Bnei Akiva camp makes aliyah
For years, World Bnei Akiva camp alumni have been dreaming of day they would able to send their kids to camp in Israel, similar to what they had experienced as children. This summer it will be possible
For more than 80 years, Bnei Akiva, the Religious Zionist youth movement, has operated hundreds of educational summer camps around the world, educating Jewish values and Zionism and promoting aliyah in more than 50 countries goal.
Crediting their experiences at camp, many thousands of Bnei Akiva alumni have fulfilled their dreams and made aliyah.
World Bnei Akiva, in conjunction with Bnei Akiva Israel, has launched Camp Amichai, a three-week camp will be conducted in Hebrew with optional English classes. The camp is specifically aimed at Israelis, new olim and participants from abroad.
Camp Amichai is located on the campus of the Mor B’Achziv resort, on the northern coast of Israel. Surrounded by a national park, the site has views of Rosh Hanikra’s white cliffs and the Western Galilee’s ridges.
Familiar spirit
According to Ilan Osrin, director of Camp Amichai, “Alumni parents who are now living in Israel have been dreaming of the day that they could send their children to a sleep-away social and educational camp, similar to the camps they went to as children.”
“For years World Bnei Akiva has been receiving requests to open a camp for children of olim and Israelis in Israel. Many of these families have been sending their children to the US and Europe every summer as they haven’t found a suitable program which answered their needs.”
Osrin, an immigrant from South Africa, has been to Bnei Akiva’s South African camps 14 times, twice as head of the camp. “Our camp offers a unique and exciting experience with a religious atmosphere and the familiar Bnei Akiva spirit known around the world. We are sure the memories created at Camp Amichai will continue to be with the participants for the rest of their lives," he says.
According to Rabbi Ronen Neuwirth of Raanana, a former Bnei Akiva rabbi in the United States and Canada and on Camp Amichai's committee as a 'Tzhohar' representative, "There is no better way to instill the experience of Torah, Judaism and Shabbat, than at a camp.
"During three intense weeks of religious education, an educator can achieve more than during an entire year of formal education. The children learn torah in a fun manner 24/7, and collect Jewish experiences that will last a life time."
