Edison New Jersey's Steve Weisbrot with Kefiada Camper from Arad.

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Steve Weisbrot from Edison, New Jersey underwent a different experience in Israel than the one he had anticipated.

"On the one hand Israel is much less ethnocentric than I had expected," explained the 20 year-old philosophy major from Clarke University. "It is much more of a modern, Western society. On the other hand, I felt much more engrossed in the culture than I expected. I felt part of something larger, especially during Shabbat services."

Weisbrot was one of 10 youngsters from New Jersey working as counselors this July at the Kefiada summer camp in the Negev town of Arad. Eleven federations in New Jersey are twinned with Arad and the surrounding region within the framework of Partnership 2000, the UJA/Jewish Agency funded program. Partnership 2000 promotes people-to-people connections between Israeli regions and their twinned communities in the Diaspora.

The Kefiada summer camps epitomize what Partnership 2000 is all about. Weisbrot and his fellow Kefiada volunteers got a real sense of what it is like to live in Israel's development areas through their daily interaction with the campers and their families and working alongside volunteer Israeli counselors.

"The Kefiada raised everybody's level of awareness," explained Shmuel Kaplan, Living-Bridge Coordinator for the Arad/New Jersey partnership. 'Each group learned about the other. The American youngsters learned about life in Israel and the Negev. The people of Arad learned about US Jewish life."

Idan Weismann, 17, was one of the Arad born counselors who volunteered for the Kefiada. "I was surprised to find out how much we had in common with the Americans," he observed. "We had very similar ways of looking at things and a similar sense of humor. I think this is all part of a shared cultural heritage."

The Kefiada itself was an English language summer camp for 67 children aged seven to thirteen, which was held on weekday mornings over a period of three weeks.

"The aim is to stimulate the children's imagination through a diverse program," said Yaffa Levine, the camp director. "We had a Beduin Day and a Walt Disney Day. We encouraged the volunteers to tell the children about their lives in New Jersey and how it is differs from life here."

The New Jersey volunteers received a week's summer camp counselor training at the Givat Haviva seminar center in the north of Israel and also participated in a Jewish identity seminar over a Shabbat in Jerusalem. Partnership 2000 also paid for the volunteers to tour the country spending time in the Galilee and Eilat.

Cammie Stein enjoys first trip to Israel

In total 230 Kefiada volunteers came to Israel this summer from 15 Partnership 2000 regions to teach English in a stimulating educational setting to 2,500 Israeli youngsters. Kef is Hebrew for fun and if the reactions of the Arad youngsters are anything to go by, Kefiada participants has much fun while also benefiting from educational input.

"This is my first year at the Kefiada," said 10 year old Zohar Broshi. "But it certainly won't be my last year. This is far better than other summer camps that I've been at. The counselors try harder and there's so many more interesting things to do."

Miri Weinstein, whose eight year-old daughter Sarit, attended the Arad Kefiada, was impressed by the gusto with which Sarit would wake up every morning. "She would jump out of bed and get dressed and washed quickly sand talk excitedly about the day ahead."

In the heart of the Negev desert 38% of Arad's 26,000 residents are new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Ten year old Dima Bersky who was born in Russia was one of many new immigrant children who came to the Kefiada. "The counselors were like big brothers and sisters," he said.

Cammie Stein, from East Brunswick, New Jersey, one of the volunteers on the program, was in Israel for the first time. "The kids were great," she stressed. "Its really weird to think that everyone you see in the street is Jewish. It's a comforting feeling."

This was the third year that Partnership 2000 had run the Kefiada in Arad. Last year there were only 11 applications in New Jersey for volunteers. This year the 10 volunteers were selected from 40 applicants. And after this year's volunteers return to New Jersey and relate their positive experiences, an avalanche of applications is expected for next year.

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