Original Article Published On The Times Of Israel

Mixed marriages, special needs kids, Russian immigrants, Israelis: How inclusive is your child’s Jewish camp?

NEW YORK (JTA) — Is there a more enthusiastic camper in the world than Ezra Fields-Meyer, a 17-year-old with high-functioning autism and a regular at Camp Ramah in Southern California?

Not if you ask his father.

Tom Fields-Meyer says his son’s annual visit to the rural retreat in Ojai, 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles, is a much-anticipated opportunity for Ezra to spend time with all kinds of children in a fun and nurturing environment.

“The four weeks he goes to Ramah and is away from us are really the four best weeks of his year, which is a little bit hard for a parent to say,” Fields-Meyer said. “The kids in his program are almost celebrities. I think camp is great for all kids, but especially for those like Ezra.”

A summer camp experience can be transformative for kids like Ezra, but many Jewish camps believe that special-needs kids — along with other minority Jewish populations, like Russian Americans, Israeli Americans and the children of interfaith marriages — are severely underrepresented in the Jewish camp system.

“Break down the percentage of kids from various backgrounds who attend and the numbers are not where we want them to be to reflect the broader Jewish community,” said Abby Knopp, vice president of program and strategy at the Foundation for Jewish Camp, a group that seeks to expand access to the Jewish camping experience.

In a conscious effort to promote diversity, Jewish summer camps are working to boost the participation of minority communities in the camp experience.

According to FJC, of the estimated 72,000 youths who attend nonprofit Jewish camps each year, approximately 1,000 are special needs — a blanket term for children and adolescents with a range of disabilities including Down syndrome, autism, paraplegics and visual impairment.

Only 3 percent to 4 percent of children from the Russian Jewish community attend camp, though they represent 15 percent to 20 percent of Jewish children overall, the FJC said. The percentage of Israeli-American kids who attend camp is about the same. Interfaith children comprise about 18 percent of Jewish campers, though their fraction of the larger Jewish youth population surely is much higher.

Camps have taken a number of approaches to integrate special-needs children, ranging from full-immersion programs in general camps to creating specific facilities uniquely for them.

Ezra Fields-Meyer attended a mixed program at Ramah. During the day he took part in the same activities as the wider camp population; at night he stayed in separate sleeping quarters.

“[Ezra] can go go the same camp with his two brothers, be part of the same community, but also acknowledge he has different needs,” Tom Fields-Meyer said.

Some camps have taken inclusivity a step further. At Camp Ramah in New England, special-needs kids have the option of a full immersion program that includes shared accommodations.

“About 12 years ago, families asked if we would consider an inclusion program,” said Howard Blas, the head of the Tikvah program at Ramah New England, in Palmer, Mass. “What they meant is to take the kids and have them be part of the program with the mainstream kids.”

In response, the camp invited Spencer Salend, an expert on inclusive classrooms at the State University of New York at New Paltz, to draw up a curriculum for the joint program. Two kids — one with Down syndrome and one with autism — took part in the pilot eight years go. Now, as many as 12 disabled youths participate each year.

“The idea was that if we started younger, their bond [with the other campers] would be greater,” Blas explained. “We had some very different outcomes. Some have come through the whole program having a great experience. We’ve had some that have been difficult.”

Despite some disappointments, Blas says the initiative on the whole has been positive and productive. But Rabbi Allan Smith, the former head of Union for Reform Judaism’s camp network and now the director of a Jewish camp for special-needs kids in Pennsylvania, says special needs kids who spend summers with peers with similar disabilities come out much more confident and better prepared to interact with mainstream children.

“My position is don’t play games,” Smith said. “Don’t do tokensim and put kids into an environment where they are doomed to fail.”

Another priority has been bringing more Jews from the former Soviet Union and their offspring into the camp fold. Part of the challenge there is introducing the camp idea to a community that doesn’t fully understand it.

“If you look at most of the kids who go to camps, their parents went to camp, too,” said Knopp. “There is a 100-year-old tradition here in America that Russian-speaking Jews are unfamiliar with. Families in the Former Soviet Union sent their children to camp, but they don’t understand the importance of sending their kids to Jewish camps.”

Israeli-American parents also shy away from sending their children to overnight summer camps for similar reasons, the FJC said. Many of them go back to Israel for the summer to visit relatives.

Jewish camps have had more success attracting the children of intermarried families. Though the FJC pegs the percentage of Jewish campers with only one Jewish parent at about 18 percent, Paul Reichenbach, the director of camp and Israel programs at the Union for Reform Judaism, says that up to 40 percent of children at some URJ camps have at least one non-Jewish parent.

Reichenbach says camp curriculums must be sensitive toward children of mixed faiths or they risk becoming alienated from the community. He says the language in some brochures and the content of some programs were adapted to reflect this change.

“While we are all for Jewish values,” Reichenbach said, “we have to recognize we are dealing with kids that are far more pluralistic than they used to be 20 to 30 years ago.”

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The Original Article

The month leading up to the camp season is action-packed, a bit stressful and most of all—exciting. In less than a month, hundreds of campers with a range of disabilities will arrive at Jewish summer camps across North America.  While the off-season is similarly busy with hiring staff, interviewing prospective campers, planning programs, attending conferences and staff trainings with Camp Ramah colleagues, it allows some time for reflection on our work, and for considering expansion, refinements and new directions—both within our own Ramah camping movement and in the larger Jewish camping world.

The entire Ramah community eagerly awaited the survey conducted by the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) and Laszlo Strategies called “Preliminary Research on Special Needs in Jewish Overnight Camp.” One key finding was that “the majority of those involved in camp – including staff, campers, and parents – care about this issue and agree that every Jewish child, regardless of a disability or special need, should be able to attend a Jewish camp.  Most involved prefer an inclusion model, with clear recognition that not every camp is able to serve every need…”

We in the Ramah camping movement have been providing overnight, day and family camping and vocational training opportunities to children and young adults with a wide range of disabilities since 1970, when the first Tikvah Program was started in Glen Spey, New York, and soon after relocated to Camp Ramah in New England in Palmer, MA.

Our experience in our eight Ramah camps in the US and Canada has shown the importance of offering a wide range of models and programs as “one size certainly does not fit all.” For example:
● Breira b’Ramah at Ramah Berkshires offers a full inclusion program
● Ramah Outdoor Adventure Program in the Rockies offers Tikvah, where campers with a range of disabilities participate in the same challenging outdoor activities (mountain climbing, horseback riding and more) as their neurotypical peers
● Ramah California now has a dedicated Tikvah educator charged with creating inclusive opportunities for Tikvah campers and with educating the entire camp community about disabilities
● Ramah Wisconsin offers camping and vocational training opportunities to campers with Asperger’s Syndrome and other disabilities alongside their neurotypical peers.  They share adjoining bunks, put on a joint play and more.

Now, Ramah Wisconsin is pleased to introduce Tzofeh, a full inclusion program for incoming 4th-6th grade campers, as well as for 7th-11th grade campers requiring additional support with a range of disabilities related to social skills, speech, language and executive functioning.

The FJC/Laszlo survey is a welcome reminder that there is still work to be done, and campers to be served.  We in the Jewish camping world should continue rising to the challenge of creating a range of programs offering different models and serving a wide range of disabilities.

We at Camp Ramah are proud of our 43 years of work in the field and we look forward to continuing to grow and serve.

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Parade part of day-long festivities celebrating Israel-US ties

NEW YORK — More than a million New Yorkers came out Sunday to show support for Israel by attending the city’s annual Celebrate Israel Parade. Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the route of the parade along Fifth Avenue, drowning the street in a sea of blue and white.

The parade was one in a series of New York-area events — which actually started Saturday night, with the Empire State Building lit up in blue and white.

At 8 a.m. Sunday morning, thousands of runners set out on a sold-out Celebrate Israel 4-mile (6.4-km) run in Manhattan’s Central Park. According to the Celebrate Israel website, “The four-mile run is a symbolic journey through Israel, from Eilat to Tel Aviv.” Israeli runners were treated to a performance at the Central Park Bandshell by Israeli-born recording artist, performer, educator and music therapist, Dafna.

The Celebrate Israel Parade, started in 1964 and formerly known as the Salute to Israel Parade, featured school groups and other Jewish organizations from the tri-state area, floats, and marching bands.

“I’ve been marching for 31 years with Ramaz. Exciting, community building, great experience for faculty and students to share their love and commitment to Medinat Yisrael. We get a chance to demonstrate our connection to our spiritual and sovereign home,” said Ira Miller, dean of Ramaz Upper School on East 78th Street in Manhattan.

Marchers made their way up Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, from 57th Street to 74th Street. The colorful marchers carried illustrations, collages, paintings, and other art forms that reflected the 2013 parade theme, “Picture Israel: The Art & the Craft.” According to the parade website, the art work was designed “to show the diversity of Israel and its people, the land/sea/cityscapes, accomplishments, etc.”

Security along the parade route was tight, with bomb-sniffing dogs on the ground and police helicopters above.

Among the Israeli participants at the parade were Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan, Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon and MK Dov Lipman.

“I have been to New York many times, but this was my first time representing Israel as a member of Knesset in this important parade,” said American-born Lipman of the Yesh Atid party.

Lipman thanked the US and the city of New York for its friendship towards, and support of, the Jewish state.

The day’s festivities were set to end in a friendly soccer match between the Israeli and Honduran national teams.

Meanwhile, several thousand people attended a Closer to Israel march in central London Sunday afternoon, the UK’s first Israel parade in five years.

The event culminated in a celebratory gathering in Trafalgar Square, which was addressed by Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks and Israel’s Ambassador to the UK Daniel Taub, as well as Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, who declared he was “proud to be a friend of Israel and proud to be a Zionist.”

Entertainment was provided by Israeli pop star and former Eurovision finalist, Harel Skaat.

The community at the event raised funds for Help for Heroes, a military charity that has been in the news since soldier Lee Rigby was murdered last month by Islamic fundamentalists in London, while wearing a Help for Heroes t-shirt.

(Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com)

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NEW JERSEY — From Pierre Mevy Azaria’s calm demeanor as we sipped cappuccino in the lobby of his New Jersey hotel on Thursday, you would never guess that he is ultimately responsible for every aspect of the Israel versus Honduras soccer exhibition at New York’s Citi Field on Sunday — and that he’s getting married in Israel in two weeks’ time.

The well-dressed, bespectacled Mevy Azaria, CEO of the Geneva-based MCI Sport, seems comfortable in a range of countries and languages, and discussing a wide range of topics. He speaks openly and thoughtfully of his journey from childhood in Tel Aviv, to schooling in Toulouse, internships and jobs in Barcelona, and his current Geneva-based world of organizing and promoting soccer matches around the globe. And he discuses an upcoming move to New York City for his bride-to-be Laura’s law studies at Columbia University.

As we speak, he also deals with here-and-now questions and problems in a relaxed, efficient fashion. One member of the Israel national team approaches our table to inquire of the van driver’s whereabouts; the player is eager to go clothes shopping at a nearby mall.

An earlier mini crisis involves the room of coach Eli Guttman. “He usually gets a suite — to differentiate himself from the players, and so he has a meeting space. We arrived at the hotel and found out the room was given to another guest.”

How this matter was resolved? Mevy Azaria told the hotel manager, “You change the room, or we will change hotels.” He felt justified in making such a threat. “We came two months ago, looked at different hotels, worked out all of the details and signed a contract at this hotel.” Guttman quickly got his room back.

Israeli soccer players lounging at their hotel in New Jersey ahead of a match against Honduras. (photo credit: Howard Blas/Times of Israel staff)

I ask Mevy Azaria why the Israel team has not played in the United States in 35 years. “For lack of interest,” he reports unhesitatingly, but then explains why the timing is right, now, to stage what he refers to as “ethnic matches.”

“In the last two to four years, there has been a real development of soccer in the US — due to demographic reasons. There are a lot of South and Central Americans living here.” In addition, Mevy Azaria notes, the number of spectators watching the European Champions league games on TV “doubled in four years.”

Mevy Azaria is responsible for every aspect of Sunday’s soccer fest. “I rent the stadium, I pay the teams, hotels, and flights — for both teams, and I market the event.”

He says he found the management team at Citi Field “extremely nice to deal with” and felt it is “a Jewish-friendly stadium — like no other place in the world.”

Mevy Azaria was particularly taken by the kosher food stands. “This simply doesn’t exist in Europe.”

In addition, the Citi Field organization is particularly knowledgeable about the synagogues and Jewish communities in the area — a real help in promoting the event. “And the date was a total coincidence—we got two dates which worked for both teams. The Mets just finished up a series with the Yankees and are on the West Coast. And the date, June 2, just happened to be the date of the Celebrate Israel Parade!”

Mevy Azaria discovered football during a business school exchange program, where he had the opportunity to work for Barcelona, one of Europe’s very best teams. He began by selling tickets to Israeli companies for Spanish soccer games. Then, after a year and a half, the owner of MCI Sports approached him, looking for a ticket to a game. He then went to work for MCI.

“A company from Qatar wanted to buy the company, but I was given the chance to buy and develop it — which I did.”

MCI promotes “soccer friendly matches” in Europe — and is now hoping to expand to America. If the New York event is successful, Mevy Azaria envisions similar exhibition matches in such Jewish and Israeli-heavy cities as Los Angeles and Miami.

For now, Mevy Azaria is focused on Sunday’s event — and his wedding. “The game will be a great event, like a party,” he predicts. “The action doesn’t stop for 90 minutes, and it is a chance to cheer on and show support for Israel.”

Unlike the Israeli players who will enjoy vacation and travel time in the States in the week following the match, Mevy Azaria needs to get home to Switzerland, and then on to Israel for his wedding. “Laura has been very understanding.” She’d need to be.

(Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com)

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