Two Versions of Me - More Than I Arrived As
Hadracha member, Jonah Bloch, expresses the profound impact his FZY journey has had on his life and actively choosing his Jewish identity.
I sometimes think about the version of me who stood on the edge of their first FZY camp. Covid year. Bubbles. Massive bag, tiny me. Walking into a future of Jewish identity and discovery that I had not yet pictured. I did not know it at the time, but I was stepping into a space that would slowly define me as a person, a Jew and a leader.
I remember sitting in the car with my mum as she asked me, “Do you want to go on FZY camp this year?” As a four-foot-eleven Year Seven, I reluctantly agreed, mostly so I would have something to do over the summer, without really knowing what FZY actually was. That summer camp four years ago, I came for the fun, but I stayed for the friendships that followed me home and stayed with me long after the last day.
After Covid and the world reopening, it was time for my first real experience of an FZY camp in Year Eight. I made even more friends, played lots of football, went swimming, put toothpaste in my friend’s shoes and destroyed two iPads. That was the first year when fun really turned into friendship, and friendship turned into belonging. I did not go on FZY camp in Year Nine, and that is something I regret, because camps have been some of the best times of my life so far.
Year Ten FZY summer camp. I simply have no words to describe how good those ten days were. Unforgettable, unbelievable, yet unsurprising, because that is just what FZY do. Before camp, I found out that my three best friends and I were sharing a room with four boys from Manchester. I remember thinking, “That’s a shame, I would have loved to have Londoners in my room instead.” That thought could not have been more wrong. Meeting those boys changed my life. Our room every single night was one of the funniest and most incredible experiences I have ever had. Now they come down to London to see us, and we have been up to Manchester to see them too. Friendships I never could have imagined existing.
That was also the first camp since the tragedies of October 7th, and through many discussions and conversations, I realised just how much Israel truly means to me. Year Ten camp was the year I really came out of my shell. I had an amazing group, two incredible leaders, Uriah and Yasmin, and met so many more people. We went to the beach, had another year of Maccabiah and went paintballing. One of my favourite memories, though, was family time, where every night eight other people and I sat with a leader and reflected on the day. I remember those late-night red dice talks so clearly, and I wish I could go back.
Three weeks in Israel felt like stepping into a living story, one I had heard my whole life but only truly understood once I was standing inside it. With Danny, Talya and Joel leading us, our Tour group became more than just people on the same bus. We became a moving community, stitched together by long journeys, music, dancing, sport and countless conversations that lasted long after the lights went out. We watched the sun set over the Kotel, wandered through markets heavy with the smell of spices and fresh challah, saw the huge guns carried by IDF soldiers and stood barefoot in the Dead Sea, a surreal experience. We climbed Masada, sand-surfed across deserts and even slept under the stars with no roof above us.
Maccabiah was the day that truly brought the whole tour together. Every single FZY tour in one place, friends reunited, massive opening and closing ceremonies. It felt like something out of a movie. My tour did not win Maccabiah, but we did at least win the one-shot video challenge.
There were also tough moments on Tour. Halfway through, on the day we visited Yad Vashem and Har HaMenuchot cemetery, I received the news late at night that my grandma had passed away. It was an incredibly difficult thing to process, especially after the day we had experienced. I mention this because that moment showed me that FZY is not just a movement. My group, my leaders and simply being in Israel carried me through a time when I did not know how to carry myself. That is what happens at FZY. Everyone is there for each other.
By the time we had to say goodbye to Tour, I realised that thanks to FZY, I had never felt closer to Israel, not just as a place on the map, but as something woven into who I am. I now have lifelong friends, memories and experiences, as well as a sense of Jewish identity that no longer feels distant, but deeply and undeniably mine.
Even after all the camps and Tour, I am still involved with FZY, training to become a leader with Aidan and Joel at Hadracha every Thursday. I am so glad I chose to continue my journey with FZY. Inspired by the people who shaped me, I now want to learn how to do the same for the future of the movement.
When I look back, my journey through FZY is not measured in dates or destinations, but in moments that linger. Starting chants at dinner, every Maccabiah, a late-night conversation with someone from a different city who now feels like family. Somewhere between camps, Israel tour and Hadracha sessions, I realised that none of us simply follow the circle at FZY. We shape it, hold it and pass it forward. Through FZY, my Jewish identity has stopped being something I inherited and has become something I actively choose to live and lead, alongside others who now feel like family.
