My Piece of the Puzzle

Jenna’s understanding of Judaism guides her daily; she has a love for the faith that far too few have. She says that she has heard that much of the fighting in the world is because of religion and she strongly disagrees – it might be taking place in the name of religion but it is not because of religion. Jenna points out that “Judaism is the foundation for several religions and it is beautiful, in all of its pieces.” She proudly mentions that she is sure to take a few minutes every morning and every night to have a conversation with Hashem – using it as a time for self-reflection and for giving thanks.

The family moved to Ein Sarid, a moshav between Ra’anana and Netanya. After high school, Jenna did a gap year program in Israel working with youth at risk, and then joined the IDF as a social worker, assigned to a combat unit. She thoroughly enjoyed her time in the army and wanted to stay, so she signed up to become an officer – something she had been dreaming of for many years. 

With a “coincidental” (we know there’s no such thing) turn of events, Jenna was rejected because of one test score in high school – in fact, high school was not a place where she felt successful at all. It angered her so much that she took a “mental health day” off from the army and was just browsing the internet when she saw that there was an opportunity for soldiers from Israel to go to a summer camp in the USA.

She had heard about summer camps and had never thought of participating, however, because she was mad at the army and looking for something else to do, she applied. She was accepted to spend a few months of her army service as a counselor at Camp Ramapo in New York. Ramapo is known for mainstreaming children with disabilities by pairing them with typically performing kids.

This is where Jenna saw the magic begin to happen – many of the campers were teens at risk and were able to join the special needs children at the various activities. She decided that she had to do this in Israel, but at 21, she was unsure of how to make it happen.

For the next few summers, Jenna raised money for airfare and brought six Israeli kids with her to camp. At Ramapo, she met Shaked Karp, also a counselor brought in from Israel. Jenna and Shaked knew that this magical experience had to happen in Israel. They created an organization called My Piece of the Puzzle and continued raising money to bring six Israelis to camp in the States.

One day, she received a call from a Knesset member whom she had met months before. He explained that he was doing a radio show that

night and would like to interview her. She agreed, and though there was almost no response to the show, I had the good fortune to have heard the interview and called Jenna. She explained to me what they were doing and what they wanted to do in the future.

One of the foundations I represent was very interested and helped fund 12 Israeli kids to go to camp that summer with Jenna and Shaked. The following year, they decided to finally make their dreams come true, to open a summer program in Israel. The main idea was that they would be able to reach more kids, particularly lower functioning kids who couldn’t travel. In fact, that first summer they had 36 at-risk teens and special needs kids! They came from all over Israel, and Jenna says, “It worked like magic – it was better than I thought it would be.”

What is the magic we keep talking about? Jenna explains that the magic is that “they get from each other what they need. They are in an environment that doesn’t judge them. It doesn’t matter if you are pretty or skinny or tall – you can just be yourself. And everybody wants love and everybody wants to feel part of it.” Sadly, many of these kids rarely feel that, even at home, even with their own families. The youth at risk are not “counselors” to those with special needs, rather “they feed off each other’s positive energies,” Jenna says while beaming a huge smile. “One day you are the one who is helping, and the next day you’re the one who needs help. You are always helping and being helped, never just one or the other and that’s why it works so well.”

The camp is a cross-section of Israeli society and includes kids from all sectors including religious, secular, Jewish, Arab, rich and poor, etc.  Again, she emphasizes, “At camp, the kids are free to just be themselves.” The counselor-camper ratio is 2:1, and all of the counselors are volunteers. When asked how she finds so many counselors, Jenna replied, “Just like the kids want to be loved and included, so do the adults. I get phone calls for weeks and weeks from people wanting to help.” 

After several summers of a very successful camp – now up to 100 kids and two sessions – Jenna decided to expand the program for the full school year so that instead of saying goodbye at camp, there would be opportunities to continue the friendships made. My Piece of the Puzzle is currently running 10 school-year groups of 14 kids each (half teens at risk and half kids with special needs) throughout the country. 

If that challenge wasn’t enough, Jenna wanted to help the kids after they finish high school as well, so she has now opened a gap year program for 2021-2022 with 30 kids (yes, half at-risk teens and half with special needs) spending six months