At a time when Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised that, if elected, “We’re going to have a big, beautiful wall” dividing Mexico from the United States, a Jewish summer camp in Colorado is building a bridge between itself and a synagogue in Mexico City.
This year, after several years of planning, more than 20 Jewish Mexican campers, three counselors and Rabbi Leonel Levy from Comunidad Bet-El de México attended Ramah in the Rockies for two weeks, from July 20 to Aug. 2.
Bet-El is a Conservative synagogue in Mexico City’s upscale yet diverse Polanco district, and Camp Ramah is a network of Jewish summer camps affiliated with the Conservative movement.
The Mexicans stayed in bunks with their American counterparts, took part in traditional camp activities and shared some traditions of their own.
“Hachnasat orchim [welcoming guests] is a big Jewish value, and I cannot think of a better way to express that value than to welcome any kid who would want to come to our camp,” said Eliav Bock, founding director of the camp.
Bock’s relationship with Levy started several years ago when he met the rabbi (“rabino” in Spanish) on a vacation to Mexico. They hit it off immediately and excitement grew about Ramah hosting Mexican campers. But funds and other challenges meant that only a handful of students have managed to come.
This year, Levy got organized and raised money. “It’s expensive for Mexicans,” said Levy, who arranged a group flight and other transportation to the camp, which is more than 1,700 miles from Mexico City.
During the two weeks the Mexican campers were there, Ramah hung a Mexican flag alongside the traditional Israeli and American flags. Levy led Spanish-language prayer services and the camp integrated other opportunities for Mexican campers to share their culture.
One night, for example, the Mexican campers joined the kitchen staff to whip up traditional Mexican cuisine.
“They made real Mexican food,” Bock said. “It was awesome.”
There was also a four-day camping trip with a mix of Mexican, Israeli and U.S. campers. The first night, they talked about their hometowns, and though language was a barrier, they tried to compare and contrast their lives.
“In the beginning, language made it difficult,” said Ramah counselor Mikaela Gerwin. “But by the end of the trip, the boys were building a bridge together — without speaking. They played this game where someone would ask a student who spoke a different language a question he couldn’t understand. And the camper would have to answer yes or no — sometimes it was really funny, like ‘Do you like eating dessert for breakfast?’ They would all start giggling.”
For 16-year-old Mexican camper Dalia Stosennacher, the experience was religiously eye-opening. Though she comes from a Conservative family, she found the observance level at Camp Ramah to be strikingly different.
“The Mexican Conservative synagogue is way more Orthodox,” Stosennacher said. “I was surprised to see women wear tefillin or read from the Torah.”
However, she said she took away new religious lessons, too, such as a deeper spirituality and a concept of respect for the environment.
Mexico City’s Jewish community of 40,000 to 50,000 people is more concentrated, and allegedly more active, than the Colorado Jewish community, which has 103,000 people spread across the state, according to the 2014 American Jewish Year Book.
Ramah in the Rockies has a tradition of being open and inclusive, according to Bock, by reaching out to the LGBT community, and children from families whose parents are in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. It hosts students from Canada, Israel, China and the Netherlands, though most of its campers are from the United States.
The Mexican group of students was the largest concentrated group of international campers Ramah in the Rockies had ever hosted.
The Mexican campers’ presence helped accomplish one of Bock’s goals: debunking stereotypes.
“From mainstream media, I thought of Mexicans as illegal immigrants. Mexican made me think of drug cartels, and all these other negative stereotypes,” Gerwin said. “But these Mexicans live normal lives — almost American, Western lives. It shook around the stereotypes in my head.
“It was also cool to see how strong the Mexican Jewish community is,” she added.
There were also simple discoveries, such as the day that Mexican Jordan Margolis saw a waterfall and snow for the first time. “There was no way we could expect it,” the 12-year-old said. “It was amazing!”
For some of the U.S. campers, the visiting Mexicans afforded them an opportunity to practice their Spanish.
“My babysitter … taught me how to speak Spanish when I was 2,” said 10-year-old Andrew Weissburg. “It was pretty cool to get to use it.”
And there was the bridge-building. “It was so neat to be with Jews from all over the world,” said 8-year-old Emanuel Levy. “We are all one nation, one family.”