Join the tribe!
Children of Israeli parents in North Jersey are flocking to Tzofim
It’s not unusual to see kids and teens running around Israel dressed in the uniforms of youth movements. Those organization include the Tzofim. That’s Israel Scouts.
These very popular groups often are credited for shaping confident, competent young leaders with a can-do attitude of teamwork, outside-the-box problem-solving skills, and a large network of peers. All of which serve them well in their military and civilian careers, not to mention in their social life.
For children of Israeli parents living in North America, Tzofim fills an additional set of needs. It offers a safe space and a sense of belonging within a fun framework infused with Israeli culture, Hebrew language, and Zionist pride.
Many Israeli expats in communities in North Jersey and MetroWest also see Tzofim as a warm Jewish community where their public-school kids can experience the feeling of not being in the minority once every week.
This aspect of Tzofim is even more critical since October 7.
Yaniv Biran, CEO of Tzofim North America, said, “Tzofim serves as a haven for Israeli children in the U.S., many of whom feel increasing alienation in their non-Jewish, non-Israeli schools. We create a nurturing environment, where they can embrace their identity, connect with peers facing similar challenges, and develop the confidence to stand against antisemitism.”
Altogether, about 4,500 elementary and high school students are involved in 27 troops across North America. The older teens meet separately and then act as counselors for the younger groups, guided by parent volunteers and adult counselors from Israel provided through the Jewish Agency.
The Tenafly chapter, Shevet Metzada, is the biggest Tzofim troop – “shevet” literally means “tribe” — in the United States, with 560 members. Established in 2002, Shevet Metzada meets at the Kaplen JCC on the Palisades on Sundays.
There is also a shevet in Fair Lawn, and another in Livingston. That’s the unit for all of MetroWest’s Israeli kids.
Meirav and Mark Milman of Demarest signed up their firstborn, Noam, for daycare at the Kaplen JCC 18 years ago. They began going on Sundays for family activities as well, and that’s how they encountered Tzofim.
“We would see beautiful kids wearing Tzofim uniforms leading other kids, with remarkable behavior and maturity, speaking Hebrew and building a relationship to Israel and what it is to be Israeli and to be a Jewish Israeli in America,” Ms. Milman said.
“I found it fascinating and I wanted my kids to be part of it. I wanted it so much that I joined the parent committee of the shevet, and it has surpassed my expectations.”
Noam, who is 20 years old, joined Tzofim in third grade, although now the minimum age is fourth grade, as it is in Israel. Edan Alexander of Tenafly, who is now held hostage in Gaza, was part of Tzofim and in Noam’s age group.
When Noam was a junior in Northern Valley High School, she started Tzamid, a program to involve kids with special needs in Shevet Metzada. After graduating, she volunteered in Israel for a year with children and adults with special needs, through a Tzofim program. Now she’s at Rutgers and is hoping to continue her education at Tel Aviv University.
Noam’s younger siblings — Liam, a rising senior at Northern Valley High School; Yoni, going into eighth grade at Demarest Middle School; and Shiran, going into fifth grade at Demarest Middle School — all formed their closest friendships at Tzofim, their mother said.
Ms. Milman added that the Hamas attack on October 7 “was a huge shock to the whole community, and a lot of people were afraid; some took mezuzahs off their doors. Very fast, we saw Tzofim was a base of confidence for the kids and their parents.”
There was some discussion regarding the safety of continuing activities as usual.
“Some parents were afraid to have such a large group of Israelis gather,” she said. “But we saw, week to week, more kids coming to Tzofim for a piece of sanity in the craziness. They can be together and speak Hebrew and talk about their feelings and about Israel without fear.
“This is their safety zone, a place to be with other Israeli friends, and even just to be a kid. We try hard to keep it that way.”
Shiri Cohen of Tenafly, the head parent volunteer of Shevet Metzada, added that in the first three months after October 7, parents came and patrolled around the JCC building during meetings. The local police “are very dedicated and alert to this issue too,” she said.
Ms. Cohen emphasized that the weekly activities are “always about fun and, in the Scouting tradition, how to do things on your own, how to be an individual in a group, and how to work in a group. The added value for us is that the counselors speak Hebrew.”
Shevet Lehava, a smaller troop in Fair Lawn, was established in 2000 and now counts about 80 members.
Orli Musai-Shalom of Fair Lawn said she and her husband, Shai, both Israeli immigrants, appreciate that Shevet Lehava has helped their three older children “understand where we’re coming from” — that being Israeli is not just about “listening to Omer Adam and eating hummus.”
Thanks to Tzofim, she said, they appreciate “why I get goosebumps every time I hear ‘Hatikvah,’” Israel’s national anthem.
“Neither Shai nor I were in Tzofim growing up in Israel, but we felt it’s a really great community and we wanted to be in it,” Ms. Musai-Shalom said. “Everything is about community. We understand even more, after October 7, that we have to be there for each other. It’s great to have other friends, including non-Jews, but the Tzofim community makes us feel at home and that our kids are in a good place.”
Her oldest child, Eden, 15, is going into 10th grade at Fair Lawn High school and will be a Shevet Lehava counselor in the coming school year. Her 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, both students at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, also are members of the tribe; her youngest child is not yet old enough for Tzofim.
Ms. Musai-Shalom took time from work to volunteer at a recent four-day training camp for Tzofim members from across North America who, like Eden, will be counselors in the fall. Mr. Musai-Shalom took off from his job to stay home with the three younger children. This is a testament to how much the movement means to them.
“It was beautiful to see kids getting to know each other from different places in the U.S.,” Ms. Musai-Shalom said. “They all felt more united because of the war. And I understood better the tools these kids are getting for the future, which will help them in college or later, on their first job interviews.”
She recalled that at first, her two oldest children were reluctant to join Tzofim. “We kind of said, ‘You’ve got to do it for us, give it another year,’ and now they love it. To see a kid who didn’t want to go to Tzofim, to going happily, to becoming a counselor, is so exciting. I have known the counselors in Shevet Lehava since they were in diapers, and I get so emotional seeing their journey.
“They’re American, not Israeli, and to see how they speak in Hebrew and have that connection with Israel is so amazing.”
Although Tzofim is not a religious youth movement, the Musai-Shaloms are happy that the group exposes the children to Jewish and Israeli culture and holidays — even special Israeli traditions such as Operation Dugo on January 18, a day designated by the late Holocaust survivor David “Dugo” Leitner for eating falafel.
Inspired by her positive experiences in Tzofim, Eden also became active in her high school’s Jewish Student Union, sponsored by NCSY, the youth movement of the Orthodox Union. She is in Israel this summer on an NCSY program for public school students.
Yuval Harari, 19, a “graduate” of Shevet Metzada in Tenafly, also is in Israel this summer. He is doing “Shnat Sherut,” a year of service volunteering. This varied job involves working with kids in elementary schools, teen centers, and a Tzofim shevet in Haifa, where he takes a leadership role and mentors the high school-age counselors.
Mr. Harari, who was born in Israel, moved to New Jersey with his parents, Maayan and Ofer, when he was 6. He’s a graduate of Cresskill High School.
“I look at Shevet Metzada as a second home that provided me with so much love and support every Sunday with all the Israelis in my community,” he said. “It was somewhere I always felt safe, where I could be myself and wear the uniform with the Israeli flag on it.
“I spent more than 15 hours a week in my senior year working on Tzofim activities. All my friends were from there.”
Mr. Harari’s extended family lives in Israel, and now he’s spending every weekend with his grandparents in Tel Aviv. “Because I was part of a really big Israeli community, talking in Hebrew all the time and experiencing Israeli culture, I didn’t have much culture shock coming to Israel,” he said. “And some of my friends from Tzofim are doing Shnat Sherut as well, so I have built-in friends here.”
He hopes to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces through Garin Tzabar, a program founded by Tzofim in 1991 to provide guidance and support to cohorts of young Jewish adults who wish to serve in the IDF as lone soldiers, meaning their immediate families are not living in Israel.
Tzofim also sponsors Chetz V’Keshet — Arrow and Bow — a 25-day Israel experience for 21 American and British Jewish 14- to 18-year-olds. Accompanied by Israeli peers, Chetz V’Keshet participants tour Israel and volunteer in the south for a week. Participants who are older than 16 spend five days at a premilitary training experience called Gadna, aimed to impart a deeper understanding of Israel’s defense forces and foster a sense of responsibility and teamwork.
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