Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine — If your camp counselor rigged a watermelon with fireworks, your head counselor plunged from the sky on a zip line and your night activity director paraded through a flea market in a hot pink snowsuit, then you’re probably in Ukraine’s Camp Gan Israel Yekatrinoslav.
“We give the kids three weeks of insanity to keep them going for a whole year,” said Akiva Danzinger, a former head counselor. There’s a method to the madness, and the unusual formula behind Yeka’s success is eyed and emulated by Gan Israel camps around the world.
Camp Gan Israel: A Model of Love
Yekatrinoslav, Ukraine — If your camp counselor rigged a watermelon with fireworks, your head counselor plunged from the sky on a zip line and your night activity director paraded through a flea market in a hot pink snowsuit, then you’re probably in Ukraine’s Camp Gan Israel Yekatrinoslav.
“We give the kids three weeks of insanity to keep them going for a whole year,” said Akiva Danzinger, a former head counselor. There’s a method to the madness, and the unusual formula behind Yeka’s success is eyed and emulated by Gan Israel camps around the world.
Yeka Camp is a mere three weeks long. There’s a limit to how much Jewish studies can be taught in such a short time span, and yet the counselors have a goal – to convince the kids to attend Jewish schools after camp ends. “The best thing is giving them a good taste of Judaism so they say, ‘I want some more of that,’” said Mendy Pellin, a former night activity director at Yeka.
Convincing 120 Jewish boys from ages 6-17, many of whom live in an orphanage during the year, to clamor for seconds of Jewish learning and life requires devotion, and Yeka’s staff achieves it in a trademark, off-the-wall fashion. First step: none of the staff is paid. Not a cent. Furthermore, the counselors must raise their own ticket fare. Deprived of a profit motive and forced to hustle just for the privilege of working to exhaustion in camp, the counselors arrive committed to camp’s success. Before camp, the staff crams into a bus and tours gravesites of Chabad-Lubavitch leaders, pumping up spiritually and bonding emotionally. “Once camp starts until the last day, everything around you blurs, you don’t feel anything, you don’t think anything, you are only camp,” said Bentzion Hershkowitz, who will be this year’s head counselor with Peretz Golding.
Yeka veterans attribute the camp’s tone to Chaim Danzinger, now a video editor for Jewish Educational Media. Danzinger arrived in Ukraine several years ago to serve as a dorm counselor in Tzivos Hashem’s Esther and William Benenson Home for Boys. With help from Chabad of Ukraine representative Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzki, whose community underwrites food, site rental and pays for most kids who cannot afford the eight dollars of camp tuition, Danzinger envisioned a camp that surpassed American standards of excitement. Stuffing a minivan full of American kosher candy for the ‘nosh heaven,’ buying cases of paintball pellets – an unheard of pastime in Ukraine, paying for trips to water parks were just the beginning.
“I really miss camp,” said Michoel Feodosov, a camper with dusty blond hair, “All year long I think about camp, eagerly awaiting the coming summer.”
Outfoxing counselors posing as Taliban thugs, smearing on war paint for nighttime survival boot camp, scavenger hunts where perfect strangers are convinced to sing, “I am proud to be a Jew!” these are the surface appeal of Yeka. One-on-one walks with campers, heartfelt conversations held over Russian-English dictionaries, a willingness to battle anti-Semitic drunks on a outing in Yepetoria, this is why Yeka campers are studying in yeshivas in Zefat, Toronto, and Morristown, NJ. Medical-engineering major Peretz Golding, born in Ukraine, raised in Houston, TX, said, the relationships with the campers are “older brother connection, a lot more open, less authority driven.”
Last year, despite the counselors’ best efforts, Maxim Kravchenko did not attend yeshiva. He cleans the house while his mother, a single parent, runs a grocery kiosk. His counselor, Zvi Hershcovich, now married and working, told the staff to make Maxim an offer. Hershcovich will pay for cleaning help three times a week if Maxim will go to yeshiva. Consensus opinion among the staff is that the proposal will work. Camp certainly has an effect on Kravchenko. “As you sing the last song on the last day of camp, tears roll down your cheeks.”
Long after the last of Yeka’s inflatable boats are packed away, camp relationships remain strong. If a camper living in the Tzivos Hashem orphanage appears distressed and cannot open up to the on-staff psychologist and social worker, the director of Tzivos Hashem in the CIS, Rabbi Yossi Glick will phone the boy’s former counselor. “The boys know the counselors are not paid to be their friends,” said Rabbi Glick. “They help the boys through rough times. It’s amazing.”
Camp Gan Israel is the largest and fastest growing network of Jewish day camps in the world. Founded in 1956 by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Camp Gan Israel enjoys a well-earned reputation as a trendsetter with innovative ideas, creative programs and new activities.
ok
Good stuff. Keep up the good work. All camps should be just as fun and crazy as this one.
yeka fan
go yeka go go yeka go
hodi
yeka lives on
in the heart
of every yeka staff member
lies a spark
once ignited
forever lit
with glowing embers
of a camp fire
never forgotten
always alive
in our hearts
in our being
YEKA LIVES ON
Yossi
WOW, great article!!! This is by far the best CGI camp out there…
Puts Montreal, NY, and all others to shame…
My brother was there.. loved it
Supporter
This is a great article..these guys really deserve alot of credit and a tremendous Yasher Koach for their pheonomenal work with these Russian children.
Finally some press coverage. These guys have done wonders for the jewish children of the region.
Chaim Danz and Co Keep up the Great work!!!
Yitzchok
Definitely evolved over the years. I was there four years ago before it really hit this level of fun, and back then it was already great…. Great camp, always had the craziest staff…. and funniest videos online!!
Yossi
Chaim and Akiva you guys rock!
Devoted staff member and cousin!
BIG FAN
Oh.. ha ha.. this is that camp from that sumachechie mendy video.. funny!! great stuff!!!!
Hodi-s cousin
Hodi, you are still our favorite cousin. Hodi Tamir’s name is missing from the article, he was an unforgettable part of camp. It’s a shame you couldn’t win Color war, but it’s the effort that counts… anyway, didn’t you once win in yeman???
Eto ne sam, ti nachinaesh……….
Bog Zhi nam, sili dayot, trudnosti perebarot!!!
Moshe S
Let’s nor forget Eli Pink who spent many many years in that region dealing with the same boys and laying the ground work for "Yeka" to flourish as it has so wonderfully under Chaim Danzigers leadership -Kol Hakavod Chaim.
Eli was the very original founder of the camp before Chaim made it into the unique "Yeka" phenomena that it is today, and gave up many summers yomim tovim and years for these wonderful kids.
Just to add, though I am an ex counselor of the same camp from just before the "yeka" days I still want to point out an extremely heartwarming website these bochurim have put together: http://www.yekayeka.com
One gets a real good taste of what these bochurim are accomplishing when visiting the website. I get goose bumps every time I see the videos…
All of you guys who are involved KEEP IT UP!! You are doing the most amazing work!! The effect on the kids lives is unimaginable. I will never forget my years spent in Dneper and the region…
Ari
You guys did an awesome job, judgingby your videos (http://www.yekatrinoslav.co…) you guys definitely have a much better time than we do here in American camps…
Mendy
I’m glad to see that Chaim is gettins some recognition he deserves. Great article by Mrs. Berman. It’s a skill to put our camp into words. I wouldn’t know where to start.
Special mention, that was not in the article, to Yossi Bryski.. ok and Eli Pink for helping to breath life into camp with Chaim back in the early days (stand up and look at zah Rebbe). And of course it would not have been possible without Lev Cutlar who deserves so much credit!!
I have no doubt that this year will be the best ever.. Great group of staff.. and Pheretz G. with Benny H. – (It’s a miracle that pheretz is comin back as head counselor!! never say never ;-) and Akiva!!
If anyone would like to donate.. anything will go a long way: Paypal – https://www.paypal.com/cgi-…
Other ways: http://yekayeka.com/help.html
Famous Yeka song from chaims wedding
Suma had the crowed there… that was some wedding…
Yekatrinoslav, Ain’t gonna be no slob,
Drippin’ on the floor,…..
The rest of the words I don’t remember…
There was too much spirt….. as they call it.
Yeka!!!
Borat Sagdiyiev
In my Country we say, a man who has not been to Yeka, Is not a real man.
YEKA FOREVER!!!
Borats Uncle
My uncle knows what he says, and if he says that in the us and a people don’t know what a camp is he means it. Yagzhemash
Hey I know Moshe S.
didny you travel with Y.A. and E.P to all the camps in Russia and Ukraine??? That’s awesome!! you guys did a great job. shame you never made it to yeka….
Avi
I love Sumashedshi borat, I think he get a lot from sumashedshi mendy… and sumashedshi phil. borat for sumashedshi. yeka 2006 how about that?!?!?!
CGI NY
You guys are way off. it’s crazy what you do. this is not called giving kids a good time, this is called acting like non lubavitchers…
stop making fun of parksville this is still the best camp! and the rebbe’s camp
To CGI NY
Before you judge do you know the reasons behind all the craziness? I’m sure you probably saw it all on the camp website. I was never a counselor in Yeka but my brother was for the last 2 Pesach’s. Let me tell you what he told me. First of all. Many of these children are poor and live in an orphanage. Imagine a life chasveshalom with no parents or just one? I know the SHluchim and the Dorm counselors try their hardest to make these kids comfortable, but nothing can compare. 2 Pesach’s ago a boy actually lost his mother during camp. Sure Yeka is crazy. So what!! These kids are happy. My brother told me (and you can even see it on video on http://www.yekayeka.com) that the last day of camp these kids who come to camp all "tough" cry. The look forward to camp a whole year.
That being said, I’m sure that as a Chabad chossid you’re aware of The tremendous amount of Ahavas Yisroel that the Rebbe Melech Hamoshiach has for every yid. To do what these guys do requires huge amount of Ahavas Yisroel. How is having Ahavas Yisroel unlubavitch??
CH Parent
CGI NY – The old way of thinking is to take for granted that "our kids" are frum, will be chasidish and perfect clones of us parents.
This is the way that CGI NY conducts itself. It is still stuck in the old way of thinking. "Nu you svantz, you didn’t go to mikvah today!"
Unfortunately we are not having the best results with the "old way". Just walk the streets in Crown Heights. Listen to what the boys and girls talk about. There is no way of shielding them these days.
One of the main ways to keep them in the fold is to make our way of life look "non-depressing" and realistically attracting.
I think summer camps can play a huge role in that. And they are to a certain degree.
I can confidently say that if our mainstream camps adapted a lot of the characteristics of Yekatrinoslav we would have more kids in the fold. They will see that they could channel a lot of their distractions and energy in a very wide variety of kosher things. When the staff have more freedom to breath and help shape the camp, it allows for there to be a stronger connection to the camper that might last the entire year; giving our kids realistic role models on a kosher path.
It’s time to think outside of the "A FRAME", outside of the "DEBRA", outside of "SECTION C" and outside of the norm. It’s time to turn Yekatrinoslav mainstream.
I’m sure if the directorship adapted this new approach these camps can attract the great talent that Yekatrinoslav had/has.
It’s a new world. It’s time for us to change before our children do!
Yossel
CGI NY….Paksville?……you are comparing oranges with brocoli different worlds my friend…non lubavitchers? Get a life man.
CGI NY THE REEBES ONLY CAMP
To all those above who are replying with such nonesence.
CGI NY might not be as "happening" as your camp, but I would guess you would say the same thing about Detroit and Montreal (the big three camps)…
However what we accomplish in one summer in our camps, is probably a lot greater than all your mishugasen accomlishes in ukraine. So what if we don’t make ourselves crazy and sing crazy songs in the streets during a scavenger hunt, so what if our videos aren’t as cool as the ones Y.A. produces for you, so what if our night activity directors aren’t up to par with yours (M.P. and S.B.M.) etc… etc… etc…
We are doing what the rebbe want’s I personally had a kid in my bunk who was thinking of leaving yeshiva and go to study in Ottawa hald day yeshiva and I convinced him to stay and now BH he is on shlichus in Tzirei Hashluchim.
Another kid, came to camp didn’t even want to consider going to mikvah, and bh after much convincing he started going everyday for 2 years.
And lastly, a kid who had no hasaga in the importance of hishtatchus, after learning with him the rebbe’s sichos on the matter started going to the ohel for every shabbos mevorchim he is in NY….
So yes, we are accomlishing tons, and no we are not taking off our "levush" hat and jacket to do it!!!!
THE REBBES CAMP LIVES ON!!!
Yossi
I agree with CGI NY’er….
Let’s stay true to our selves, and do what we’ve always been doing.
Have we suddenly started taking our beards off coz it’s the 21st century and its not "in"?
Do we wear cotton pants just coz everyone else does? or for that matter a t-shirt????
Lets stick to our roots, and we’ll prevail!!!
Mendel
Why do all you Parkville people need to post here we are both doing the Rebbes work how can we display such sinas chinam towards one and other.
Come on Please!!!
Itzik_s
Did they officially change the name of the city back to Yekaterinoslav? I was last there in Nun Gimmel and back then it was certainly Dnepropetrovsk. In any case, nice to see all the good work that is being done in the Rebbe’s shtodt!