The tradition of Ivriada continues and this year we are again sending a group of young, dynamic Israeli counselors to our partner communities to give our American children a taste of Israel! For two months, these amazing eight dynamos will be volunteering as counselors in three JCC day camps in New Jersey.

To this end, the counselors were trained during an eight session seminar by some of our best past Ivriada counselors. This year the two who were in charge were Keren Ben Haim and Yovav Shor. Keren and Yovav volunteered a great deal of their time and effort to train and coach the new team.

The preparation seminars covered a wide variey of subjects and activities to fully prepare the Ivriada counselors for their experience in the day camps. They will be in charge of a special Israel room that they will construct in the individual camps as well as unique Israel days and Kabalat Shabbat every Friday for the entire camp population. Keren and Yovav combined lots of fun and hard work...and the New Generation of Ivriada are eager to start their summer of volunteering and fun.

The recent final meeting with the counselors was bathed in secrecy! They were taken blindfolded to a secret location and then they were witness to a wacky parody of the classic story: "Chanaleh's New Dress for Shabbat" as part of the seminar addressing the Kabbalat Shabbat traditions. The show was put on by Keren, Yovav and several former Ivriada counselors who lent a hand and their many talents to the occasion. It was great fun and educational as well!

We are all very proud of our young people: they are truly our future and they bring light and hope to all the communities in our partnership family.