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For Kids Traumatized by War, Summer Camp Salves Wounds

Like their counterparts in the West, most Jewish campers in the former Soviet Union receive the most extensive, joyous and impactful encounters with their heritage and traditions during the summer months. What makes some of the 5,000 campers in the 61 Chabad-Lubavitch Gan Israel camps in the FSU so different than others, though, is that many of them have suffered through the trauma of war, displacement and even witnessing death, while many others come from families whose connection with their Jewish roots was severed during decades of Soviet oppression.