The Jewish Community of Dnipro successfully held the J-Summer children’s day camp – an important summer program for community children, implemented with the systematic support of the Jewish Relief Network Ukraine. This year, the camp brought together forty participants, most of whom were students from the Jewish Lyceum. For ten action-packed days, the camp provided them with vibrant recreation, friendly interaction, new experiences, creative expression, and an introduction to key Jewish values.
A unique feature of this year’s J-Summer was that its content-rich and educational program was built around the ideas explored in the book “Pirkei Avot” (The Teachings of the Fathers). The organizers offered the children more than just a selection of entertainment and activities, but a holistic, captivating journey, during which participants, step by step, discovered true treasures that cannot be bought: knowledge, wisdom, the ability to think, make the right choices, work in a team, feel their own worth, and understand the importance of responsibility for themselves and others. All of this was presented in a playful and accessible format, through a quest story, tasks, discussions, teamwork, and daily exposure to new meanings.
The camp’s narrative revolved around a mysterious island where, in a hidden cave, the world’s most important treasures are kept—not gold and jewels, but knowledge and meaning that make a person stronger and wiser. Throughout the camp, participants experienced this journey as a true adventure, discovering ten “scrolls of wisdom,” each connected to a specific daily theme, a question for reflection, and an understanding of important life concepts. Thanks to this approach, the wisdom of Pirkei Avot did not remain merely theoretical but became an integral part of real life, embodied in creative activities, workshops, games, and shared discussions.
Each day of J-Summer was filled with a diverse and meaningful program. The children enjoyed Torah lessons, creative activities, workshops, and numerous activities that allowed them not only to learn new things but also to express themselves, learn to collaborate, and experience the joy of shared participation. A key innovation this season were sports workshops – for the first time, the camp decided to complement traditional creative formats with active sports activities, an experience that sparked great joy and genuine interest among the children.
The camp’s rich program also included outdoor events, which provided an additional source of joy, excitement, and friendly interaction for the participants. The children visited a rope course, a movie theater, an entertainment center, and a zoo, all of which seamlessly complemented the overall atmosphere of the camp, where every day was filled with movement, discovery, team dynamics, and a sense of true summer adventure.
Of particular significance was the fact that the camp became an important platform not only for the younger participants but also for the older girls in the community. During J-Summer, senior students from the Jewish Lyceum—11th-grade students—interned and tested their skills as madrichim. For them, participating in the camp was an opportunity to gain their first serious experience working with children, to feel responsible, to show initiative, to learn how to mentor, and to become part of a larger, shared effort aimed at creating a warm, safe, and inspiring environment for children.
“For several years now, our community has been enjoying great success with the J-Summer camp, proposed as a JRNU format and implemented with the support and concept developed by Jewish Relief Network Ukraine,” says Adina Seldina, director of J-Summer in Dnipro. “At the camp, we strived to give the children ten days of enriching recreation in a Jewish atmosphere, combining entertainment with learning, and games and fun, imbuing them with deep meaning and important moral values. The atmosphere of achdus and Agavat Yisroel, which is always especially evident in the summer programs of our beloved, united and close-knit Jewish community of Dnipro under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezky, was crucial.”
