We are excited to announce that in 2014 Jewish Federations of Canada – UIA entered into a partnership with Camp Gesher to offer two tracks of the Aviva Barth High School Outreach Program this school-year: a high-school program AND a new program for participants in grades 5-8. This means that any member of a regional Jewish community aged 11-18 can participate in this year’s programs.
The first event took place November 21-23, 2014 in Niagara Falls at the Imperial Hotel. Content and materials for the first Shabbaton focused on fun, learning and leadership development. Dates for the rest of the Shabbatons this year will also be announced soon.
New staff includes the senior staff of Camp Gesher (Director and Associate Director), Camp Gesher staff, and alumni of the Aviva Barth High School program. Any questions and comments can be directed to Shaul Zobary at sgesher@rogers.com. More information will follow shortly.
Informal Jewish education filled with fun and learning will help form future Jewish community leaders.
This program will be divided into three groups: the Juniors Grades 5-7, the Seniors Grades 8-10, and their Mentors Grade 11 and 12. While the age groups will be separated for most programs but will occassionally participate in the same activities.
"I grew up in beautiful Barrie, Ontario. The town has a small reform Jewish community (very small when I was younger), but I did not see much of them. I was homeschooled until Grade Six, and after that the three other Jewish kids in my elementary school lived in my house. Now that I’m in high school, there’s about seven or eight scattered around.
To be frank, I had no visions of enlightenment when I joined RJCO. In fact, the main reason for joining was because I heard you get to go to Washington and Israel – I really had no idea what was in store. At the risk of sounding cliché, I will never forget that first night. I had heard my Toronto-bred parents going on about how you feel more at home around other Jews, but I had dismissed that as 1980s superstition. However, it’s all true – the moment I walked into that room full of strangers, I felt more at home than I ever had in my life.
I have made some great friendships at RJCO – the others who join are just awesome people. Plus the shabbatons are so much fun. Lots of my best memories come from them! Most amazing though is how tight a little community it is: after a while, RJCOites get to be absolutely inseparable. In short, it is a lot more than just Washington and Israel."
Ronnie H. 2009-2013
"My name is Erin. I joined RJCO the February before my 13th birthday. When I joined it was at my shul, Am Shalom in Barrie. That is the closest shul to my house Bradford West Gwillumbury-24 500, if you don't include West Gwillumbury we are just a small town of 18 000. I have been attending BDHS since September 2009. In my grade there are about 3 Jewish kids. 3 out of 250. So I grew up in a small community. When I joined RJCO, I knew 2 kids that were apart of it. We went to Hebrew School together. So, I was spending the weekend with a whole bunch of strangers. Scary, yes, but they welcomed me with warm arms and loving faces.
There have been so many life lessons that have been learned with joining this group; I got to meet other Jewish teenagers I wouldn’t have met and I learned things that I probably would have never thought about. But, we don’t just learn, we have so much fun it's unbelievable! You play games you might not have heard of and if you have, it makes it even more fun! Basically, I'm suggesting that you join this group. You won’t regret it. These complete strangers have gotten to know and love me and I've done the same in return, they have become my best friends. You also get to travel to some amazing places. All over Ontario and we went to Washington D.C.! If you don’t join, you don’t know what you're missing out on. It’s a perfect opportunity to make friends, learn new things and have fun while doing it!"
RJCO Forever,
Erin M. 2009-2013