Fifteen hundred kids, from fifth grade to seniors in high school are in our specific camp in the Tzipori forest. Some of them are soldiers on leave, some are older brothers involved in counseling. And of course many mothers and fathers, cooking, helping, watching. Second and third generations to scouting in the big family of Israeli Scouts.

My two daughters are deeply involved, like if they never left Israel, although they were away for one whole year, and will be away for two more.

It was stunning to see my daughters at the beginning of the summer, leaving the plane straight into the arms of their friends, as if they were an arrow shot out of a strong bow. I saw how much they wanted and tried to catch up quickly, to pick up from where they left a year ago.

Most of the summer we did not see them. I was busy anyway with the young American Jewish kids that we brought to Israel with Masada Maccabi, my other half endeavor, besides being a community Shaliach. Here I find myself volunteering to stand the watch for the camp kids, one night to be spent outside, in the humid hot August night. Together with some other fathers, with brothers, one of them my former soldier in the Artillery Basic Training Camp, a young private seven years ago. He remembers me. I was the post's commanding officer. It is a funny reunion. He recalls funny stories, but has good memories from that period. Now we stand the watch together. I was assigned the last shift, between three and six AM. A young man briefs us and we are assigned old carabin guns. These will be the weapons for our shift.

The pine woods are filled with hundreds of tents, built from ropes, jute cloth and wooden poles. Towers, fences, and different constructions remind the �Choma U Migdal�, �Tower and Fence� settlements that were characteristic to the pre-state period of Israel, when the only way to establish a new settlement was to create a fact of self-sustained, self-protected settlement, �out of nowhere�, during one night.

Each Scout �tribe� (this is the way Israeli Scouts are organized, each settlement compounding a tribe, the tribe divided to age levels, �Battalions� etc.) has a special allocation, decorating and building their quarters as beautiful and as genuine as they can. They will be judged on it in a contest consisting of different subjects. They will contest on the best kitchen, the tidiest quarters, the most beautiful camp, the cleanest area. The level of activity and counseling will be evaluated too.

They are judged on a special project, too. They built a large construction dealing with the main subject of the camp, that is the gathering of the different Jewish Diaspora communities in the land of Israel. In Hebrew it is �Kibbutz Galuyot�. Moving wooden dinosaurs, huge wooden Aliyah ships, towers, buildings and so much more. It is a large scale project that one can hardly imagine. All of it self constructed from the same �field� materials, ropes, jute cloth, blankets, flags. I take many pictures.

In the evening, all the groups get together in an open field to a ceremony. The different prizes won during the week-long contest are announced. Loud cheers shake up the crowd, and many of the ecstatic kids run in front of the huge group with the tribe and national flags, shouting cheers of joy and pride for their different achievements.

�Atten-tion!� �Eddies!� �Attention!� �Eddies!�

Fire signs are lit. They depict the logo of the Scouts (the Fleur de Lyss), several themes of �Kibbutz Galuyot�, that is �the gathering of the Diaspora communities�, gathering of Jews from all over the world, and others. Some fire signs describe the tribes and their names, others are cheers for the groups. It is another part of the contest.

Each tribe prepared a different fire sign, with slogans and symbols invented by the children and their counselors. Those will be judged too, by size, efficiency and ingenuity. Clouds of dust and joy mingle with the smoke of the fire signs, while the black night serves as a background. Small �Chinese Lamps� on the ground show the borders between the groups.

The prizes are given, the speakers have finished, the kids are ecstatic with joy and pride, it is time for fireworks. When the fireworks end (it used to be without fireworks in �our time�, years ago, but then again without cell phones and loud disco music, too). In a strange twist we switch to end up the joyful ceremony with the solemn �Ha Tikva�, the national anthem. A somewhat surrealistic picture, but so natural to all the present people.

The fifteen hundred kids, their counselors, some guests, parents and friends all join in a strange choir that sings in what seems like waves, since they can not keep up singing at the same pace through the long lines that make the ceremony.

When this is over, it is time to come back to the camp. All the age levels get together to their late evening activities, and prepare to what is supposed to be for some of them �good-night� time, while funnily enough for the older kids it is fun time, as the loudspeakers from different corners still keep pouring disco music into the camp (why not old Israeli songs?). The younger scouts retire to their self-built tents, enjoying their own privacy, socializing, laughing, writing thank you and farewell notes to the counselors for tomorrow. They will present those with some candies to the young counselors. It takes till almost 2 AM when they finally fall asleep.

I am looking for my oldest daughter, Gili. She belongs already to the older group, although she only finished the freshmen year. This is the first year she belongs to the counselors level. She clearly enjoys it. A week ago she came home from the first stage of this camp quite dehydrated and tired but with a different sense of adulthood. She felt a sense of accomplishment. They marched eighteen kilometers, some twelve miles, during a two-day march in the nature. Then they shared different activities, having very interesting and challenging experiences. They visited a Reform synagogue and a Conservative one (�without walls�), discussed different points of view about Judaism and about what it means being Jewish in different streams in Israel (!). She was quite overwhelmed. It was a part of a seminar they all went through.

It is time for some cultural events. I find Gili�s group. They are in the midst of a meeting. Other parents are present, later we'll be asked to leave them alone. I sit down quietly and listen. Among other things, they are summing up and having a farewell party from the older members of the tribe, the alumni, the eighteen-year-olds.

All of a sudden the oldest members of the tribe understand that they are about to leave the tribe. They will �pass on the command� to the younger generations. In the next few months they will join the army. A few of them will volunteer in remote developmental settlements, helping with other youth movements, cultural and educational activities, etc. Some of them might not come back from the military service. They all know that, although nobody is mentioning it. It is somewhere in the public sub-conscience, and it gives a double and deep meaning to this farewell.

The younger generation is looking up to them with admiration. The voices are unclear and tears are running down the faces. A dramatic change is going through these kids. How glad I am I got to witness this. Otherwise it would have been difficult even for me to understand. My little girls are growing up, too. I realize I was allowed to witness an intimate and special moment in their lives. Tears and laughs are melting together in an unbelievable cocktail of sorrow, happiness and pride. The alumni are passing the leadership to the youngest generation. They take leave. They ask and almost beg them to keep the tradition and high level of achievement further on. This is a pure Israeli �rite de passage�. Everyone goes through this, at different times and places, several times during their puberty and childhood.

In the background, tribes from other settlements, kibbutzim and towns are doing the same. Songs are filling the forest in a feeling of brotherhood and sisterhood one could not understand if he does not see it, maybe even then not. Hands are clapping, the word goes round, all the �old� scouts are summing up their scouts �career� one by one. They summarize seven or eight years of close involvement with a great group of kids and with great adventure, with the �vessel� that carried them from childhood to maturity. �We do not resemble each other, we are all different, but he who brought us together; he did a great job� says one of the alumni.

Those are the same kids that so beautifully represented Israel and the Scouts when visiting our community in Cherry Hill a few months ago.

Away from their parents, away from the city, in a pine tree forest in the Lower Galilee, people are summing up a fantastic adventure. They sum up their childhood in the most Israeli way. Under a million star sky, a half moon that looks down smiling, a great link is bonding these kids together. Feelings of brotherhood, of togetherness, of belonging to something bigger, to a nation in the land of Israel. Dirty and full of sand and pride, smelling from sweat and tears, they express shyly feelings of belonging.

On the other side of the camp my youngest daughter is sharing a self-built tent with six other good friends from her former class. A great group of kids that kept in close touch during this year, despite the six thousand miles that separated them. It is absolutely amazing. She joined them as soon as the plane landed and was encircled with love and warm friendships that had deep roots in their past experiences. The are only eleven year old, but have a special friendship.

I will close the laptop soon, get a couple of hours to sleep before I will wake up to my shift. Three to six. It's been long since I did not witness the sunrise from a camp full with youth, pure motivation and joy. It reminds me of other times, of course.

During the three-hour long shift I get to know someone I never met before. He is an electronic engineer from Ramat ha Sharon near Tel-Aviv. We discuss at length the different problems regarding the latest developments in the Israeli society, from the different Jewish movements to the youth, motivation to the military service and others. The loud music stopped by now, and the kids are asleep. The night is quiet, and gentle winds are caressing the camp. A few �night birds� are still up, but soon they will give up, too.

In the communications center, another wooden self-built little hut, the young Scout is half-asleep while he tries to figure out what is going on in the communications network. The �Tnuva� truck arrives with fresh milk and dairy products at around four AM, and shortly after the �Burekas� (dough filled with potatoes in a Bulgarian style, very popular in Israel) arrives too. At five AM, the �economia� (the term used in the early days of the Palmach for the food and maintenance departments) guys set the breakfast products in piles for the tribe representatives that are soon to arrive to pick it up.

The skies are lit with the dawn colors I like so much. For years I was awake at these times, at morning alert times in the military. It is the purest part of the day, one that is not yet congested with worries, thoughts, urgent cell phone calls or loud speaking. It is a special time for thought, a gift of God to those who are awake. It seems I use it well today.

My new friend and me are almost finished dealing with most of our society's problems (ha! ha!), suggesting some solutions as well, and it is now time to separate. We make a last round, watching all the cuddled kids, some in their sleeping bags, some without; their faces colored with paint, mud, and tired smiles. Soon they will wake up and pack, dismantle all the great projects they built, clean the wood and go home. They will leave the forest, together with some very meaningful memories they will cherish for the rest of their lives.

It is now six o'clock in the morning. One of the tribes is awake already, having a farewell activity. The kids are half-asleep, and the ceremony, which consists of songs, sketches and farewell greetings, is strangely quiet. The morning fatigue gives it a special touch, maybe even more meaningful. Kids are attentive, though some of them are lying on the ground, dreaming or sleeping.

Counselors and kids are exchanging small symbolic gifts they prepared the night before, or brought from home. It is a sad time of departure and farewell, and tears are common on both sides.

I am trying to capture with my camera the very special ambiance that surrounds the awakening camp. The �economia� guys are calling the tribe representatives to pick up the breakfasts. The August sun starts to hit hard.

After greeting my two daughters with a �Good-morning�, I say good bye and leave. By seven thirty I get home and go to bed for a good couple of hours. My own fatigue and impressions will accompany me through the day. I feel like I was a little in camp, too.

In the late afternoon, my youngest daughter comes home. It was another long hot day. It is hard to tell what part is the daughter and what part is the dirt and mud, but the enthusiasm she carries into the house is endless and contagious. She gives us an account of the main events, going into details, in spite of her obvious fatigue. We listen carefully, Grandpa and Grandma (and all of us) are very proud of her. She mentions meaningful details, and she had a great time. Her bags are covered with red dust. �Quite a few wash loads!� my wife says.

My oldest daughters stayed there, to help with the last activities to restore the place as it was. They sent the �Chanichim� (the trainees) home, but have a lot of work before the will come home themselves. It is an inherent part of the mission and of the education these youngsters are getting. The mission is done only when everything is clean and in order, and the wood is back to normal. It is 8 PM when she gets home, dirty, tired, happy, and very proud.

Both kids are very tired. Yet they continue the detailed account. They sing together some of the camp songs, like if to try and continue the camp and carry it home. We enjoy listening, watching their enthusiastic and tired little faces. It is time for a hot bath, a couple of cold drinks. Some of Grandma's delicious food. Now the bed is waiting.

As for me, again, I am so happy to be able to witness this, and share it with you.