Donor Gives Learning Gazebos

By COLlive reporter

On the way to Siberia you will find 2 new gazebos.

This line – not from the National Geographic – might sound foreign to most, but to the campers of Camp Gan Israel in Parksville, NY, it is a source of excitement.

New roofed structures were recently placed on camp grounds (on the way to the Bar Mitzvah Division’s area known as “Siberia” due to its distance from the rest of the camp) for the use of learning classes.

They are the result of an ongoing effort to advance the learning level in Chabad’s veteran overnight camp for boys located in the Catskills.

The wooden gazebos with an open view of the surrounding area were donated by Mendy and Leah Schurder of Boca Raton, FL, in memory of her grandfather R’ Hirshel Chitrik OBM, a learned man who supported educational causes.

“I would like to thank the Schurders for this generous gift that will enhance the learning experience of the campers in sunshine and rain,” says Rabbi Yossi Futerfas, director of the camp.

Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, long-time head of the camp and a friend of the late R’ Chitrik, said: “It is an approproate tribute to a person who was always looking to provide and improve facilities for chinuch.”

The learning program for the summer of 5772 is run by Rabbi Sholom Baras, Shazi Perman and Menachem Altein. A novel addition this year was the publication of a booklet of self-written pilpulim and chidushim by campers.

Rabbi Shemtov noted the Rebbe’s comment that Gan Israel is a Yeshiva from within, a camp from the outside, adding that this one will be the first of a new line of gazebos.

This addition to the camp will be on display when parents come to Upstate New York this Sunday for Visiting Day of the second month of camp.