David Gale, the Gemini award-winning stage and television actor, producer, director and writer hosted Massad Live @ 60 on May 26, 2013, an evening of shtick, song and celebration in honour of Camp Massad’s 60^th anniversary. Camp Massad, located just outside of Winnipeg Beach, is the only Hebrew speaking residential summer camp in all of North America.

“You won’t ride a horse or jet-ski but the spirit and energy won’t leave you,” joked Gale about the summer camp.

“You can go to camp not knowing a word of Hebrew and go home fluent enough to say ‘pass the ketchup’.”

Gale used an ipad to assist him with his on stage routine. He said, “At camp we call these “Anee”- pads or if you went to Peretz Shul you will know them as “Ich”-pads.”

Camp Massad shaped my life. I turned what I did at camp –writing and performing shtik – into a career.”

Massad Live @ 60 featured top local and imported talent, including Second City comedian Alan Kliffer; Winnipeg musical stalwarts Shayla Fink and Kinzey Posen from the Klezmer band Finjan; local reggae band Inna Riddim; the Camp Massad Alumni Choir; the a capella group Alumni; and rising vocal star Elliot Lazar

A plethora of creative and energetic talents showed their support for Camp Massad. The 250 people in the audience thoroughly enjoyed former Winnipegger Alan Kliffer’s racy comic routine and his impersonation of Katherine Hepburn.

He opened his act with "I'm the next David Gale" and then made a joke about running away from camp, but still coming back each year because he realized he liked being chased by men. Then he translated and sang some Hebrew camp songs literally into English which made for a hysterical reaction.  

Fink and Posen entertained with popular Hebrew, English, Klezmer, Chassidic, Israeli folk and Yiddish tunes. Lead vocalist and guitarist Jeff Diamond and his band Inni Riddim alternated between enjoyable reggae and classic Israeli Hebrew folk songs. The Camp Massad Alumni choir sang traditional Camp Massad melodies that had the audience clapping and singing along.

Steven Schipper, artistic director of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and an appointee to the Order of Canada, directed Massad Live @ 60 while Elliot Lazar served as the show’s co-director. Event chairs were Mia Elfenbaum and Paula Sturrey.

The camp’s capital fundraising campaign was launched at the event and the results of the silent phase of the campaign were announced.  

“The success of the capital campaign will enable us to embark on many long over-due major campsite renovations including landscaping, levelling the site, planting trees, paving the parking lot, remodeling  and modernizing cabins, and creating new program spaces to enhance camper experience and augment the amazing programming opportunities that Camp Massad has been offering for 60 years. So far we have raised $342,969 towards our goal of $1.0M, said Ivy Kopstein, capital campaign co-chair.

“We would like to thank our major donors: Debbie Gray, Marjorie and Morley Blankstein, and the Asper Foundation for their generous contributions.”

“Camp Massad is where future Jewish community leaders are created. It is where the love of Israel is instilled. It is where Jewish values are intrinsic to daily life and where Hebrew is a living language. Massad is a melting pot where friendships are formed and bonds are created that go beyond the confines of one’s school, synagogue, community, or neighbourhood,” said Kopstein.

For more information about Camp Massad see www.campmassad.ca