An Incredible Israeli American Experience
Kimama, which runs a highly successful, network ok of summer camps in Israel, presents for the first time a unique summer experience in the Berkshires
region of Massachusetts. In a stunning locationt flanked by green mountains and a blue lake, campers can enjoy a range of activities ncluding arts and crafts, water sports, cooking with Israeli chefs, and more, all wit an Israeli flavor. An en experience not to be missed.
Sending children to summer camp is a longstanding American tradition dating back more than a century. There, counsellors lead campers in a range of outdoor, sport, and creative activities. Over the years, camps began to focus on specific activities, assuming a special character, such as boys’ camps, sports camps, or music camps for talented young musicians. At the end of the 1960s, the first Jewish camps were established, and today more and more Jewish families are sending their children to summer camps in Israel. They know that this offers a wonderful opportunity to enrich their children’s knowledge, to form a connection with authentic Israeli culture, and to learn Hebrew in a fun and enjoyable way.
Kimama is the leading brand of Israeli summer camps, running dozens of camps in Israel, Europe, and now in America: Camp Halfmoon.
Kimama was the brainchild of Dr. Ronen Hoffman, an Israeli diplomat and politician who is currently the Israelis ambassador to Canada. He had the idea while serving as a Jewish Agency emissary and working as a counsellor at summer camps attended by Israeli campers. Dr. Hoffman talks about the Israeli atmosphere of the camps, the music, the familiar smell of the food, and the educational content, all of which were intended to bring American campers closer to the holy land. This led Dr. Hoffman to wonder whether, instead of bringing Israeli culture to America, it wouldn’t be better to bring the American campers to Israel, to the real thing.
Thus, a plan was born to establish an international Jewish summer camp based on the traditional American model.
Since then, Kimama, meaning butterfly in an ancient Indian dialect, has become a well-known and popular concept. Its colorful Israel summer camps, attended by more than 6,000 campers annually, have created a community of Jews from all over the word.
I caught up with Alon Parnas, deputy CEO of Kimama North America and a partner in the organization, which he joined almost at its inception, one year after it was founded in 2004. During our conversation, Parnas (37), a father of two, told me how he met his American-Jewish wife Ariel at a camp in Israel. She was teaching art, and he worked in the camp administration. They felt a click and started dating. The couple kept in touch after the camp ended, and later met again at a Kimama conference in New Jersey. They fell in love, married, and moved to Israel.
Alon has worked in all the possible roles that Kimama has to offer and seems to know every single detail about the camps. He first joined after a year of volunteering and went straight to Mevo’ot yam in Mikhmoret, the site of the first Kimama camp. Later he managed the camp, subsequently boming responsible for all Kimama activities in Israel.
What’s unique about Kimama?
“We believe that when a butterfly beats its wings on one side of the world, it causes a change on the other side of the world. That’s our story: our campers get Israel wherever they are in the world. At our camps in Israel there are children from more than 40 countries, most from Jewish or Israeli communities, and this is what makes Kimama unique.
“From here there are so many things that are different– in Israel we don’t have lakes and nature like in America, so we chose an area by the sea, which we use as an educational tool. All our camps in Israel will always have some kind of connection to the sea. They are located on the shore, for example in Beit Yannai, Mikhmoret, Kfar Galim (at the entrance to Haifa), and Akko. Water activities are dominant: we have surfing, wind surfing, sailing, diving, paddle boarding, and more.”
“Good Morning and Boker Tov”: Everything You Need to Know about Kimama
The summer camps are open to children between the ages of 7 and 17. Younger children can register as day campers. Most of the counsellors were campers in the past, and when they reach 21, after finishing the army or college, they come back as counsellors.
The entire staff speaks Hebrew and English. The combination of the two languages works perfectly: the Israeli campers improve their English, and the Americans improve their Hebrew.
Alon: “We integrate the two languages on the day-to-day level. You’ll hear: Today you are going to do glishat galim and afterwards nelekh lekheder okhel. We really see the children improving their second language by the end of the camp.”
Each camp is made up of sessions of five days, a week, ten days, or two weeks. Of course, you can sign up for more than one session.
Kimama also offers a special attraction for those who love outdoor activities: Kimama Van, an exciting five-day road trip camp. Campers get in a van with two counsellors and take a road trip all over Israel. The camp sets out three times a year: at Chanukah to the south and the desert; at Passover, touring the center of Israel and north; and in the summer to the north and the Golan Heights, Kineret, and the Jordan River. Campers enjoy a range of activities – star gazing, bonfires and cooking in the forest, visiting natural springs and streams, horse (or camel) riding, cycling, rappelling, skiing on sand dunes, and sailing on rafts. At night the campers sleep at campsites with tents and portable bathrooms built especially for them, all while maintaining a special outdoorsy atmosphere.
All Kimama camps in Israel are equipped to the highest standards. The rooms face the sea, all have air conditioning, and there is a kosher dining hall where Israeli chefs cook quality Israeli food. The atmosphere in the dining hall is very special, particularly on Shabbat. Alon told me: “We also bring Israeli chefs to our camps abroad: they bring all the spices they need to ensure that the Israeli identity, flavors, and experience will be the same there.
“In addition, we have different tracks so that campers can choose the one best suited to them, such as theater, music. There’s an art track and also dog training, diving with one or two stars. There’s a Kimama chef track in which campers learn to cook with Israeli chefs, and a special ninja warrior track: we bring competitors from Ninja Israel to work with the campers and improve their physical abilities and climbing: a full ninja experience.
“The campers can choose when registering which track they prefer and then for five days out of the two weeks they focus on what they love doing.”
Moreover, Alon told me that, as many Israelis are known for, the camp staff always keep an open mind and accept suggestions from campers. “During the camp we give them a chance to open Google, to find a place in Israel that they’d like to visit, and then, we’re off. We support our campers thinking and discovering new places beyond the program we planned. Eight years ago, we had a camper from America who really loved to dance and sing. He said that he wanted to put on a musical. Although it wasn’t in the schedule or the budget, we let him realize his dream. He got the art and music staff to help. And we brought in dance teachers. The rest of the campers loved the idea, cooperated with it, and that year, for the first time, we staged a musical at camp Kimama. The camper oversaw the entire production and it was a moment that really changed his life. He understood that he can make things happen. He went back to America motivated and full of confidence. Today, we have a musical track that brings together talented boys and girls who come to our camps.”
I understand that apart from the unique experience and all the fun, Kimama also has a social influence on American kids?
“Yes, it’s amazing to see how the campers come here and immediately get confidence. You know, in America there’s a culture of bullying or there are children that are really shy. These campers come to Kimama, where no one knows them or their history. They can be whoever they want to be and whatever they want to be. We give them space and a platform to blossom. We have campers who never had friends before: they leave camp with dozens of new friends, sometimes friendships for life.
“We encourage the campers to experience and try everything. We want them to score their first goal at the camp, have their first kiss, and maybe even their first girlfriend or boyfriend. We teach the campers to be curious, to think, to discover, and to succeed.”
This is the generation of social media. Do they manage to leave their I-phones alone for a while?
“We collect the campers’ cell phones on the day they arrive. Camp Kimama has no screens. The campers get their phones for half an hour on Fridays to wish their parents Shabbat Sahlom and let them know what they’ve been up to. The truth is that the campers don’t even think about their phones. They are so busy all day with experiences, connecting to nature, adventures, and so many interesting activities.”
How do you keep the children safe?
“All the camps are in closed and secure sites. Entry to the site (even for parents) is only by special permit. Of course, every camp has an armed guard. The traveling camp is accompanied by a guard accompanying. Every camp has a clinic run by a medic, sometimes even three, depending on the size. Of course, we have a doctor for Kimama and a nurse who visits the camp every morning. We don’t take any chances. If the regulation says we need one guard at the gate, we have one at the gate and another doing patrols. The children’s safety is of the utmost importance to us, and we do everything in our power to keep them safe.”
Kimama Halfmoon―An American Camp with an Israeli Experience
After Kimama’s great success in Israel, you decided to bring the unique camp to us here in America?
“For a long time, we felt that we want to strengthen even more the connection with America. We understand that the Jewish and Israeli communities in America need to experience a camp with a different atmosphere.
“Our new camp is in the Berkshires area of Massachusetts – two and half hours from New York and two hours from Boston. We are talking about 100 dunams of stunning beauty in the middle of the forest by a blue lake, where we have motor boats, jet-skiing, trampolines, and also 25 different types of activities, including: arts, music, sports, dance, pottery, Zumba, skateboarding, a large park with bicycles, rock climbing – anything you can think of. We are very excited to invite the Israeli community to join us. Last year we had more than 200 kids in the camp, and this year we are expecting around 400 campers. Even though the camp is in America, the feeling is completely Israeli. We have Israeli counsellors – our own and from the Bereshit organization in New York, where we have a day camp.
“Now, thanks to Halfmoon, Israeli campers can visit camps in America and families who can’t send their children to Israel can have the Israeli experience here in America.”
What are your plans for the future?
“We aim to open day camps in Florida and California and another few areas in America.
“In addition, Kimama has amazing winter activities, like a ski camp in the Alps in Europe, every Israeli kid’s dream. Now we are opening them also to the Jewish community in America. They are invited to come and be part of Kimama and experience a camp with a different character.”
For further details and registration:
Tel: 646-779-5579
ELAD MASSURI is a contributing writer to Jlife Magazine.