Camp Young Judaea Sprout Lake

Shabbat Shalom from Camp Sprout Lake! We are back with another Parshah Players - this week - Shemot and Va'era. This special Parshah Players was created and acted by our awesome Sprout BaBayit 2.0 campers! They did an amazing job!

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of legendary Young Judaea educator and mentor, Mel Reisfield, zl. On behalf of the entire Young Judaea... community, we send our deepest condolences to Mel’s family, and mourn the loss of one of the greats of our movement. We share the beautiful words of Young Judaea alum, Gil Troy: Mel Reisfield, our friend, our teacher, our mentor, our role model, our scrappy trash-talking, basketball playing, Hebrew-speaking, Jewish-people-and-humanity loving Zionist Rebbe, has died in Jerusalem, at the age of 92. He cheated death for quite a while - just as he occasionally cheated on the basketball courts -- outliving a serious bout with cancer by decades, and his beloved Yaffa by two years. They will be missed. Seven years ago, when Mel was very sick, so many Young Judaeans and former Hebrew School students sent loving messages -- 150 within the first two hours of us posting the news, and nearly 500 within a week. We printed them out and bound them, so Mel had a chance to read your love letters, your thank you cards, your curse-strewn compliments. He knew he was loved -- and he loved us all in return. He was the ultimate educator, a tough Bronx kid who worked as a Jewish educator in New Jersey and a Tel Yehudah merakez, for decades before retiring to Jerusalem, where he worked as a tour guide and Young Judaea year-course ulpan teacher well into his eighties. At his best, he combined Mel Brooks’ Borscht Belt sensibility and Mayor Ed Koch's bombast, tempered by Hillel’s moral wisdom, Theodor Herzl’s broad vision, David Ben-Gurion’s muscular determination, Golda Meir's humor, and Bill Clinton’s mass seductiveness although Mel remained devoted to his Palmach-veteran wife Yaffa since they met in the late 1940s. This is a guy who understood instinctively that the teenagers he worked with were still kid-like enough to enjoy being silly but sufficiently adult to engage in ideological discourse. This Zionist Pied Piper could get hundreds singing Two is shnayim, three is shlosha, all is fine and all is kosha it only worked with a heavy New Yawk accent our love will never fail, in Eretz Yis-ra-el, laughing at themselves while learning Hebrew and discussing Zionism. We are all the better for having known him, learned from him, worked with him, loved Israel, the Jewish people and humanity with him. May his name and memory be for a blessing. May Mel’s name and memory be for a blessing. Funeral and shiva information will be available soon.

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER! Come and learn about the magic of Young Judaea Sprout Camps! Don't miss out! Prospective Camper Day... This Sunday, January 10th at 10 AM Campers & Parents! Join us to hear about our day camps in Westchester and Brooklyn, and/or our overnight camp in upstate New York! YJ Sprout Camps offer summer programs for campers entering Pre-K through 8th Grade. Limited spaces available for this virtual event - don't miss out!! To register, click here: https://forms.gle/tMu2BPHpBxjtfiXz7

Come and learn about the magic of Young Judaea Sprout Camps! Prospective Camper Day This Sunday, January 10th at 10 AM... Campers & Parents! Join us to hear about our day camps in Westchester and Brooklyn, and/or our overnight camp in upstate New York! YJ Sprout Camps offer summer programs for campers entering Pre-K through 8th Grade. Limited spaces available for this virtual event - don't miss out!! To register, click here: https://forms.gle/tMu2BPHpBxjtfiXz7

Day 2 of Sprout BaBayit 2.0 was awesome! Check out these great homemade snowmen from Story Inspired Art! Yalla Let’s Go!