We Remember

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Camp Betar 1963(?)




Please contribute identifications of above Betarim and any additional details including year, circumstances (was that a Bet Sefer L'Madrichim?), etc.

16 comments:

  1. This is between 1960 an 1963. Camp Staff

    Shachna

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  2. Sheldon Lerman writes:

    Sitting row:
    Danny Rosing – 1st from right

    Kneeling row:
    Miriam Kalina (Fink) – 2nd from left
    Miriam (Marcita) Rosen – 3rd from left
    Yocheved (Jenny) Greenblatt – 8th from left
    Sarah Schwartzberg (Polster) – 4th from right
    Elinoar Ariav – 3rd from right
    Heather Rosing – 2nd from right

    Standing row:
    Zvi Neuwirth – 1st from left
    Benny Rosen – 2nd from left
    Reuven Genn – 4th from left
    Eddie Rosen – 9th from left
    Ben Rappaport – 10th from left
    Yosef (Gerry) Kandel – 6th from right
    Eli Solomon – 5th from right
    Tuvia (Teddy) Schwartz – 4th from right
    Shlomo (Bubie) Ariav – 3rd from right
    David (Manny) Sprung – 2nd from right
    Barak (Bruce) Koffler – 1st from right

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  3. It was 1963. And Dov Troy and his wife were there that summer too. Marty Greenfield was my opposing Gen. of color war team and is now CFO of Warner Bros. records in Calif. Chuck Hornstein z"l the young camper was about 12 years old if my memory serves me right.

    Nachman

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  4. It was definitely the summer of 1963. I don't believe that Dov Troy and his wife were there, because I've heard of them, but have never met them.
    That was the first summer that the Ariavs were there, the Canadians came for the first time, and Benny and Ben went up to camp several months before it opened - to fix things up. There is a 'famous' story of Ben and a racoon that I won't go into. Danny Rosing was the Head Counselor that year and at the end of the summer, at the Bet Sefer, Benny became the Netziv - he was the last Netziv Betar for North America and Canada and the first Rosh Hanagah. The following summer, Benny was the head counselor.
    I went up one day, before camp started, to visit the 2 Bens and was given a tour of the camp grounds - I returned with poison ivy. Shlomo assured me that it wasn't poison ivy, since there was no poison ivy anywhere on the Betar camp site. However, my doctor disagreed.
    Unfortunately, I can't make out all the faces (even with my glasses), the people I identified last night are correct and I believe that the person to the right of Ben is Chaim Frydman (aka Dr. Howard C Frydman).
    Michele, I didn't know that you were the cook the year be4. We had Simcha as the cook & what stories there are of Simcha and his temper, and Malka Mezahav was the Camp Mother and of course, the famous "neighbor" was Corby, the Sheriff.
    m.e.

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  5. I am having second thoughts and may have to stand corrected and apologize.

    My year at camp could have been in summer 1961, I was 18 and Chuck Hornstein z"l was just under 12 years old as he was born on July 30, 1950, and therefore you are all correct that the picture was taken in 1963.

    n e

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  6. I showed the photo to Benny and he also thinks it was from 1963. He believes that the person in the photo next to Reuven is Peter Vamos (sp?) and the girl next to me is Mella Polachek. BTW/ does anyone know what happened to Mella? Where does she live, etc?
    m.e.

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  7. not the camp cook, that was Rabbi Brown and the camp mother was a woman named Harriet. The man in charge of everything was a Mr. Miller and Dov was the head counselor. There was a special event the summer of 62, the dad of Jenny Greenblat came to visit with his sister who was visiting from Belgium.

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  8. Was discussing the photo w/Chuck Waxman and Benny and we realized that the person between Chaim Frydman and Gerry Kandel is Bernie Mezritch. Anyone know what he's up to?
    How about some Canadians filling in the unknown faces.

    m e

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  9. Mordechai Vachman standing third from left and kneeling first left is his wife Pamela.

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  10. Ah, Mella Polacheck

    Last I heard she married some guy and moved to NJ. Last time I spoke to her was in 1973 after the Yom Kippur War

    Shach

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  11. BTW, I found this picture over at the Facebook Camp Betar page. There are about 1000 pics there for your interest.

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  12. Looking for Mordechai Vachman. Anyone know where he is?Send responses to fredie@netvision.net.il

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  13. Can anyone tell me how many Betarim there were in Europe in 1939? How were they organised? Did they have arms? Did they participate in resistance ('Amidah") against the Germans/Nazis? Has anyone done any serious research on this subject (apart from Moshe Arens who, unfortunately, is not highly regarded in academic circles)

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  14. To Fred: there exists a three volume history of Betar ספר בית"ר, קורות ומקורות, א-ג, ירושלים ותל אביב: הוועד להוצאת ספר בית"ר, תשכ"ט-תשל"ג 1973-1969 by ח' בן-ירוחם whose real name was חֵן מֶלֶךְ מֶרְחַבְיָה and therein are all your answers. As for M Arens "not being highly regarded", that is not in "circles" but due to two academics who take issue with one of his sources.

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  15. Sorry, that should have been Peter.

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  16. Thanks for the info. Has Aren's book been reviewed in any other peer-reviewed journals?

    How do I get hold of the History of Betar?

    "Winky", Heather & Danny Rosing are currently visiting us in Australia and send their regards (Heather is my sister).

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