Parents Visit Young Judaea Summer Camp to Remember Daughter, Killed on October 7

September 17, 2024

Nearly a year after their daughter, Gili Adar, 24, was murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on October 7, Orna and Eldad Adar wrote about their recent visit to Camp Tel Yehudah, a Young Judaea teen leadership summer camp in Barryville, NY, where Gili worked in 2019 and 2022.

“There was Gili in her old room with the world map and desk she brought. There was Gili on the roof that she watched the sunset from, even though it was (technically) forbidden. But more than anything, we felt Gili’s presence in the young people at camp, who captured the message she’d want to send to American Jews right now,” her parents wrote in an article published by The Jerusalem Post.

“On one Saturday night, we saw 400 young Jewish American campers dancing on the grass to Israeli songs,” they continued. “This dance session reflected two of the things Gili cared most about: close relationships between American and Israeli Jews, and the joy of life.”

In the article, they urged young American Jews to remember that they “don’t have to choose between loving Israel and criticizing it: they can have a complex relationship that includes both.”

Hadassah is committed to developing a connection to Jewish life and Israel through its support of Young Judaea.