Without Options, Parents Opened a Camp For Their Children

By COLlive reporter

After two years without a Chassidic camp for their children due to the limitations and dangers posed by the pandemic, Rabbi Menachem Mendel and Sarah Wilhelm, the Shluchim to Uzhgorod and the Carpathian region, resolved to find a solution.

They established a new summer camp especially geared for children of Shluchim from across Ukraine and even Europe. It was held in the wonderful scenery of the Carpathian mountains and had 70 Tzeirei HaShluchim participating.

“We were overwhelmed by the demand,” Rabbi Wilhelm noted, “but could only accommodate seventy boys who enjoyed a genuine and uplifting camp that will surely contribute to the growth of their personalities as young leaders. In the years to come, we hope to expand.”

The camp’s theme focused on how to be a “Lebediker Shield” – a living example, and this was incorporated into all the programming and studies by the dedicated counselors. The theme accompanied the campers during all the various study competitions, sports, swimming, amusement, trips and activities.

The camp was made possible thanks to the partnership of the MyShliach organization at Merkos 302 and the generous assistance of the Chassidic philanthropist R’ Shmuel Aizenberg and his family; the head Shliach to the city of Dnepropetrovsk, Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetsky; Rabbi Yakov Amar, Director of the ‘Or Chana’ Foundation, and his son, Rabbi Yosef Amar, Director of the ‘Esther’ Foundation; Rabbi David Mondshein, CEO of the ‘Or Avner’ Foundation; and Rabbi Ben Tzion Lipsker, Director of the Meromim Foundation.