עוד לא אבדה תקוותנו

Of the many, many great things that Ramah does - and God knows I'm not bashful about identifying them - few might rival what I experienced last Thursday on בן יהודה.

For the second time in a few years, Ramah Wisconsin's visionary תקווה co-director, Rose Sharon, worked with Birthright Israel to create an opportunity for our תקווה campers - mostly kids with Aspberger's, though some with other so-called high-functioning autism or autistism-like diagnoses - to take part in their birthright as well - a trip to Israel.

I'm not sure of the finances behind the whole thing, though I assume it's a free trip, but last week there were something like 18 Jewish kids in Israel who, without Rose and Birthright, never would have been here on an organized group trip, designed specifically for them. About half of the group were Wisconsin alumnae - current campers and עצמאים.

There were some communication problems with my visit, during their hour-ish stint downtown, shopping and experiencing the Jerusalem they had always been told about by their counselors and the משלחת, so I had the profound pleasure of running into them randomly and trying to track them down.

Sam was walking up בן יהודה, wondering what I was doing here in Israel, and if I had really come to see him or it was just a coincidence. He was having too much fun on the whole trip to be able to identify what he liked best about the trip.

I hunted down Omer - for many years now a dear friend, in התו השמיני, where he was head-bopping away as he listened to music on the store's sound system with headphones. He was, to say the least, pretty shocked to see me when I tapped him on the back, and almost broke my ribs with his hug. (Omer is a great hugger.) We had a nice talk - he's not sure if he's coming back to camp or not, but he's on vacation and didn't want to talk business - and, when asked if he was ready to go home (they were leaving for the airport later in the afternoon), Omer responded, "Are you kidding me? I want to stay here forever, I don't want to leave - just like camp." A man of my own heart (well, about camp at least).

Walking up the מדרחוב hoping to find the other kids, I came across a beautiful sight in Burger King: Becker, Phoebe, and Gili finishing up their lunch. Well, Phoebe and Gili were finishing up; Becker, having ordered three whoppers, wasn't sure if he was going to eat the last one or not - maybe he'd save it for later. We had a rousing time there, with the kids eager and excited to talk about coming back to camp, and I also got to catch up with Marci Hammer, most famous now for being Mia's aunt. As I was leaving, the security guard, clearly flummoxed, said to me in broken English, "your friends are giving me a headache - please tell them that." As I tried not to crack up, and tempted to enter into a diatribe about those kids laughter being worth far more than his pain, I just said, twice, "אני מצטער" - once for his headache and once for not telling them to be quiet.

On my way up the מדרחוב to get to some camp interviews for which I was late, I came across Kenny, again incredulous that I was where I was to visit him. We took a picture together and chatted.

Say what you will about the state of the world - murderous Santas, car accidents in חנוכה parties, corrupt governments in Illinois and Israel, a war action in ancient Philistia, and much more - I could think of nothing that captured the Christmas spirit more than my thirty minutes on Thursday afternoon: עוד לא אבדה תקוותנו.