New CKids Overnight Camp Fund Announced At Kinus

A new fund committed to as one of the Hachlatas HaKinus this year, will make it possible for Jewish children worldwide to attend Jewish overnight camps. Backed by the generous partnership of Mr. George and Pamela Rohr and driven by a movement of tens of Head Shluchim, the initiative aims to carry shlichus into new frontiers.

“The Rebbe saw the Kinus as a springboard for Shlichus growth and collaboration,” says Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, director of the International Conference of Shluchim and Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch’s expansion of Shlichus, who announced the initiative at the Kinus Banquet. “This is exactly that: shluchim working together to fulfill the Rebbe’s vision for a Jewish child’s summer.”

For tens of thousands of children attending Chabad Hebrew Schools and CKids after-school programs, the school year is rich with Jewish learning and connection. However, the immersive experience of an overnight camp offers something truly unique. It provides an environment where children can grow in a way that day programs cannot fully replicate.

Thanks to the leadership of numerous Head Shluchim and the Rohr family’s partnership, a new grant will provide scholarships for shluchim to send children from Chabad Houses to one of the six CKids Gan Israel overnight camps in Florida, Wisconsin, the Poconos, Denmark, and Hungary.

The camp experience supports Jewish public school children who are often isolated in their Jewish identity. Surrounded by hundreds of peers like them, they grow in their Yiddishkeit and discover the confidence to be proudly Jewish year-round.

This grant will help remove the financial barriers that can hold families back and ensure that every Jewish child can access the empowering experience of Jewish overnight camp. Tens of Head Shluchim have already signed on to spearhead the Hachlatas HaKinus, with many more expected to join in the coming months.

Rabbi Mendy Herson, Head Shliach of New Jersey and Executive Director of Chabad of Greater Somerset County, who is participating in this initiative, sees the grant as essential for kids growing up in today’s world.

“Summer camp has a unique ability to impact lives; it’s one of the most effective tools we have for Jewish identity building,” says Rabbi Herson. “Today’s public school children face a cultural gap that didn’t exist decades ago. They need immersive Jewish experiences where their identity can flourish naturally, and camp provides exactly that.”

The initiative builds on years of remarkable expansion in CKids Gan Israel overnight camps across the globe. In 2020, Rabbi Levi and Chaya Plotkin opened the first CKids Gan Israel in Florida. The following year, Rabbi Avremi Shapiro launched CKids Gan Israel Wisconsin, followed by Rabbi Yitzi and Rochel Loewenthal establishing a CKids Gan Israel division in Denmark.

The summer of 2023 saw the launch of Hungary’s first CKids Gan Israel, and in 2024, CKids Gan Israel Poconos and L’maan Achai joined as CKids affiliates.

The numbers tell the story. Only six years ago, roughly 150 CKids participants attended Gan Israel overnight camps. This past summer, that number exceeded 600 campers across the US and Europe, a fourfold increase.

“This is just the beginning,” says Rabbi Zalman Loewenthal, Director of CKids International at Merkos 302, who has coordinated the establishment of the grant. “We’re seeing remarkable growth, and soon, thousands of children worldwide will be attending Jewish overnight camps, spending their summers immersed in Torah and Yiddishkeit, while having a blast.”

Participating head Shluchim include:
Rabbi Yossi Posner of Alabama,
Rabbi Yosef Greenberg of Alaska,
Rabbi Yisrael Deren of Connecticut,
Rabbi Chuni Vogel of Delaware,
Rabbi Benji Korf of Florida,
Rabbi Zalman Lipskar of Bal Harbor, Florida,
Rabbi Yossi New of Georgia,
Rabbi Meir Shimon Moscowitz of Illinois,
Rabbi Sholom Ber Weinberg of Kansas,
Rabbi Chaim Bruk of Montana,
Rabbi Mendy Herson of New Jersey,
Rabbi Tuvia Teldon of Long Island,
Rabbi Heshy Epstein of South Carolina,
Rabbi Shimon Lazaroff of Texas,
Rabbi Benny Zippel of Utah,
Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin of Wisconsin,
Rabbi Yitzchok Wineberg of Vancouver,
Rabbi Yehuda Pink of the UK
Rabbi Chaim Prus of Massachusetts