When I recently had the privilege of visiting a Jewish summer camp in Pennsylvania, what I witnessed was far more than the typical camp joy. I saw healing. I saw unity. And I saw the future of the Jewish people, on both sides of the ocean.

The camp I visited was one of the various North American Jewish summer camps participating in the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Campers2Gether and Summer Shlichut programs. These crucial initiatives came as Israeli society continues to endure raw trauma in the ongoing aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities. For the young people who have lived through rockets, displacement and destruction, especially in the country’s south and north, normalcy is not something that can be taken for granted. 

Jen Roman/Jewish Agency

Participants in the Campers2Gether program from the Gaza border area hug at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires in the summer of 2024.

Thanks to a generous multi-year commitment from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, the Jewish Agency has expanded Campers2Gether, resulting in more than 770 Israeli teens spending part of this summer in Jewish overnight camps across North America. Many of them came from war-torn communities along Israel’s borders with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria. 

Notably, their presence at the camps was not only a respite — it was a powerful source of resilience.

At camp, these Israeli teens were paired with their North American peers in a natural setting — one where friendship and identity take root around campfires, cabins and dance sessions. They joined hikes, sang Hebrew songs and built bonds that transcend geography. They were also supported by trained counselors and mental health professionals, ensuring that camp was not just fun but also a supportive, inspiring and resilience-building experience.

For North American campers, the presence of Israeli peers was Israel made personal. In a moment when few teens are able to visit Israel due to ongoing security and logistical concerns, Campers2Gether flips the model: Israel comes to them. Israelis go from just headlines or hashtags to human beings — young people just like them with stories and struggles, laughter and courage. The mifgash (encounter) is real, and it is transformational.

I felt this deeply in one seemingly mundane but actually inspiring moment over lunch. One of our shlichim (Israeli emissaries) sat next to me, and we started talking about soccer. We compared a player on an Israeli team to someone on an American team. It was a simple exchange, one sports fan to another, but it brought everything down-to-earth. 

The Jewish Agency is not just a global organization. It’s about people — in this case, about Israelis who, for a couple of precious summer months, get a break from the fog of war, and about North American Jews who discover that Israeli teens are not so different from themselves. Together, they share meals. They talk about sports. They sing together. They laugh. They rebuild Jewish peoplehood and ensure our future as one people.

Our Summer Shlichut program reinforces that impact. This year, The Jewish Agency sent a record 2,050 shlichim to 190 Jewish camps across North America. Fighting against all odds — war, travel disruptions, security hurdles — we made this a top priority because Jewish peoplehood does not build itself: it takes intention, presence and shared experiences like those created every day at summer camp.

The shlichim, ages 19 to 25, bring Israel’s diversity and dynamism straight into the heart of Jewish life abroad. They teach dance and drama, lead hikes and Havdalah and become beloved mentors to thousands of campers. Just as importantly, they return to Israel transformed by their own Jewish journey overseas.

In a time of heartbreak, this work is hope in action.

The legacy that the Jewish Agency is building — one camper, one conversation, one lunch table at a time — is a network of enduring connections between Israel and world Jewry. Israeli teens who are going through immense challenges can experience, at least momentarily, a sense of normalcy at camp. American campers feel closer to Israel than ever before. These are the building blocks of Jewish continuity.

Standing at the camp in Pennsylvania, I was reminded of something simple yet profound: When we bring our youth together — not through screens or statements, but through face-to-face, heart-to-heart connections—  we create a shared future. We create resilience. We create a people.

Jewish unity begins at summer camp. That is what the Jewish Agency is fighting for. And that is why, even in one of our darkest hours, I have never felt more hopeful. Am Yisrael Chai.

Mark Wilf is chairman of the board of governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel.