Ramah Marriages

New England

Barry Warren & Ruth Perlmutter Warren
Camp Attended: New England
Year Met: 1966
Year Married: 1970
My best friend from school came to visit camp and her boyfriend from the previous summer. It was my first summer at Ramah. It was the first night of camp, and she went for ice cream with her boyfriend. His roommate invited me to join. That was 40 years ago. We celebrated our 36th anniversary last June; we celebrated Sheva Brachot in camp in 1970.

BACK TO TOP

Robert J. Saks & Loretta Vitale Saks
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1967
Married: 1970

BACK TO TOP

Alan Levine & Barbara Portnoy Levine
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1968
Married: 1972
We were both campers at New England for many years (starting at the camp in Moodus) and met in 1968. Alan was a waterfront counselor and I was the Omanut counselor along with Roz Arzt (whose husband Ray was the director for many years).

Dana Ari, Barbara, Andrea, Alan and Alissa Levine

I was 17, on my way to college (Pratt) and Alan was 20, in between his sophomore and junior years at Brown. We returned to camp as counselors together in 1969 and we married three years later. We have three children, a daughter Alissa and a son Dana Ari, twins who are 26 and went to Palmer as campers for about six years each including Israel. Our youngest, Andrea, is a 10th grader and has been to camp for five years so far, LOVES it, and will be back this summer as a Nivonim camper. We hope that someday our family will be a third-generation Ramah family.

BACK TO TOP

Daniel Prober & Sharon Katz Prober
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1967
Married: 1970
Dan and I met in June of 1967, right after the Six Day War. Palmer was an amazing place to be at that time, especially for me, as I was new to the entire Ramah experience, and was coming for the first time on staff. The camp was charged with incredible ruach. Back then, coming to Ramah on staff, with no prior Ramah experience, was a bit unusual. Dan and I were in the same edah, with Vicky Kelman as our rosh. We spent lots of time working together on staff, and then started spending lots of time together in general. Dan was at Brandeis and I was at BU, very convenient for continuing our Ramah romance. We have retained our Ramah zeal, as our three boys have all been campers, and the two older ones have been on staff also. I have been on the Ramah Board over the years, and we have been active fundraisers and cheerleaders for this most amazing institution. Ramah has a very special place in our hearts and we have been thrilled that our children have continued the circle.

BACK TO TOP

Jonathan Gutman & Renee Hoffert Gutman
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1969
Married: 1971
Renee arrived the same day as the campers. I had been there for the staff week. It took until the first Shabbat for us to get together, but it was love from the start!

BACK TO TOP

Arnie Davidson & Penny Fleishman Davidson
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1970
Married: 1977
Arnie and I met the summer before Palmer closed for reorganization so the atmosphere at camp was loose and casual with easy mixing of staff and campers. We didn’t start dating until 1974—love at second sight! We had kept in touch thru USY, reunions, etc. Our camp experience was so positive that we made a point to share it with our children. Our oldest, Max, has done camp and TRY and will be an Amitzim counselor this year; Sasha will be in Nevonim, Lara in Ilanot and I will be working in the marp as a nurse. A pretty big influence, I should say.

BACK TO TOP

Allan Lehmann & Joanne Schindler
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1970
Married: 1975
We were both counselors in the same edah and became friendly.

BACK TO TOP

Noam Arzt & Heidi Steinberg Arzt
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1974
Married: 1983
Noam and I met in 1974 and had an immediate friendship. We kept in touch throughout the year with reunions but it wasn't until the summer of 1975 that we became an official couple. I knew I would marry him. He lived in New York and I lived in Jersey so it was tough for the eight years that we remained a couple. We saw each other as much as possible on weekends, reunions, every year at camp and on Israel Seminar. We never lived in the same state so our long distance relationship was tough but love won in the end and neither one of us wanted a life without the other. We finally got engaged in 1981 while we were both juniors in college (he was at U of P and I was at Fairleigh Dickinson in N.J.). One week after graduation we were married and I cried through the whole thing. I couldn't believe we were finally married and I would finally see him every day. All of our Ramah friends were at the wedding and they were also at our boys’ b'nai mitzvah. They are lifelong friends. Ramah was a wonderful experience. We loved all of it....the ruach, the Shabbat outdoors, singing, dancing....our lives are enriched by that experience.

On June 12, 2005, we celebrated 22 years of marriage and 30 years of friendship. We have two beautiful sons, Jeremy, 17 years old and Jesse, 14 years old. We moved from New Jersey to San Diego three years ago because we wanted a beautiful climate...and we got it. Our boys go to the San Diego Jewish Academy and we all live a very observant wonderful Jewish life. My youngest son reads Torah beautifully just like his dad. We have been to Israel as a family twice and next summer Jeremy will be going back for his Senior class trip. Jesse will be going to Ramah in Ojai, CA this summer. We are so jealous. We owe it all to Ramah for bringing us together. I can't imagine how my life would be without the influence of Camp Ramah. It has definitely shaped who I am today and in turn, my children are rich in Jewish identity. WE LOVE RAMAH!

BACK TO TOP

Moti Hanochi & Naomi Stamler Hanochi
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1975
Married: 1977

BACK TO TOP

Andy Schiffmiller & Onnie Lovett Schiffmiller
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1975
Married: 1984

BACK TO TOP

Joshua Hammerman & Mara Aisenberg Hammerman
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1977
Married: 1981
We were counselors in the same edah together and by the end of staff week, we were an "item." We met under the tree by bunk 32, the staff bunk. Coincidentally, we also went to the same college, but she was just entering her freshman year at the time we met. The intensity of Ramah life both served to foster and vigorously test our relationship during our three years together at the camp. Despite the challenges that we had to confront, and to some degree because of them, our memories of Ramah are very positive.

BACK TO TOP

Joshua Gould & Melodye Feldman
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1977
Married: 1980
We were both working in the same program and met the first night of staff training. We both did not want to be in a relationship. By the end of staff week we were a couple. We just celebrated 25 years of marriage and 28 years as a couple. The details and insidestory is much longer and only for close friends who knew us then!

BACK TO TOP

Sanford Remz & Arlene Rosenkrantz Remz
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1977
Married: 1980
Arlene and I met as counselors in the Tikvah program. I was there after my first year of law school for my only year as a staff member. I was looking for the opportunity to come back to Ramah and doing something incredibly worthwhile that I had never done before (i.e., working with special needs kids) before spending every summer in my foreseeable future working as a lawyer. Arlene, who had just graduated college, was on more familiar turf, as she had been on staff before and was preparing for a career in special education. Ramah was a place that had previously opened both of us to the joys of immersion in a Jewish life. That special setting led us to discover the joys of a life together with each other. Ramah now brings that joy to our children, one of whom is still a camper. And I still get to experience it as president of Camp Ramah New England.

BACK TO TOP

Bob Mindel & Sheila Yossem
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1977
Married: 1987

BACK TO TOP

Randy E. Spiegel & Debbie Krohn Spiegel
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1980
Married: 1982
I was a long time camper and staff member at Ramah Canada. I moved to Boston. Debbie Hershman was looking for staff at New England. I went there in 1979. In my second year, a kid from Canada was coming to New England and I thought it would be nice if I would befriend him—make him feel a bit at home. We both attended a CPR class (kind of mandatory) and I decided to be his partner. So, who was the dummy then? Anyway, it’s 25 years later, and we’re married 23 of those years and have four fantastic kids, spent many wonderful summers with Ramah and now the kids continue to enjoy. Tov Lanu B'machaneh Ramah!

BACK TO TOP

Eric Salmansohn & Marcia Bronstein
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1980
Married: 1984
Eric attended Camp Ramah in the Poconos for over 10 years, first as a camper and then on Sports staff. In 1980, he felt he needed to try something different so he went to Palmer. I had been at Palmer for 5 years as Mercaz staff and then as Rosh Mercaz. In 1980, I was completing my first year at YU's Wurzweiler School of Social Work and missed camp so much. So, as soon as my classes were over, I called Ramah and volunteered to do "whatever" was needed. A counselor had just left and I took over a bunk for the last two weeks of camp. Eric and I met, dated long distance through graduate school, and have been married for 23 years. Over the years, both our kids attended Ramah and the legacy continues with them...

BACK TO TOP

Ralph Schwartz & Marci Dickman
Camp Attended: New England
Year Met: 1981
Year Married: 1983
Ralph was the Rosh Edah the summer that Marci came to Tikvah in Ramah Palmer to get experience in Jewish special education. Ralph likes to say it was the last year he was Marci's boss. - Since then our family has come in and out of Ramah (Palmer, Poconos, Jerusalem, Berkshires and Wisconsin) - and in and out of work in Jewish education for children and teens with special needs.

BACK TO TOP

Mark Snowise &Elisa Cook Snowise
Camp Attended: New England
Year Met: 1981
Year Married: 1992

BACK TO TOP

Mark Cooper & Amy Skopp Cooper
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1984
Married: 1986
Mark and I met as roshei edot at Camp Ramah New England. I had been working at the camp for several years. Mark is an Ojai product who came to New England when fellow Ojai staff member, Gil Graff became director of New England. We dated for several years (off and on) while Mark was at JTS rabbinical school and I was at Hebrew University. After graduating, we both ended up in Boston. I was the assistant to the New England Ramah director, Mark was the associate rabbi at Temple Israel in Natick. We married in 1986.

BACK TO TOP

Jay Stein & Missy (Tick) Stein
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1984
Married: 1989
My husband and I did meet at Camp Ramah in New England although we never dated there. I was a camper there in 1976, 1978 and 1980 andon staff 1983-84. Jay was a camper there at the same time but he was an edah ahead of me. The ironic twist is that when we were on staff together, he dated one of my best friends at the time, Beth Glass, and I dated a counselor named Daniel Felson. Jay and I have been married for 16 years and Beth and Daniel are married to each other as well. Jay and I have five children, two of whom went to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires and one who will be starting Camp Ramah in the Poconos this summer.

BACK TO TOP

Daniel Felsen and Beth Glass Felsen
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1984
Married: 1994
Daniel and I were both Solelim counselors in 1984. We got to know each other well that summer and began dating in the summer of 1985. Through our experience at Ramah we were able to get a really good sense of where we both were "Jewishly" and had the opportunity to grow Jewishly together. This summer our oldest child will be a Solelim camper at New England.

BACK TO TOP

Morry Re'em (Scholick) & Adina Friedman Re'em
Camp Attended: New England—Staff
Met: 1985
Married: 1987

BACK TO TOP

Seth Greenberg & Ilene Spark Greenberg
Camps Attended: New England, Wisconsin, Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim
Met: 1986
Married: 1990
My wife of nearly 15 years, Ilene Spark-Greenberg, was a camper at Wisconsin and a counselor at New England. I was a staff brat, a camper, a counselor and a rosh edah at New England. Although we met on our junior year program at Hebrew University, we went back as staff to Ramah in New England together. (Ilene was Tikvah staff, I was Rosh Solelim) We got married in 1990, then moved to Israel in 1992. Beginning in 1992, Ilene and I were madrichim for two semesters at TRY, one of the Ramah Israel programs in Jerusalem. The program started at the end of August 1992, and Calev was born in June 1993. Ilene's last hike was up Massada with the Ramah students in March 1993 - 6 MONTHS PREGNANT! Now that's dedication to Ramah. So, in a sense (do the math), Calev is a Ramah baby.

BACK TO TOP

Stuart Katz & Marni Smith Katz
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1986
Married: 1991

BACK TO TOP

Yoni Charry & Yael Fischman
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1987
Married: 1990

BACK TO TOP

Micah Liben & Deborah Markowitz
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1990
Year to Be Married: 2006
Deborah and I are still engaged...B'shaah tova, the wedding is planned for August '06. Deborah and I both began at Ramah in first year Ilanot...but we "ran in different circles" throughout our summers as campers. When we were JC's in 1999, we became close, and went on to dance together in the Israeli dance performing arts group and serve as co-presidents of the Conservative minyan at Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania. We were dating by the time I left for Israel after graduation, and a year and a half later, we were engaged. When we returned to camp as roshei edot, we were gratified for the opportunity to spend time together doing the things we love: studying texts, sharing our enthusiasm with kids, and of course doing lots of folk dancing.

BACK TO TOP

Bruce Allen Bromberg Seltzer & Deborah Tamar Bromberg Seltzer
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1992
Married: 1995
At the start of second session, Bruce was relocated into my edah. We had lots of mutual friends and hung out together. After camp (during the winter), a bunch of us got together in NYC and we started dating then. We got married at the end of August, our wedding date set so we could spend that summer at camp, me as a rosh edah. We had an aufruf at camp and got married the weekend after camp ended.

BACK TO TOP

Noah Hartman & Anna Robinowitz Hartman
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1992
Married: 2004
Both being from Atlanta, we met on the way up to camp, although we were in different edot and didn't really know each other. It wasn't until we ran into each other in Los Angeles in 2002 that we met as adults.

BACK TO TOP

Jonathan Gideon Robins & Leah Kaplan Robins
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1992
Married: 2006

BACK TO TOP

Ari Glazer & Stephanie Goldberg Glazer
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1993
Married: 1997
I am a second-generation Ramah marriage as my parents Rabbi Steven and Andrea Glazer are also a Ramah marriage. Stef and I must have met as campers as she was a camper in Shoafim and Magshimim and we were in the same edah although neither of us remembered the other (I was a schlepper and camper from Ilanot to Nivonim then Israel then staff). We met and worked as Nivonim counselors together in 1993 and connected during staff week. The rest is history as we have been together ever since.

It is nice to see two of my Nivonim (and Machon) campers registered, Dave Cutler and Tamar Skowronski.

BACK TO TOP

David Seth Cutler & Rachel Lea Fish
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1993
Married: 2004
Dave and I met as campers at Ramah in Palmer. We became good friends and shared mutual friends. It was not until after Ramah that we began dating. We randomly kept in touch and had our paths cross a few times, both in Israel and in the States. Our wedding which took place in Johnson City, TN, had many Ramahniks (throughout the generations) present. Ramah helped shape both of our Jewish identities and solidified our relationships to Judaism. The Ramah experience fostered an environment of Jewish learning, questioning, growth and love of Zionism, all of which play a major role in our lives as individuals and as a married couple. I am confident that our Ramah "upbringing" will influence our lives for years to come.

BACK TO TOP

Noah Borenstein & Amy Judith Heller
Met at Israel Seminar
Camps Attended: Berkshires, New England
Met: 1993
Married: 2005
Amy and I are an intermarriage, of sorts. We met on Ramah Seminar in 1993 -- she was from Berkshires and I was from Palmer. Years later, we were at Hebrew University together. Despite these many run-ins, Amy and I didn't start dating until we bumped into each other on the subway in NYC in 2003. We were married in November 2005.

BACK TO TOP

Barry Reichgott & Alexandra Bloch
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1993
Married: 2005
We met at Ramah when Alex babysat my sister Karen, who was 3 years old. My mom was a Hebrew teacher at camp, so she needed childcare for Karen. We kept in touch on and off for the next few years and when I moved to NYC in 2000, I called Alex and made plans to meet up with her. We were married on July 3, 2005.

BACK TO TOP

Brian Liss & Judy Wendkos Liss
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1994
Married: 1999
We met at counselors at Ramah. Brian had never been a camper and his first summer as a counselor, I was in Israel. My first summer as a counselor, Brian was hanging out in Providence with Adam Cutler and gang. Fortunately, Adam convinced Brian to return to camp the next summer and we finally met! Thanks Adam!

BACK TO TOP

Josh Menachem Kulp & Julie Beth Zuckerman
Met at Israel Seminar
Camps Attended: New England, Poconos, California
Met: 1995
Married: 1996
We originally met through our involvement in international USY, but we "re-met" in the summer of 1995, when we were both group leaders for Ramah Seminar. We had led fairly parallel Ramah & USY "careers" until then, both serving as roshei edot at our respective camps (New England - Julie) (Poconos & then Canada - Josh). We spent a lot of time together during the staff Shabbaton before Seminar, and went out on our first official date on that motzei Shabbat. By the time Seminar officially started, we were already an item, and despite being in different hativot, we managed to see plenty of each other. The campers only found out in the last week or so. We got engaged a few months later, and we've been living happily in Israel ever since!

BACK TO TOP

Eric Ganezer & Tamar Skowronski
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1995
Married: 2004

BACK TO TOP

Harris Diamond & Samantha Braverman Diamond
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1995
Married: 2009
We met as campers when we were in Bogrim. We were friends during that summer. Sam never went back as a camper but we both worked as counselors in summer of 2002 and started dating then. We got married in May 2009. (Submitted 2009)

BACK TO TOP

Fred Elias & Michelle Elias
Camp Attended: New England
Year Met: 1996
Year Married: 2001
So, Solelim '96 had to pray every morning and so it was Michelle and my tafkid as va'ad tefillah to coordinate the campers' tefillah experience. Not only did the campers have a great tefillah experience that summer but a new Ramah relationship was born. While it took some months and time to solidify our "coupleness," we always look back at that summer as the start of our life together. Incidentally, I always get a good laugh when I tell new counselors at Ramah that I met my wife on Va'ad Tefillah. It does get them to think twice about which va'ad they will choose!

We got married in August 2001 with many staff members and our old campers present. We continue to share our love for Ramah with our daughter Kayla who has been a staff child at Berkshires for as long as she has been born (2005).

Yes, we did make the leap from Palmer to Berkshires....always a good conversation starter with our Ramah friends!

BACK TO TOP

Matthew Louis Zerden & Lisa de Saxe Zerden
Met at Israel Seminar
Camps Attended: California, New England
Met: 1996
Married: 2004
Matt and Lisa met the first day of the Seminar trip in the summer of 1996. Lisa attended Ramah in Ojai, CA. Matt was from Savannah, GA but attended camp in Palmer for many years. The first night of their program they met and were together for the 6+ week trip. Returning home was sad; they were so young and so in love but figured it would be impossible to stay together considering their distance and ages but with the support and love of their parents, somehow worked it out. The following summer they backpacked through Europe together, broke up for a bit in college and got back together when Matt graduated from school. From there the couple moved to Los Angeles and were engaged for a year before their wedding in June 2004 in Laguna Beach, CA. Six of their closest camp friends who were on Seminar with them attended the wedding as well. The couple now lives in Boston, MA where Matt is a student at Harvard Medical School and Lisa is a doctoral student at Boston University in Social Work and Sociology.

BACK TO TOP

Ross Sommers & Hadas Bonnie Sommers
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1998
Married: 2001
I came back from Israel to be at Ramah. Hadas was Sgan Teva and was impressed with my Hebrew. We talked about Israel and were just friends. After camp she was traveling in the U.S. and needed a place to stay and called me in University of Maryland. She convinced me to study abroad for a semester in Israel, and well, the rest is history.

BACK TO TOP

Adam Wall & Debbi Bohnen
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 1998
Married: 2001

BACK TO TOP

Amichai Margolis & Kari Phillips Margolis
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 2001
Married: 2004

BACK TO TOP

David Kieval & Emily Sowalsky Kieval
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 2003
Married: 2009
In 2003, Dave was back for a third summer working in Tikvah and Emily was beginning her first. Their friendship blossomed into something more over many nights painting and making music together in Moadon Amitzim after putting their campers to sleep. Six years and many wonderful Ramah summers later, they were married amongst many of their closest friends from their years at Ramah. (Submitted 2009)

BACK TO TOP

Noah Mencow & Shira Hichenberg
Camp attended: New England
Met: 2003
Married: 2009
Noah had just returned from a two-week trip to Israel to be a junior counselor in 2003. He was showing his pictures from Israel to a friend, and Shira peeked over to get a look. We spent the next few days getting to know each other through long conversations while on shmira, late nights at Friendly's, and planning peulot. For the first few years of our relationship, we were in college in different states (NY and MD), and the two months of camp each summer became the foundation of our relationship. (Submitted 2009)

BACK TO TOP

Doron Greene & Rebecca Markowitz Greene
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 2003
Married: 2009

BACK TO TOP

Evan Ravski & Abby Goldberg Ravski
Camp Attended: New England
Met: 2004
Married: 2009
Abby and I met in 2004 when I was Sgan Rosh Magshimim and she was a first-year counselor on my staff. Although Abby knew my family, since my younger brother was in her edah and she had been to a summer reunion at my parents’ house, we had not yet met. In November of 2004, Abby was looking for a weekend getaway from New York City. I suggested she visit Washington, DC, where I was finishing college, since it was only a $20 bus ride. Two months later and numerous $20 bus rides as well, we began dating, and five years later, almost to the day, we were married. (Submitted 2009)

BACK TO TOP