This Motzoai Shabbos Kids and Staff members from this past summer packed into the Rosa Hall in Campus Chomesh, Beis Rivkah Lefferts for an unforgettable evening. The kids sat down at the tables with their counselors and fellow bunkmates to enjoy a Pizza and Fries supper filled with singing camp songs which brought everyone onto the benches!
Prizes were given out, staff members huddled together talking, campers excitedly and animatedly taking to their fellow campers. The gathered crowed was then treated to a very entertaining magic show followed by a video, ‘flashbacks’, of camp’s most fond and memorable, memories!
At last night’s Staff Play, campers were whisked back to the 16th century, to the times of the Maharal and his Golem. As the sinister plot unfolded, campers cheered, cried, laughed, and sighed, as the realistic drama took surprising twists and turns, until the unexpected finale, where the tables were turned and the plot backfires, amidst great joy and the hope that there will come a time when there will be no more pain or sorrow among the Jewish people, and we will be reunited in Yerushalayim with Moshiach very soon!
It can now be reported, that just a few days ago Camp Gan Yisroel, NY, the very first Gan Yisroel worldwide, established by the Rebbe 51 years ago signed an agreement to purchase an additional 46 acres for their camp. The new land, that features wide open space and spectacular views, is adjacent to the current grounds and will enable the camp to expand, and continue building on their 50 years of success.
For the second visiting day of this summer Camp Gan Israel of Parksville New York held a unique program for its 50th “Golden Jubilee” anniversary since its first summer, so in honor of this special year bunk’s undertook the task of creating “model Gan Israel’s” located around the world, and were all places on display on the front lawn for all to admire!
Following was a concert on the soccer field featuring Benny Friedman and the Camp Choir, who preformed for the visiting parents and campers. The weather was phenomenal which enabled this event to go on with out any problems!
Celebrating jubilee at Kiryat Gan Israel of New York
PARKSVILLE, NY – The flagship Camp Gan Israel is celebrating its golden jubilee this Sunday, August 6 – a half century since the Rebbe founded and visited the first campers at the original site in New York.
A global exhibit consisting of presentations by branches in 34 countries around the world and most states in our country will be held this Sunday at the picturesque grounds of the mother camp at Kiryat Gan Israel, Old Route 17, between Liberty and Parksville N.Y.
The magnificent program that was prepared, in house, by the outstanding talented staff with the participation of the campers, will demonstrate the historical revolution in the educational system introduced by its founder, the saintly Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, five decades ago.
“The Rebbe was the first to recognize that summer camp should be viewed not as a vacation but as an ‘experience’ – not as a holding pattern between school years, but as the most important part of the Jewish educational year,” says Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, who has been with Gan Israel since its inception, and has served as its executive director for nearly half a century.
Today Camp Gan Israel is a global phenomenon with sleep-away and day camps throughout North America and in virtually every corner of the globe – including Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Brazil, China, Cyprus, England, France, Israel, Italy, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine …and the list goes on and on.
And to this day, every Camp Gan Israel, however great or humble, hews to the Rebbe’s original vision of embracing Jewish children of all backgrounds and providing them with a pure experience that will define how the rest of their year – and the rest of their lives – will be lived.
This year there are nearly 500 Gan Israel Camps operating worldwide, with a total enrollment of some 50,000 children.
Over 100,000 boys have enjoyed the Gan Israel NY experience since its inception, and with virtually no exception, the Gan Israel alumni serve also as the primary cadres from which nearly 3,000 Chabad Shluchim have been drawn.
The program on Sunday will also include a concert highlighted by a former alumnus of Gan Israel, the upcoming star, singer Benni Friedman, accompanied by a band and the camp choir, announced camp director Rabbi Yossi Futerfas.
The program is opened to the public and friends and former alumni are welcomed to participate.
