Where is the camp located? 

All Star Israel has two locations:  Jerusalem and Chashmonaim

All Star Israel Jerusalem is located at our new  campus, the mesorati school in Arnona neighborhood. The complex includes great outdoor and indoor spaces! 

All Star Israel  Chashmonaim is at our campus at the Chashmonaim outdoor field and indoor gym! 

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Are you allowed to register for one week now and add weeks later? 

Yes, you can register for one week at a time. We'll try to give people a heads-up before we close registration, but be aware that it’s quite possible that registration will fill up.

 

What does swimming at All Star Israel look like? 

We have both Instructional and Free Swim. The younger kids tend to have a mix, depending on the circumstances - the older kids are more into free swim, but they sometimes have instruction as well. Generally, swimming is not separate (occasionally, when it’s been logistically possible, we’ve done it). We do sometimes have campers who don’t want to go swimming (either for religious or other reasons), and there are usually other things to do during swimming, like a game of dodgeball or "follow" (to be pronounced "fo-lo", of course!) for those who aren’t going in the pool. 

 

From what locations can I get transportation?

Transportations is usually available in Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh, Efrat and the Gush, Ma’aleh Adumim, Bet Shemesh, RBS, and Modiin!

 

Is the food at All Star Israel Kosher?

All food is purchased with rabanut hechsher (or occasionally rabanut mehadrin or badatz), and any preparation is exclusively with utensils used either for dairy or meat (and generally disposable).

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Do I need to send my children with food and drinks to camp?  

There's no need to bring any food or drinks - we have plenty! 

During “Short Day” we have a simple "aruchat eser", plus snacks and drinks, and during "Extended Day" we have lunch - generally a catering company hot lunch, once or twice a week we do a special treat like Pizza, or sandwiches on a trip. We also have plenty of water. For convenience, campers can bring water bottles, which can be empty (we have cups, but campers often find it convenient to have their own bottle).

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Is All Star Israel “Dati”?

The majority of staff and campers are dati, but it isn't "only for dati families" – our experience has shown that kids from different families and backgrounds can play sports together on the same field (shocking, right?).  We do have tefila in the morning, we incorporate Jewish values in our programming, and of course, all food is kosher.

 

How many kids are in a group? How many counselors for each group?

A typical group is 16 campers and 2 staffers. This varies based on a few variables, especially the age group. For the youngest groups, 8-10 campers with two or even three counselors would be more typical - smaller groups are usually better at that age, plus no one works harder than the counselors of the youngest kids!

 

Is the facility outdoors or indoors? 

We have indoor+outdoor facilities! These include classrooms, an indoor gym, and an outdoor field and courts! 

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Do the staff members and campers speak both English and Hebrew? 

Camp staff speak English and Hebrew - and so do most campers. Communication at camp has always been great, partially because it's easy to communicate about sports, and partially because people are just very nice and friendly.

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Are there other activities besides sports, such as arts and crafts etc?

We throw in a lot of variety! This can include whole events like Color War, which incorporate elements like song contests, team banners, skits, etc.

Depending on the age group, we have some crafts, like tie-dying t-shirts. For the older groups, this is often as part of a bigger event, like Color War or “Bunk Day” (if you call it "arts and crafts", some campers are turned off, whereas if it’s about creativity and having fun, kids really get into it). For the younger groups, things like arts and crafts are a part of the usual schedule.
 

What specific sports do the kids play at All Star Israel?

You name it! The "basic sports" at camp are usually basketball, football, kickball, "ultimate football", soccer, volleyball/newcomb, softball (for the younger kids - whiffle-ball), gaga, dodgeball, floor hockey, and netball (a.k.a. handball - the one where your team is throwing a ball into a soccer net, not the one where you're bouncing a ball against a wall, which my grandmother excelled at in Brooklyn in the 1920s - no kidding!), and when it's hot, the ever-popular "3-ball sprinkler soccer". 

Every year the counselors bring in (or invent!) new games, and every year there's something unexpected that really catches on. "Frisbee golf", "Molecule Freeze Tag", "Opposite Basketball"... one year, one of the bunks was really into a game that was a strange and unexpected hybrid between kickball and basketball, which was almost incomprehensible... and they loved it! For the younger kids, there are adjustments both to the types of games (e.g. for kindergarten, some of the "sports" would be games like "Duck-duck-goose"), and to the way specific games are played (say, a smaller ball and basket, for basketball, etc.). 
 

Can I still send my kid to All Star Israel if they aren’t very athletic? 

All Star Israel isn’t a "training camp" kind of camp - it’s meant to be fun and include kids at all skill levels. We all try to improve, learn some new sports and skills, learn to believe in ourselves, and have fun playing together. As we like to say, in any activity "we can't all be the best, but we can all be our best." 

We throw in a lot of variety, like "unconventional" sports – things like "artificial turf lawn bowls", "wet-faces-cup-races", and the ever-popular "3-ball-sprinkler-soccer" - plus whole events like Color War, which incorporate elements like song contests, team banners, skits, etc. 

We also sneak in some camp-wide crafts, like tie-dying t-shirts, often as part of a bigger event, like Color War or “Bunk Day”. (If you call it "arts and crafts" some campers might be turned off, whereas if it’s about creativity and having fun, kids really get into it).

And of course, "Special Day" can be anything, and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sports.

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Tisha B'Av

We don’t have regular camp activities on Tisha B’Av (because it would be difficult, and also because we just don’t think we should), but we do generally “make it up” to people that week. Until a couple of years ago, this usually meant a special trip/activity on a different day. But recently we’ve tried something very, very special, on Tisha B’Av - and we plan to do it again this year.

 

Before we get ahead of ourselves here, we want to stress that (like all activities) there are a million reasons that the logistics of this could change. That said - it's an activity with a brilliant and wonderful organization called Kid2Kid, which takes used toys and games, fixes them up with volunteers (us!), and gives them to children’s hospitals. (They work with over a dozen hospitals and shelters in Israel!) 

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The past few years we've created an entire “Tisha B'Av Toy Factory" assembly-line, with stations for sorting the games and toys, checking them, repairing them, replacing missing parts (e.g. we had a whole bin of dice, a printer, cardboard for replacing missing things like “properties” in Monopoly and puzzle pieces, etc. etc.), and finally game-testing them.  

 

It was amazing, for all campers and parents+siblings who attended (we invited the whole family to join). I would almost say it was “too good for Tisha B’av” - but I think that if kids (and adults!) are putting real effort into ahavat chinam and tikun olam (figuratively and literally!), with real results, then we’re definitely doing the right thing. There’s such a thing as a Tisha B’Av experience that is both “appropriate” and “good”. 

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Have more questions? Give us a call, or send us a Whatsapp, at 050-790-4788.  Or email allstarisraeljerusalem@gmail.com .