it seeks “a joint liberation of both Israelis and Palestinians, striving towards a diverse and vibrant Israeli commonwealth,” in Laniado’s words.

Struggling with Israeli-Palestinian relations and with Zionism is a common refrain these days, but what Camp Miriam – and Habonim in general – manages to do is offer a way for youth to grapple with these issues head-on rather than abdicate altogether. Abdication – or what sociologists have been calling a “distancing” from Israel and Jewish life – is one of the biggest challenges.

These days, the radical secularism that I recall from the summer of 1990 has been replaced by an inching towards Judaism. While they still forego the Hamotzi in favor of a Labor Zionist chant, campers are now more likely to hear about Jewish values, embrace Jewish texts or be treated to a discussion by the rosh on the weekly Torah portion.

While the simple porridge my Baba Marian made for the campers in the 1950s when she was the first “camp mother” has been supplemented by scrambled eggs, fruit salad, yogurt and granola, along with gluten-free and dairy-free options, Zionism is wrestled with rather than taken for granted as a simple solution to the ills of antisemitism, and a commitment to Hebrew is now paired with a desire to “engage with Arabic language and culture.” The big values – leadership, debate, a commitment to Israel, Jewish identity, justice, labor and inclusiveness – remain.

For more information on Camp Miriam, visit campmiriam.org.

Mira Sucharov is an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is a columnist for Canadian Jewish News and contributes to Haaretz and the Jewish Daily Forward, among other publications.

Mystery photo … Aug. 28/15

Children singing, Camp Miriam, Gabriola Island, B.C., 1979. (photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.09623)

If you know someone in these photos, please help the JI fill the gaps of its predecessor’s (the Jewish Western Bulletin’s) collection at the Jewish Museum and Archives of B.C. by contacting [email protected] or 604-257-5199. To find out who has been identified in the photos, visit jewishmuseum.ca/blog.

photo - Group with a drawing of Camp Hatikvah, 1988 — Group with a drawing of Camp Hatikvah, 1988. *(photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.09611)*

photo - Women using typewriters, National Council of Jewish Women, circa 1955 — Women using typewriters, National Council of Jewish Women, circa 1955. *(photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.13953)*

photo - Two unidentified men at the Vancouver Jewish Community Centre, circa 1962 — Two unidentified men at the Vancouver Jewish Community Centre, circa 1962. *(photo from JWB fonds; JMABC L.11516)*

Habonim Day Camp helps alleviate strike stress

Habonim Dror Camp Miriam madrichim (counselors) partnered with Temple Sholom during the recent teacher’s strike, with the formation of a Habonim Day Camp.

photo - Lior Bar-El — Lior Bar-El *(photo from Lior Bar-El)*

Lior Bar-El, a madrich at Camp Miriam and Habonim Day Camp, and a University of British Columbia student, explained, “We thought it was important to support both the parents and the teachers during the strike by providing affordable child care to whoever needs it.”

Camp Miriam and Habonim Day Camp madricha Carmel Laniado, also a UBC student, explained, “The purpose of Habonim Day Camp is to create a space where children can be supervised and enjoy activities of experiential education [by donation]. We are not replacing teachers or school, but rather offering an alternative while the strike [is on].”

Talking to the JI while the camp was still ongoing, Laniado said that the day camp was open to all children, “regardless of association with Camp Miriam or religious background.”

“At different times of the day, different age groups do sports, music, arts and crafts, and experiential education on a topic of the counselor’s choice,” Bar-El said. “There is also an hour for lunch and half an hour for recess.” He added that the camp was “available to anyone grades K-11” and that more than 30 children had registered.

photo -Carmel Laniado — Carmel Laniado *(photo by Sydney Switzer)*

Yossi Argov, Habonim Dror Camp Miriam shaliach, shared that his “favorite part has been seeing how … so many people mobilized for the mission. The madrichim came with the idea, the camp committee [supported them] and we start[ed the ball rolling], and [we received] more help and support from the Jewish community. Temple Sholom gave us their building every day, while parents sent supplies and items like books and board games with their kids.”

Starting this initiative “was exciting and nerve-racking,” said Bar-El. “I’ve never had as much support in starting a project from so many dedicated people…. There was a lot to do – emails, advertising, lesson plans, registration, schedules – and everyone took on what they could, and made it all happen.”

Habonim Day Camp included the involvement of “a little over 20 counselors that came in at different times of the day,” Bar-El shared. “Everything was structured in hour blocks to allow us to coordinate times” because many of the madrichim “are full-time university students with varying schedules, when one of us [needed] to go to class, someone [would come and take] your place.”

photo - Yossi Argov — Yossi Argov *(photo from Yossi Argov)*

Melody Robens-Paradise, a member of the Camp Miriam personnel committee and mother of four Camp Miriam campers, shared, “I think it is amazing how Temple Sholom offered its space for this idea. What a collaboration. It is a sign of true community, and it is so inspiring to see the mutual support of the parents, the kids, the counselors, the Temple, the youth movement.”

She added that Habonim Day Camp “has been such a relief.” Speaking to the Independent when her kids were still attending the camp, she said, “My kids are safe and happy, engaged, and the level of stress caused by the strike is greatly reduced. My colleagues who have school-aged children were completely blown away by the innovation and generosity and [support] of the Habonim Dror counselors. They kept asking me, ‘What camp is that?’ No one could believe that Grade 12 and university-age counselors would volunteer their time to support their community in that way. It is so admirable.”

The students responsible for starting this initiative are all members of Habonim Dror, which, Bar-El explained, is “a worldwide Jewish socialist labor Zionist youth movement whose main focus is youth empowerment and collective responsibility and decision-making…. We believe that equality and social justice are intrinsic values of Judaism, and we strive to do tikkun olam (repairing the world) wherever we see a need.”

During the year, Habonim Dror and Camp Miriam are involved in both the local Jewish and social justice communities. Bar-El elaborated, “We run something called the Ken (‘nest’ in Hebrew), where we run activities twice a month for different age groups throughout the year. It’s a great opportunity for kids who are nervous about jumping straight into a three-week session in the summer to try out Camp Miriam, and to make friends with other kids who will also be there.

“We also run free tutoring at the JCC [Waldman Library] on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 4:30-6 p.m., and three weekend-long seminars during the school year, and we are members of the Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA). If you want your child to get involved in Camp Miriam and the Vancouver Ken, please contact Yossi Argov at [email protected].”

Zach Sagorin is a Vancouver freelance writer. He is involved with Habonim Dror in various capacities.