Ramah Is Ready to Open 2009 Summer Season (June 2009)

The Ramah Camping Movement looks forward with great anticipation to the imminent opening of our 2009 summer season.

Ramah camping is strong! This summer, more than 9,000 campers and staff, approximately the same number as in 2008,will attend our seven overnight camps, three day camps, and Israel programs. More than 1,500 university and graduate students will work as counselors, teachers, and specialists,along withan additional 200 professionals--rabbis, cantors, social workers, psychologists, doctors, nurses, Jewish educators, coaches, and others. Approximately 45 rabbinical, cantorial, education and other graduate students from JTS, as well as others from AJU and other universities, will be at Ramah in senior educational roles. More than 200 mishlachat members will be working at our camps this summer, strengthening the connections between our camp communities and Israel.

With the economic crisis, more families sought greater scholarship awards this year than ever. With the help of many Federations, foundations and the Foundation for Jewish Camp, and with the extraordinary efforts of our camp professional leadership and boards of directors, we were able to meet the needs of the overwhelming majority of families seeking a Ramah experience for their children.

We are thrilled that Ramah's first specialty camp, Ramah Outdoor Adventure in Colorado, opening for campers in summer 2010, will host a leadership training week on site in early August, directed by Rabbi Eliav Bock. This week of staff training will be followed by a rustic Ramah Family Camp program from August 10-13, led by Rabbi Marshall Lesack.

Among the many inspirational accomplishments of Ramah, our special needs programs deserve particular mention. Through Tikvah and other special needs programs, Ramah camps provide a summer experience for children and teens with learning challenges, emotional disorders, and other developmental disabilities. This summer, more than 150 young people will participate in special needs programming throughout Ramah. And thanks to a very generous grant from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Tikvah is now more accessible than ever to families facing significant financial challenges.

Ramah Programs in Israel is having a very successful year, with more than 1,000 participants in our various programs. Synagogue family groups and Solomon Schechter and other day school 8th grade groups all came with Ramah Israel Institute for two-week educational experiences. Seventy-two students participated in our high school semester programs, either for two months on USY High or four months on Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY). Perhaps most significantly, this summer's Ramah Israel Seminar will have more than 270 participants! Together, Ramah and USY will send more than 500 of our high school students to Israel this summer for Israel experiences in the context of intensive Conservative Jewish education.

Ramah continues to thrive as a result of our partnerships with Conservative Movement affiliates; synagogues and synagogue-based schools; with Solomon Schechter day schools; with Women's League and the Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs; with USY, Nativ and KOACH; and with Ziegler Rabbinical School, Machon Schechter, and The Jewish Theological Seminary. Ramah also partners with other Conservative Movement affiliates throughout the world, including the NOAM youth movement, the NOAM-Ramah summer camp in Israel, Masorti Olami, Marom and Marom Olami, the Conservative Jewish summer camps in Argentina, and Ramah Yachad in Ukraine.

As we embark upon our 63rd summer of intensive Jewish education within the fun, informal atmosphere of excellent summer camping, all of us at Ramah feel privileged to have this opportunity to influence the lives of more than 9,000 participants in our various camps and programs. We greatly appreciate all the support from our partners.

Todah rabah, and kayitz na'im!

Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, National Ramah Director