Manitoba’s Jewish gem

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/04/2007 (6733 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BOKER tov, Machaneh Massad! So begins every morning at Camp Massad, a Hebrew-speaking oasis in the middle of the Canadian Prairies.

Camp Massad, located in Manitoba’s Interlake at the edge of Winnipeg Beach, is a unique residential children’s summer camp. While there are numerous residential camps across North America offering camping experiences in a Jewish milieu, Massad is one of only two that does so in a completely Hebrew immersion setting. It is the only Hebrew immersion camp in Western Canada.

Camp Massad of Manitoba, which attracts about 170 campers each summer, was founded in 1953 by Winnipeg Jewish community members involved with the Winnipeg Hebrew School, or Talmud Torah.

“Our Camp Massad was an offshoot of the Keren Hatarbut, which was a major Jewish cultural organization based in Montreal,” explains Leona Billinkoff, who spent 25 summers as the on site camp Eemah, or Mother, beginning in the year the camp was founded.

“There were other Camp Massads but we were the grassroots camp and no one thought we would survive a year,” she recalls. “All of the other Camp Massads in North America had the support of major community organizations behind them. We didn’t. We did it all ourselves.”

This was especially remarkable, she says, considering the relative small size of Winnipeg’s Jewish community.

“Now,” she adds proudly, “we are one of the only ones remaining.”

At the time of Massad’s founding, world Jewry was celebrating the revival of the Hebrew language that had coincided with the rise of the Zionist movement and the subsequent establishment of the independent state of Israel in 1948.

For centuries, Hebrew had been the holy language of the Old Testament and of daily prayers, strictly a written language and not a spoken one. This began to change largely due to the efforts of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, a Lithuanian former medical student who moved to Jerusalem in 1881 determined to revive the ancient language.

Ben Yehuda insisted on speaking exclusively in Hebrew, jotting words and their definitions down in a notebook, and creating new words as modern times dictated. This notebook evolved into the Ben Yehuda Hebrew dictionary, which remains in wide use today and is referred to regularly at Camp Massad

“The use of Hebrew as a daily language is an important part of Camp Massad’s character and one of the things that distinguishes Massad from other Jewish summer camps,” explains Winnipeg lawyer Elliot Leven. Leven has been involved with the camp since 1973, when he first attended as a camper. Currently, he is the immediate past-president of the Massad board of directors.

“All of the songs that we sang were in Hebrew,” he adds. “All of the skits that we wrote were in Hebrew. And all of the jokes that we laughed at were in Hebrew.”

Ilana Simon, co-president of the Massad board of directors, is equally enthusiastic about the way in which absolutely everything at the camp is conducted in or communicated in Hebrew.

“I was fortunate several years ago to see the full-scale theatrical productions staged during the Maccabiah program,” she recalls. “During this program, when campers put on the most amazing plays complete with backdrops, elaborate costumes, props, sound effects, lighting, songs and dance and perform it all in Hebrew, the magic of Massad is palpable.”

These theatrical productions, conceived and produced within a single day, have included many original works written in Hebrew by camp counsellors, as well as counsellor translations of Shakespearean dramas such as Hamlet and Broadway musicals like My Fair Lady.

Importantly, camp administrators emphasize that in spite of the camp being Hebrew immersion, the ability to speak and understand the language is not a prerequisite to attending.

“Our instructions and programs are carried out in Hebrew with lots of actions and descriptions,” explains program director Hart Jacob. “This aspect allows the campers to learn the words that match the actions. At the same time they get to practise these new words by using them throughout the program. Our counsellors ensure that all campers understand the instructions and are fully comfortable in every situation.”

In fact, the Massad program counsellors, primarily young men and women from the Winnipeg Jewish community, represent a range of Hebrew language ability. Some of the counsellors are products of Hebrew day schools or public school bilingual programs, and others have lived or studied in Israel and spoken Hebrew on a daily basis.

While over its long history, Camp Massad has gained renown for its creative programming, leadership development and accomplished alumni, the one aspect that has really made the camp extraordinary and helped to sustain it, is its dedication to using the Hebrew language.

“Camp Massad is one of the gems of the Winnipeg Jewish community,” says Leven, “and the Hebrew language is intrinsic to the whole camp experience.”

Sharon Chisvin is a Winnipeg writer.