Our Staff
Our Camp Director, Bassie Marcus has many years of day camp experience. Bassie leads our top staff and takes great pride in our on-going, comprehensive staff training program. Their extensive experience with Kindergardners through teenagers make them valuable friends and administrators to all our campers throughout the summer.
Camp Gan Israel prides itself on its exceptional staff. All couselors come with prior camp experience, are highly trained,and dedicated to working with kids. This ensures the best possible care, instruction and supervision for our campers. We take great pride in our commitment to recruiting, training and keeping the highest quality staff in the camping profession. Our camper to counselor ratio conforms to the ACA standards, and this does not include our wonderful junior couselors.
Jackie Arditi; Arts & Crafts Director
Jackie grew up in San Diego, where she was always very active and involved in the Jewish Community, especially in the youth group. It was there that she discovered her love for children and for using creativity and art as a way of learning and eventually teaching! She went on to study psychology at UCLA and upon graduation, worked in various capacities ranging from schools, residential treatment facilities and homeless shelters helping and teaching children. Now that she has children of her own, she is constantly using her imagination and creativity to explore the world with them. She also started a small business, Chai Lights, with the hope of inspiring other Jewish families to learn and teach in a way that's fun, engaging and creative. This year by joining the Spirit Kids Camp Gan Israel team she will be a part of the very things she is so passionate about…Judaism, creativity and teaching!
Marc Cisneros; Sports Coach
Marc has been one of our coaches for the last few summers, and has really enjoyed coaching your wonderful children. Marc has been working with children for over 25 years, starting as a camp counselor during high school and college summers. He started coaching kids' soccer teams in his twenties and has continued to volunteer his time since then, coaching nearly every season. Last fall, Marc's Boys U9 team won the AYSO Mission Viejo Championship.
Marc is also an accomplished soccer player, having captained his championship high school team, having been a member of an NCAA Division 1 college team and continuing to play competitive league soccer to this day.
He is passionate about sport and fitness and the resulting wellness and confidence kids derive from a healthy and active life. Spirit Kids Camp Gan Izzy's Sports Program enables your children to get great instruction in a fun and easygoing atmosphere.
Mark Cymerint D.C.; Sports Coach 
Dr. Mark has been working with Chabad for the past 8 years helping out with sports programs for Hebrew school and youth lounge. He also has past coaching experience for coaching youth soccer for 9 years and was AYSO coach of the year twice. He also has experience coaching youth basketball, baseball, and hockey. Dr. Mark currently plays in an adult hockey league in Orange County. Dr. Mark grew up in Oak Park, Michigan. He was active in the Jewish community. He attended Michigan State University as well as Life Chiropractic College West. Dr. Cymerint is a national lecturer on health, nutrition, chiropractic posture techniques, and teaches board certified re-licensing seminars. Dr. Mark has a chiropractic office in Laguna Hills, CA and attends Chabad regularly with his family, his wife Monique and daughters Samantha and Brigitta. Dr. Mark makes sports not only fun for the kids, but also will get them into shape.
Erin Macdonald R.D.; Healthy Food Fun Director
Erin has been a Registered Dietitian and Nutrition, Fitness, and Wellness Coach in private practice for 17 years, specializing in:
· Sports, Weight Management, Women’s health, Cardiovascular health, Children and Adolescent Nutrition
· Corporate Wellness
· Cooking Lessons, Recipe Demos
· Lifestyle and Wellness Coaching
Erin has appeared as a featured nutrition expert in DVDs and speaker at nutrition seminars, community health expos, and worksite wellness programs. She has authored numerous articles and is a Health Advisory Board member for Nutricula Magazine (www.nutricula-u.com) and blogs regularly at www.completewellnessnow.com. She is passionate about cooking and recipe development, marrying good health with amazing flavor.
Erin is also the President and co-founder of U Rock Girl (www.urockgirl.com), a health and wellness website for women of all ages, providing information, products, and services to nourish the mind, body, and spirit.
Her most important achievement is as a wife (17 years and counting) and mother to her 4 boys, one of which was just born this past January. Erin is a teacher in the CJC Hebrew School and is loved by her students. Passionate about preventing and reversing the childhood obesity epidemic in this country, Erin volunteers in the schools by talking to the students and organizing health fairs and jog-a-thons.
Lee Weinberg D.C.; Sports Coach
Lee grew up in Louisville, Kentucky where he was very active in the Jewish Community, while attending Jewish Day School. Being involved in Jewish youth groups, summer camps, and playing sports were a major part of his childhood. Playing youth and high school, tennis, golf, and baseball really taught him the value, and importance of team sports and athletics.
Lee coached many years of little league, baseball and basketball. While attending the University of Kentucky and majoring in biology, his love for sports continued in intramural athletics. After graduating from UK, he later attended Chiropractic College in the bay area, and soon began practicing chiropractic in Newport Beach for the past 12 years.
His daughter Mia just finished first grade. She loves gymnastics, swimming, and just started tennis camp. She also has a true love for sports, being Jewish, and of course loves Hebrew School at CMV.
His wife Michelle is a wonderful mom and dental assistant, she enjoys helping patients recover from difficult procedures in an oral surgeon’s office. Michelle and Lee volunteer at Mia’s school weekly and also volunteer through the PTA. I am excited to help campers achieve their goals through Spirit Kids Camp Gan Israel.
