The following was submitted by Ron Dror, 13-year old daughter of Perry and Haviva Dror. For more information on how your child can benefit from the WNC Federation Summer Camp program, contact Bella Frischman. For information about Camp Adamah, check out the Adamah Adventures website.
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September 5, 2014
Hello, my name is Ron Dror. The Jewish Federation gave me a very generous scholarship so I could go to the best camp in the universe this summer. It’s called Camp Adamah Adventures. I’m going to try to explain why I think it’s the best in the universe, as well as explain how I got to come face to face with, and become extremely proud of, my Jewish identity.
Firstly, I want to try to explain my love for this camp. But I may not be able to adequately express myself because when you go through something so life changing, even a month afterwards you are still in such a shock (a good one though!) that it’s hard to explain your emotions, but I’m more than willing to try.
From the moment you set foot onto base camp you feel at home. You realize that you’re with Jewish people your age with amazing personalities. This camp lets you express yourself through Judaism so well that you feel like camp is almost a safe haven. You sing hamotzi and birkat hamazon at every meal. We have fun little add-ins that I always say even when I sing those prayers at home.
I remember one activity we did on trek was to take a water bottle and fill it half way with water. You take a half a lemon, and as much sugar as you want to create lemonade. You may be thinking “what in the world does lemonade have to do with being Jewish?” I’m about to explain this to you and you will be mind- blown because this got me from being friends with my tent mates to being sisters with them. The lemon represents your American identity and the sugar represents your Jewish identity. You ask 2 friends to take a few sips and see what you view yourself as, more American, more Jewish, or half and half. Not only is this fun, and messy (we got the Jewish identity everywhere!), but you get to see what your friends think of themselves as, and it leads to awesome conversations. We talked a lot about what it meant to us to be Jewish. It made me truly realize how important my Jewish identity is to me.
Thank you so much for sending me to this camp! (I’m really hoping I’ll get to go back!)
Ron Dror