To My Dear Friends Abroad,
Remember me? I guess I have really been a “naughty girl” – I haven’t written a letter for over two years! Not that I haven’t written letters -- I write quite a number every day in e-mail form. But I haven’t written a LETTER -- like one of these. My excuse is that I have been so extremely darned busy, that there just wasn’t time for it! It used to be that we got very busy for one holiday or program, and then there was a short break till the next. But now things have gotten so eventful that one thing just runs into the next into the next into the next... Pesach, which is a major deal here and takes time to wind down from runs into Lag B’Omer -- which runs into the end of the school ye
ar -- which runs into Shavuous -- and meanwhile since well before Pesach we’ve been hard at work on summer camps -- with a trip to Israel for a conference of shluchim from the Former Soviet Union set exactly between the two camps -- which runs into preparations for expanding the school -- then the Yomim Tovim, -- and back to school again -- then youth clubs to set up -- the Kollel learning Institute -- meals to be served daily in the school, shul, and dorm -- people who need clothing and food and other essentials – 
farbrengens and classes and Shabbatons -- and soon it will be Chanukah and winter camp and Purim and then back to summer camp and Pesach again! Meanwhile I’ve succeeded in making one of the world’s longest run-on sentences, which my high school English teacher would be appalled at, but it was intentional, to give you a mini idea of what’s going on here; and he isn’t around anyway!Meanwhile, life goes on as usual. The electricity goes on and off at will – the will of the sadist who sits in his warm office pushing buttons all day to turn the electricity on and off in the various sections of town; except his own, of course. The area where “They” live (near the center of the town, where the new shul will be, G-d willing,) always has gas, electricity, and running water. I am wary as I print these words, because yesterday morning at 7:10 a.m. “They” turned off the electricity till about 9:30 a.m. “They” play games with us. They’ll turn off the electricity at the same time every day so you think you know when it will be on and when it will be off, and when you’re pretty sure you know just what to expect, they change it on you. So now at 6:30 a.m. I am frantically typing, and “saving” after every couple of sentences; because one of the most maddening things is when you’ve typed an entire document, and then the electricity goes off on you and you lose the whole thing! [Save.] I also prepared by turning the heat up to high so that maybe the house will stay warm for a little bit longer when the electricity (probably, maybe) goes off. The other maddening thing is this #*&%?@#!* computer -- which somehow lost its control panel, and continues somehow to do half a job without it -- keeps on omitting letters, so I have to keep going back to correct it. We learn to be pretty efficient with our time, so I’ve brought a flashlight out here and nail polish, and when the lights go out I can nail polish the computer. No, I haven’t gone totally bananas -- The Russian letters on the keyboard keep coming off. So I finally cleaned the keys, wrote the letters on again -- for the umpteenth time -- with “permanent” marker – and plan to cover them with clear polish when I can’t type anyway! [Save.]
Whew! False alarm! Another infuriating thing about this awful computer is that a win
dow keeps popping up saying that I’ve done something illegal (like drug dealing? Nah – that’s only out in the street in front of the house!) and the program is going to be closed down. At least since I had the foresight to save the letter ahead of time, I can open it again. In fact I can open it lots of times, maybe even hundreds of times, because the dumb computer makes copies of documents every time you open them. In My Documents they look like: Leah’sLetter, ~$Leah’sLetter, ~WRLLeah’sLetter, etcetera!
Okay. I’m running into the house to wake the kids, and maybe this will still be on the screen when I get back -- I”YH! [Save.]
Made it! As I was saying -- life goes on as usual. Without water a lot of the time! We unfortunately share our water system with seven neighbors. One of them makes illegal vodka, and uses an awful lot of water -- for the vile stuff itself, cleaning and sterilizing (right!) the bottles, etcetera -- leaving the rest of us with just a trickle of water. One of the neighbors tampered with the water pipes, digging up the street, to get himself more water, and leaving us with even less. There is never any pressure, and often no water at all. We thought to put in a pump, (it would have “stolen” the water back from the neighbors -- which they accuse us of doing anyway --but it's electric, and would have made problems on Shabbos -- when we need it the most -- to wash everyone’s hands! Yes, we still have lots of guests, though we’ve toned it down somewhat. We used to have wall-to-wall guests, with tables set up in like a “U.” However,
after a sizeable number of household items “walked off” with the guests we put the tables back together, to look more like a normal dining room table, and guests are “by invitation only” -- most of the time. For everyone else, we make a full meal kiddush in the shul, consisting of challah and bread, salads, pickles, fish, cholent, cake, and drinks.* To give you an idea of the mentality prevalent here, we have to put out the drink bottles without caps, or else people but them in their bags and carry them home on Shabbos! Nebach one lady was so desperate that she dumped a plate of cholent into her pocketbook! (Like without a bag or anything!)
Other than the lack of electricity, water, modern conveniences and space, and the fact that all of our neighbors are either Tartars (Moslems -- getting a little scary nowadays) or Tzygani --Gypsies, and the place is crawling with druggies who leave their syringes all over the place, life is fine on the home front.
Then there’s the school. We were told how much red tape there is to open a school. It takes a good few years to wade through the paperwork. Which was discouraging, because we really need a Jewish school here. So at the very end of the summer last year, we got the idea to rent part of a building from a private school and call our school a part of theirs. It worked, and B”H on September 1st we opened with twelve adorable, bright children in the first two grades. This year we opened for grades 1 – 9 and already have over 50 children B”H. Our main problem (other than lack of funds) is getting a building. We were in the process of getting one for free from the government. However, Satan must have felt it was going too smoothly for us! The week the papers were to be signed, the director of the “progressive” group here in town saw us in the mayor’s office, and started his dirty work. Unfortunately he is a known and established crook. He monthly receives a double tractor-trailer truck of humanitarian aid from a Christian organization and sells almost all of it to the market! He then distributes a miniscule part of it, and stuffs his pocket with the proceeds from the goods. It’s not the first time he’s done it. He heads a fund here for orphans. He convinced us to donate food to it, but we found out later the orphans never got that food. If you remember, the first year we were here, we were the official distributors of humanitarian aid for the United States government. He kindly offered us to sell it and split the profits. An offer which we immediately turned down, earning ourselves an Enemy with a capital "E." He then proceeded to make himself the representative of a major Jewish organization which distributes humanitarian aid. He restarted his business of selling the aid, distributing a small part of it, and pocketing the profits. After awhile, his workers reported what he was doing to their superiors abroad, he was deposed, and they took over the reins from him -- completely. All this time he sat on the board of the Orthodox community. Somehow, while he sat on that board, he simultaneously opened a “progressive” community and began his business of selling Christian humanitarian aid. So he thought, why should we get a building? Only he should (he had already illegally grabbed one existing old shul.) So the plans to give us a building were put indefinitely on ice. And we still don’t have a building. Meanwhile the other organization seems to feel that opening a school isn’t such a bad idea, and they are also planning on buying a building to open a school. Which is really sad. Because Simferopol does not have enough Jewish children (committed to Jewish education) that warrants the opening of more than one Jewish school; especially when there already exists a topnotch certified school with which the children, parents, and teachers are very pleased. It would be more productive for them to put their money and efforts into something that is not already being done, and which is in their own field. So right now we are putting a lot of effort into trying to procure a building for the school, meanwhile paying a high rent on a building that can only be rented for another month!
To give a complete report in one letter on everything we’ve done for the past two years just isn’t possible, but I’d like to share a small part of it.
Pesach preparations begin way before Purim. First of all, we have to order many Pesach needs from the states, both for the 10 public sedarim, and for distribution to the many people who carefully observe the holiday. We bring in two bochurim to help with the numerous Megillah readings and celebrations, and then immediately begin preparations for Pesach. The two boys travel from town to town, organizing the local sedarim; contacting local Jews, and finding a restaurant or hotel or other hall which can accommodate all the people, and which is willing to allow us to kasher it and keep it solely for our use durng the holiday. They take care of the advertising, finding cooks, and the many other details involved. This year, when the 26 additional bochurim arrived during the week before Pesach, they held a seminar to prepare them for their job, and the many details and problems that might occur. This lightened our load a little, as in previous years we would find ourselves on all three telephones simultaneously answering questions from the bochurim in various cities. This year the boys also made 5 model matzah bakeries in various towns before Pesach. Children of all ages got hands on experience in making matzah, learned about the holiday, and went home with their own matzah which they’d baked, a paper matzah bakery hat printed in Russian, and warm memories of the experience. They also ran a Pesach mini-camp, which consisted of exciting programs including a trip to Yalta with a boat ride, on the Sundays before, during, and after Pesach, as well as their own Children’s Seder. The pairs of bochurim go out to "their" cities, help clean and kasher the large
institutional kitchens -- not at all an easy task -- buy local products at the open air markets, and then supervise and help with the cooking. Then they run the local sedarim, making them as interesting as they can, and giving thousands of people a chance to observe some of the mitzvos of the holiday, which would otherwise not be possible for them. More often than not, they follow this up by returning the following week to make the last days of the holiday in various localities, culminating in a joyous Moshiach’s Seudah, a celebration on the eighth afternoon of Pesach, just before the holiday draws to a close. Of course as every year, we still distribute a good several tons of matzah before the holiday.
During this two-year lull in my letters, new people have joined us to help with all the work. First Rabbi Dovid Yaakov (lovingly called “DJ”) Lewis came last year to run the school. After his marriage to Nachi in the spring, they moved here, and she is also teaching in the school.** Rabbi Yaakov Avraham Gusyatinsky, a Simferpol alumnus who had ben living in Israel, also returned with his wife Zehava, who is teaching in the school. Yaakov Avraham himself has been running the Kollel learning institute for men. Following an amazing summer in camp, four bochurim also decided to join us. Elie Estrin, Eli Pink, Benny Lew and Shmuli Brown are running the Tzivos Hashem clubs, and helping in the school, with Elie being the dorm counselor.
Which brings us to our other really big seasonal project -- camp of course. This year for the first time, after 5 successful years of day camp, we ran a girls’ sleepover camp in July. For the boys, the August camp was their second such experience. After much searching, we found a suitable campsite. Most Jewish camps find hotels or sanatoriums to rent for their camps, but we were fortunate enough to locate a real American-style campground. It had a big bright dining hall (it was called a mess hall in my day,) a private waterfront with a dock and paddleboats, and individual bunkhouses. We put in a volleyball net and basketball hoops, and they converted a spare room into a shul for us. We installed indoor bathrooms, and were ready to roll! The drawbacks to the campsite were that 1- it was located in the steppe – which I learned the hard way -- is wide-open, scorchingly hot plains. 2- the running water was on again, off again -- mainly off again -- as the owners felt they should deliver it to us – contrary to what they’d promised. Our 40 imported counselors soon had the place decorated and the kids got right into the camp spirit. I’ll let one of the counselors tell you a little bit about camp, in his own words:
Last year's success was great. This year, my question was, can it get better? Well, it sure did! From the first, the feeling of excitement was more than mutual -- it permeated the camp. My original bunk consisted of some of the greatest kids I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and this year proved no different.
One day we showed up wearing "Krazy Kipas" -- multi-colored skullcaps with all sorts of wacky hand-painted designs. One said, "This side up", one had a tic-tac-toe board, etc. Suddenly, yarmulka wearing became the “in” thing, and part of the fun!
Shabbos we rocked the house with a lot of banging, clapping, and dancing. Lack of voices may have had something to do with that! By now, the kids were fired up, and, even without my persistent encouragement, they really took off.
Shabbos we felt a taste of real mesiras nefesh, as the father of one camper came to visit for his son's birthday. Although he had minimal Jewish knowledge, one snippet of information he did know was the tenet: do not drive on Shabbos. As such, he walked FIVE HOURS to camp to be with his son! You can only imagine the self-sacrifice such a man might have undergone in the Communist times, had he only known more! We honored him with hagba when we read the Torah, and the head counselor, Yossi pointed out his heroic effort in front of the entire camp at the third Shabbos meal. In the spontaneous dancing that followed, I saw true joy on his face, a beaming smile utterly impossible to express on paper.
We took the kids on a trip to another camp, to meet more Jewish kids. Upon our arrival, there were complaints. But these complaints were music to my ears! "When are we going back to OUR camp? OURS is great!" I never heard a single complaint about our campground after that visit!
There was a trip to Sevastopol for bowling, and one Tuesday we went banana boating in Yevpatoria. Then again to Yevpatoria to the Dolphinarium. Last year we had also gone, and like this year, Misha sat on my lap. However, last year when the keyboardist started playing Hava Nagila and the kids sang along, Misha looked at me with panic-stricken eyes. "Elie, NYET!" he pleaded, and clamped my mouth shut with his two little hands. The Jewish fear ingrained by 75 years of communism was still alive within him. This year, when the musician played Hava Nagila, Misha joyfully sang and clapped along! I felt such immense happiness and pride seeing how this child has grown so in his Jewish pride. We treated the kids to ATV rides and the only place where we didn’t drive was in the flowerbeds!
Sunday was Bris Day. Nine more boys have joined our ranks and are so proud of their new Jewish names. More than 2/3 of the campers have now had brisim! As Yoel Tchurkin's bris was going on, we broke out color war with a bang. Of course, the kids had no idea what color war is, so we had to start from scratch, explaining the rules and the ideas behind it and soon the two teams were lined up: Goila (Diaspora) and the winning team of Geula (Redemption.) I was on Goila, and I was placed in charge of the song. Lev and I simultaneously thought of the same song to translate, and it later proved to give a real boost to everyone’s feelings about camp. (See end of this letter for the song.) Sergei and I spent three hours writing it. Due to the lack of a xerox machine, we copied it onto posters in huge letters. The song took up four 4-foot pages. The problem was that it was very windy, so four staff members had to hold each of the posters! Eventually, we narrowed it down to two. When we introduced it to the kids, we were met with surprising negativity. They complained that the grammar wasn't good enough! I gave them a brief lecture on the benefits of poetic license, Srulie gave them an inspiring speech about singing from the heart, and, believe it or not, they did –- and won points for the best song! An important factor in singing with Russian kids is to drown out the many tone-deaf ones. This was the case with Sasha-in-da-house, a little kid with a big pair of lungs. Somehow we managed to convince him to keep his singing a little less heartfelt for the duration of Color War. Having Sergei do a soliloquy during the play interlude set a truly unique feeling. As soon as he finished reading his words the team belted out a rousing round of "Paka Gan Yisroel!" Their arms waving goodbye, one could see every one of the children completely immersed in the words. Many of them told me they had to consciously hold themselves back from crying. Yossi told me that although he did not understand the words, the message from their hearts came across loud and clear. What an amazing group of kids!!!
Banquet meant prize-giving, and the question was: Out of a solid bunk, who was the best camper? We had to deselect Misha, as we’d already presented him with a pair of good sneakers midway through camp for his contributions and because he couldn't play soccer in flip-flops, and he can't afford to buy regular shoes. Yoel was out because he is the Rabbi's son. Between Nikita and Nikita, I chose --- guess who? Nikita of course! Well, Nikita L. that is. Nikita K. got another prize for the most learning accomplished in camp.
That night, as the moon waned and the campfire on the beach died down, the kids stayed up all night just to breathe a few last breaths of Gan Yisroel air -- just to stick around their beloved counselors a few minutes more -- and, most importantly, to keep the Judaic fire burning inside still a bit longer.
As we got off the bus some parents quickly removed the tzitzis and yarmulkas from their sons, as if to say "goodbye, G-d!" Many of the boys tenaciously held on. Unfortunately some of the parents do not yet understand the beauty of Judaism that their children had just experienced. But now there is hope. The Jewish Day School of Simferopol has multiplied in size five times this year, now boasting nearly 60 children, including Yonasan, Michoel Levi Yitzchok, and Tzemach who live in other Crimean cities and dorm here in order to continue their Jewish studies. Misha, Nikita, and of course Yoel also learn here. So, until Moshiach is revealed to the world and Hashem takes us out of this bitter exile, these children are working to fulfill the prophecy of "returning the parents through the children." And what incredible children they are!!!
Here’s a rough translation of our song, T.T.T.O. Avraham Fried’s Kanei L'Simcha:
PAKA (GOODBYE) GAN YISROEL
Time has passed
We must say Goodbye
To every counselor and teacher
And our home Gan Yisroel.
Your warm atmosphere
Is to us very dear
When I think that I must go
It's hard to hold back the tears.
Oh Gan Yisroel
How much does it hurt!
If I leave from here,
I think my heart will stop!
But, Gan Yisroel!
Now I have come to recognize
My soul definitely knows
That you are not an ordinary camp!
(Interlude):
Goodbye Gan Yisroel!
Now we're going home!
But wherever I go,
I will always be with you!
Whoa! I didn’t realize quite how long those excerpts would be! I originally wanted to include other counselors’ feelings also, but I guess that will have to be all for now. Basically I think you get the idea that both kids and counselors had an awesome time and a lot was accomplished! And that we are accomplishing a lot in all of our many projects. (If I may humbly say so myself.) If you’d like to write me, please feel free to contact me at chabadcrimea@cris.crimea.ua -- I love to get your mail.
Be well.
Love, Leah Lipszyc & Company
P.S. Just to give you an idea of how we’ve grown I am also sending you a copy of our budget.***
* Nowadays we all eat in shul, and the Friday night menu has expanded to include challah, fish, salads, pickles or olives, homemade mayonnaise, chicken or turkey, at least two side dishes and soda, all followed by pareve ice cream & cake. Shabbos afternoon the chicken and sides are exchanged for a delicious fleishig cholent with kneidlach or kishka, kugel or knishes, and eggs 'n onions or a variation thereof.
** Unfortunately, due to poor health, they had to return home.
*** The old budget is long gone, so I'll post a new one soon in its place.
Whew! False alarm! Another infuriating thing about this awful computer is that a win
dow keeps popping up saying that I’ve done something illegal (like drug dealing? Nah – that’s only out in the street in front of the house!) and the program is going to be closed down. At least since I had the foresight to save the letter ahead of time, I can open it again. In fact I can open it lots of times, maybe even hundreds of times, because the dumb computer makes copies of documents every time you open them. In My Documents they look like: Leah’sLetter, ~$Leah’sLetter, ~WRLLeah’sLetter, etcetera!Okay. I’m running into the house to wake the kids, and maybe this will still be on the screen when I get back -- I”YH! [Save.]
Made it! As I was saying -- life goes on as usual. Without water a lot of the time! We unfortunately share our water system with seven neighbors. One of them makes illegal vodka, and uses an awful lot of water -- for the vile stuff itself, cleaning and sterilizing (right!) the bottles, etcetera -- leaving the rest of us with just a trickle of water. One of the neighbors tampered with the water pipes, digging up the street, to get himself more water, and leaving us with even less. There is never any pressure, and often no water at all. We thought to put in a pump, (it would have “stolen” the water back from the neighbors -- which they accuse us of doing anyway --but it's electric, and would have made problems on Shabbos -- when we need it the most -- to wash everyone’s hands! Yes, we still have lots of guests, though we’ve toned it down somewhat. We used to have wall-to-wall guests, with tables set up in like a “U.” However,
after a sizeable number of household items “walked off” with the guests we put the tables back together, to look more like a normal dining room table, and guests are “by invitation only” -- most of the time. For everyone else, we make a full meal kiddush in the shul, consisting of challah and bread, salads, pickles, fish, cholent, cake, and drinks.* To give you an idea of the mentality prevalent here, we have to put out the drink bottles without caps, or else people but them in their bags and carry them home on Shabbos! Nebach one lady was so desperate that she dumped a plate of cholent into her pocketbook! (Like without a bag or anything!)Other than the lack of electricity, water, modern conveniences and space, and the fact that all of our neighbors are either Tartars (Moslems -- getting a little scary nowadays) or Tzygani --Gypsies, and the place is crawling with druggies who leave their syringes all over the place, life is fine on the home front.
Then there’s the school. We were told how much red tape there is to open a school. It takes a good few years to wade through the paperwork. Which was discouraging, because we really need a Jewish school here. So at the very end of the summer last year, we got the idea to rent part of a building from a private school and call our school a part of theirs. It worked, and B”H on September 1st we opened with twelve adorable, bright children in the first two grades. This year we opened for grades 1 – 9 and already have over 50 children B”H. Our main problem (other than lack of funds) is getting a building. We were in the process of getting one for free from the government. However, Satan must have felt it was going too smoothly for us! The week the papers were to be signed, the director of the “progressive” group here in town saw us in the mayor’s office, and started his dirty work. Unfortunately he is a known and established crook. He monthly receives a double tractor-trailer truck of humanitarian aid from a Christian organization and sells almost all of it to the market! He then distributes a miniscule part of it, and stuffs his pocket with the proceeds from the goods. It’s not the first time he’s done it. He heads a fund here for orphans. He convinced us to donate food to it, but we found out later the orphans never got that food. If you remember, the first year we were here, we were the official distributors of humanitarian aid for the United States government. He kindly offered us to sell it and split the profits. An offer which we immediately turned down, earning ourselves an Enemy with a capital "E." He then proceeded to make himself the representative of a major Jewish organization which distributes humanitarian aid. He restarted his business of selling the aid, distributing a small part of it, and pocketing the profits. After awhile, his workers reported what he was doing to their superiors abroad, he was deposed, and they took over the reins from him -- completely. All this time he sat on the board of the Orthodox community. Somehow, while he sat on that board, he simultaneously opened a “progressive” community and began his business of selling Christian humanitarian aid. So he thought, why should we get a building? Only he should (he had already illegally grabbed one existing old shul.) So the plans to give us a building were put indefinitely on ice. And we still don’t have a building. Meanwhile the other organization seems to feel that opening a school isn’t such a bad idea, and they are also planning on buying a building to open a school. Which is really sad. Because Simferopol does not have enough Jewish children (committed to Jewish education) that warrants the opening of more than one Jewish school; especially when there already exists a topnotch certified school with which the children, parents, and teachers are very pleased. It would be more productive for them to put their money and efforts into something that is not already being done, and which is in their own field. So right now we are putting a lot of effort into trying to procure a building for the school, meanwhile paying a high rent on a building that can only be rented for another month!
To give a complete report in one letter on everything we’ve done for the past two years just isn’t possible, but I’d like to share a small part of it.
Pesach preparations begin way before Purim. First of all, we have to order many Pesach needs from the states, both for the 10 public sedarim, and for distribution to the many people who carefully observe the holiday. We bring in two bochurim to help with the numerous Megillah readings and celebrations, and then immediately begin preparations for Pesach. The two boys travel from town to town, organizing the local sedarim; contacting local Jews, and finding a restaurant or hotel or other hall which can accommodate all the people, and which is willing to allow us to kasher it and keep it solely for our use durng the holiday. They take care of the advertising, finding cooks, and the many other details involved. This year, when the 26 additional bochurim arrived during the week before Pesach, they held a seminar to prepare them for their job, and the many details and problems that might occur. This lightened our load a little, as in previous years we would find ourselves on all three telephones simultaneously answering questions from the bochurim in various cities. This year the boys also made 5 model matzah bakeries in various towns before Pesach. Children of all ages got hands on experience in making matzah, learned about the holiday, and went home with their own matzah which they’d baked, a paper matzah bakery hat printed in Russian, and warm memories of the experience. They also ran a Pesach mini-camp, which consisted of exciting programs including a trip to Yalta with a boat ride, on the Sundays before, during, and after Pesach, as well as their own Children’s Seder. The pairs of bochurim go out to "their" cities, help clean and kasher the large
institutional kitchens -- not at all an easy task -- buy local products at the open air markets, and then supervise and help with the cooking. Then they run the local sedarim, making them as interesting as they can, and giving thousands of people a chance to observe some of the mitzvos of the holiday, which would otherwise not be possible for them. More often than not, they follow this up by returning the following week to make the last days of the holiday in various localities, culminating in a joyous Moshiach’s Seudah, a celebration on the eighth afternoon of Pesach, just before the holiday draws to a close. Of course as every year, we still distribute a good several tons of matzah before the holiday.During this two-year lull in my letters, new people have joined us to help with all the work. First Rabbi Dovid Yaakov (lovingly called “DJ”) Lewis came last year to run the school. After his marriage to Nachi in the spring, they moved here, and she is also teaching in the school.** Rabbi Yaakov Avraham Gusyatinsky, a Simferpol alumnus who had ben living in Israel, also returned with his wife Zehava, who is teaching in the school. Yaakov Avraham himself has been running the Kollel learning institute for men. Following an amazing summer in camp, four bochurim also decided to join us. Elie Estrin, Eli Pink, Benny Lew and Shmuli Brown are running the Tzivos Hashem clubs, and helping in the school, with Elie being the dorm counselor.
Which brings us to our other really big seasonal project -- camp of course. This year for the first time, after 5 successful years of day camp, we ran a girls’ sleepover camp in July. For the boys, the August camp was their second such experience. After much searching, we found a suitable campsite. Most Jewish camps find hotels or sanatoriums to rent for their camps, but we were fortunate enough to locate a real American-style campground. It had a big bright dining hall (it was called a mess hall in my day,) a private waterfront with a dock and paddleboats, and individual bunkhouses. We put in a volleyball net and basketball hoops, and they converted a spare room into a shul for us. We installed indoor bathrooms, and were ready to roll! The drawbacks to the campsite were that 1- it was located in the steppe – which I learned the hard way -- is wide-open, scorchingly hot plains. 2- the running water was on again, off again -- mainly off again -- as the owners felt they should deliver it to us – contrary to what they’d promised. Our 40 imported counselors soon had the place decorated and the kids got right into the camp spirit. I’ll let one of the counselors tell you a little bit about camp, in his own words:Last year's success was great. This year, my question was, can it get better? Well, it sure did! From the first, the feeling of excitement was more than mutual -- it permeated the camp. My original bunk consisted of some of the greatest kids I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, and this year proved no different.
One day we showed up wearing "Krazy Kipas" -- multi-colored skullcaps with all sorts of wacky hand-painted designs. One said, "This side up", one had a tic-tac-toe board, etc. Suddenly, yarmulka wearing became the “in” thing, and part of the fun!
Shabbos we rocked the house with a lot of banging, clapping, and dancing. Lack of voices may have had something to do with that! By now, the kids were fired up, and, even without my persistent encouragement, they really took off.
Shabbos we felt a taste of real mesiras nefesh, as the father of one camper came to visit for his son's birthday. Although he had minimal Jewish knowledge, one snippet of information he did know was the tenet: do not drive on Shabbos. As such, he walked FIVE HOURS to camp to be with his son! You can only imagine the self-sacrifice such a man might have undergone in the Communist times, had he only known more! We honored him with hagba when we read the Torah, and the head counselor, Yossi pointed out his heroic effort in front of the entire camp at the third Shabbos meal. In the spontaneous dancing that followed, I saw true joy on his face, a beaming smile utterly impossible to express on paper.
We took the kids on a trip to another camp, to meet more Jewish kids. Upon our arrival, there were complaints. But these complaints were music to my ears! "When are we going back to OUR camp? OURS is great!" I never heard a single complaint about our campground after that visit!
There was a trip to Sevastopol for bowling, and one Tuesday we went banana boating in Yevpatoria. Then again to Yevpatoria to the Dolphinarium. Last year we had also gone, and like this year, Misha sat on my lap. However, last year when the keyboardist started playing Hava Nagila and the kids sang along, Misha looked at me with panic-stricken eyes. "Elie, NYET!" he pleaded, and clamped my mouth shut with his two little hands. The Jewish fear ingrained by 75 years of communism was still alive within him. This year, when the musician played Hava Nagila, Misha joyfully sang and clapped along! I felt such immense happiness and pride seeing how this child has grown so in his Jewish pride. We treated the kids to ATV rides and the only place where we didn’t drive was in the flowerbeds!
Sunday was Bris Day. Nine more boys have joined our ranks and are so proud of their new Jewish names. More than 2/3 of the campers have now had brisim! As Yoel Tchurkin's bris was going on, we broke out color war with a bang. Of course, the kids had no idea what color war is, so we had to start from scratch, explaining the rules and the ideas behind it and soon the two teams were lined up: Goila (Diaspora) and the winning team of Geula (Redemption.) I was on Goila, and I was placed in charge of the song. Lev and I simultaneously thought of the same song to translate, and it later proved to give a real boost to everyone’s feelings about camp. (See end of this letter for the song.) Sergei and I spent three hours writing it. Due to the lack of a xerox machine, we copied it onto posters in huge letters. The song took up four 4-foot pages. The problem was that it was very windy, so four staff members had to hold each of the posters! Eventually, we narrowed it down to two. When we introduced it to the kids, we were met with surprising negativity. They complained that the grammar wasn't good enough! I gave them a brief lecture on the benefits of poetic license, Srulie gave them an inspiring speech about singing from the heart, and, believe it or not, they did –- and won points for the best song! An important factor in singing with Russian kids is to drown out the many tone-deaf ones. This was the case with Sasha-in-da-house, a little kid with a big pair of lungs. Somehow we managed to convince him to keep his singing a little less heartfelt for the duration of Color War. Having Sergei do a soliloquy during the play interlude set a truly unique feeling. As soon as he finished reading his words the team belted out a rousing round of "Paka Gan Yisroel!" Their arms waving goodbye, one could see every one of the children completely immersed in the words. Many of them told me they had to consciously hold themselves back from crying. Yossi told me that although he did not understand the words, the message from their hearts came across loud and clear. What an amazing group of kids!!!
Banquet meant prize-giving, and the question was: Out of a solid bunk, who was the best camper? We had to deselect Misha, as we’d already presented him with a pair of good sneakers midway through camp for his contributions and because he couldn't play soccer in flip-flops, and he can't afford to buy regular shoes. Yoel was out because he is the Rabbi's son. Between Nikita and Nikita, I chose --- guess who? Nikita of course! Well, Nikita L. that is. Nikita K. got another prize for the most learning accomplished in camp.
That night, as the moon waned and the campfire on the beach died down, the kids stayed up all night just to breathe a few last breaths of Gan Yisroel air -- just to stick around their beloved counselors a few minutes more -- and, most importantly, to keep the Judaic fire burning inside still a bit longer.
As we got off the bus some parents quickly removed the tzitzis and yarmulkas from their sons, as if to say "goodbye, G-d!" Many of the boys tenaciously held on. Unfortunately some of the parents do not yet understand the beauty of Judaism that their children had just experienced. But now there is hope. The Jewish Day School of Simferopol has multiplied in size five times this year, now boasting nearly 60 children, including Yonasan, Michoel Levi Yitzchok, and Tzemach who live in other Crimean cities and dorm here in order to continue their Jewish studies. Misha, Nikita, and of course Yoel also learn here. So, until Moshiach is revealed to the world and Hashem takes us out of this bitter exile, these children are working to fulfill the prophecy of "returning the parents through the children." And what incredible children they are!!!
Here’s a rough translation of our song, T.T.T.O. Avraham Fried’s Kanei L'Simcha:
PAKA (GOODBYE) GAN YISROEL
Time has passed
We must say Goodbye
To every counselor and teacher
And our home Gan Yisroel.
Your warm atmosphere
Is to us very dear
When I think that I must go
It's hard to hold back the tears.
Oh Gan Yisroel
How much does it hurt!
If I leave from here,
I think my heart will stop!
But, Gan Yisroel!
Now I have come to recognize
My soul definitely knows
That you are not an ordinary camp!
(Interlude):
Goodbye Gan Yisroel!
Now we're going home!
But wherever I go,
I will always be with you!
Whoa! I didn’t realize quite how long those excerpts would be! I originally wanted to include other counselors’ feelings also, but I guess that will have to be all for now. Basically I think you get the idea that both kids and counselors had an awesome time and a lot was accomplished! And that we are accomplishing a lot in all of our many projects. (If I may humbly say so myself.) If you’d like to write me, please feel free to contact me at chabadcrimea@cris.crimea.ua -- I love to get your mail.
Be well.
Love, Leah Lipszyc & Company
P.S. Just to give you an idea of how we’ve grown I am also sending you a copy of our budget.***
* Nowadays we all eat in shul, and the Friday night menu has expanded to include challah, fish, salads, pickles or olives, homemade mayonnaise, chicken or turkey, at least two side dishes and soda, all followed by pareve ice cream & cake. Shabbos afternoon the chicken and sides are exchanged for a delicious fleishig cholent with kneidlach or kishka, kugel or knishes, and eggs 'n onions or a variation thereof.
** Unfortunately, due to poor health, they had to return home.
*** The old budget is long gone, so I'll post a new one soon in its place.
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