Nechama Laber
Nechama grew up in Brooklyn, NY and studied at the Beth Rivkah School. She received a degree in education from the Chaya Mushkah Teacher's Seminary in Montreal, Canada. She continued her studies in lesson planning and special education at Touro College in Brooklyn, NY. Nechama traveled each summer from the age of 15 to various Jewish camps around the world to be a counselor. She spend summers in Suffern, NY; St. Louis, Missouri; Rochester, NY; Denver, Colorado. After completing her teaching degree, Nechama spent four months in Charkov, Ukraine; to study with children and adults about their Jewish heritage and to head a day camp and one month overnight camp. Before coming to Troy, she taught at the Beth Rivkah schools in Montreal and NY. She has also been a Hebrew (Sunday) school teacher at the Free Hebrew for Juniors in Montreal, Beth Israel of Schenectady, NY and with her husband, Rabbi Laber, reopened the Beth Tephilah Hebrew School in 1997, where she currently teaches. Nechama is a teacher at the Maimonidies Hebrew Day School and since 1998 has taught all grades from nursery to High School. She founded the Capital Region Bat Mitzvah Club in 1998 and the Bat Mitzvah Camp in the year 2000. Nechama and her husband, Rabbi Avraham Laber, who is the Rabbi of Congregation Beth Tephilah, have lived in Troy since1996 and have 6 children, Baruch Hashem. "It has been such a joy to be a part of the growing BMC family. We welcome all Jewish girls to join the BMC experience." says Nechama Laber.

Rabbi Laber
Rabbi Avraham Laber studied and received Smicha from the central Lubavitch Yeshiva in Brooklyn. He spent four summers as director of a 4 week overnight camp in Moscow, Russia and can speak Russian fluently. In September 1996, he became the Rabbi of Beth Tephilah Synagogue. Rabbi Laber is also a historian specializing in early American Jewry. He is the founder of the website www.jewishdata.com. He has also done extensive research on the rescue of the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe from Nazi occupied Poland. Rabbi Laber gives adult Torah classes and is the Bar Mitzvah instructor at the Beth Tephilah Hebrew school. He is also everyone's favorite storyteller, especially at Bat Mitzvah Camp, and is currently working on producing his first story CD, called Chassidic Adventures.

Leah Larson
Leah Larson, age 16, is the founder, editor, and publisher of YALDAH magazine, a magazine for Jewish girls, by Jewish girls She started YALDAH when she was thirteen. Leah spent the past summer in Bat Mitzvah Camp heading the camp writing club and newsletter. She was an organizer and counselor at the Jewish Girls Winter Retreat. Leah also designed the Jewish Girls Retreat website and brochure. Leah is a Junior at Bais Chomesh High School in Toronto.

Our Counselors
Our counselors care for each camper individually with unmatched warmth, dedication and companionship that is difficult to express in words. Many staff members return year after year, lending experience and continuity to all programs. Each counselor is a role model for the girls, promising them friendship which will last forever. Our experienced counselors come from as far as Australia, California, Vancouver, and Chicago.