Seven hundred and fifty campers and staff members, the entire population of United Jewish Appeal-Federation’s Surprise Lake Camp, locked arms to form a chain a half mile long along the banks of the camp lake. The event, dubbed "Hands Across Surprise Lake" by the organizer, camp supervisor Joel Kaufman, was staged to demonstrate the campers’ solidarity with the Jews in the Soviet Union who want to leave but who are not allowed out.
"In July, only thirty-one Jews were permitted to leave the Soviet Union. This is less than a trickle, when you realize that in 1979 an average of more than 4,000 Jews were allowed out each month. There are four hundred thousand Jews waiting to leave," Kaufman said.
"Many of our campers have relatives still in Russia," said executive director Jordan Dale. "The problems the Jews face in Russia hits close to home with them."
James Shekhter, II, left the Soviet Union five years ago. "My grandparents are still there. They used to babysit for me every day. They always bought me a lot of toys. It doesn’t seem fair that there people can’t leave but here they can go as they please. My grandparents can’t even visit me. I miss them," Shekhter said.
Donna Marder, 10, left the USSR when she was four. "I feel sad thinking about my grandparents in Russia. But I feel happy today because I know people here care about them," she said. Larry Parker, 9, says he knows his parents came here so that he could live in freedom. "They could have stayed there," he said. "My mother says it was cleaner over there. But she wanted me to have the opportunities and education in America."
‘THE KIDS GOT ALL FIRED UP ABOUT IT’
"When we first decided to do this, we were thinking we would raise money for Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry in Manhattan," Kaufman said. "We told the kids they could contribute no more than a dollar each. But we soon realized that their willingness and enthusiasm to participate in the event meant much more than the fund-raising part. The kids got all fired up about it. They came up with the idea of having their human chain undulate. Participation in the event was optional, and yet every camper and staff member chose to participate in it."
"The kids have such a rich spirit of giving. It’s a joy to watch them doing something for others and at the same time having a good time at it," Dale said.
"The kids know that giving isn’t a one-day only thing around here. Our camp adopted several Soviet Jewish families and wrote letters to them. We also participated in ‘Wish Upon a Jewish Star,’ a New York Conference for Soviet Jewry project. Each camper made and decorated a Jewish star from ice cream sticks. The stars were tied together and will be tied with other camps’ stars and sent to President Reagan to show their solidarity with the Jews of Russia."
The camp, located in the lush foothills of Putnam County’s Hudson River Valley, celebrated its 80th anniversary earlier this year. The late Eddie Cantor, singer Neil Diamond and New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams were former Surprise Lake campers. Many of the camp’s activities center around the camp’s pristine lake.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
