Podcast: ‘Just like in the movies,’ say Israeli counselors of US sleepaway camp

Two shlichim — emissaries — working at Camp Ramah talk about their two months in this very Jewish American experience

By ToI Staff 19 August 2022, 1:04 pm 1 Edit

Welcome to Times Will Tell, The Times of Israel’s weekly feature podcast.

This week, we speak with two camp counselors, Israeli shlichim, the Hebrew term for emissaries, sent through the Jewish Agency this summer to work at Camp Ramah in the Poconos of Pennsylvania, where they spent two months caring for campers and working and meeting fellow staff members.

The two staffers are Halleli Busheri and Tair Offir, who had their own family connections to Camp Ramah, the Conservative Movement’s camping movement. Both were seeking the challenges and new experiences of a Jewish American summer camp.

Busheri and Offir speak about camp life, and what it’s been like to be the Israelis, known as mishlachat, on staff at camp. The pair share moments from the summer, describing what it’s been like to get to know people their age as well as their campers.

They also speak about what surprised them during the last two months, and some of the unexpected joys and tender moments in this very American Jewish summer experience.

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