“A Breath of Fresh Air”: Ramah College Network Spiritual Resilience Shabbaton
Dr. Daniel Olson, Assistant National Director and Maya Klareich, Program Director
Over the course of our March 7–9, 2025, Shabbaton weekend, whose theme was spiritual resilience, each of the 20 participating college-aged students shared a personal reflection about times they drew on spirituality to get through a challenging moment in their lives. Many reflected on post-October 7th campus life and how they’ve relied on community, song, and teaching children as b’nai mitzvah tutors or religious school teachers to cope. One shared about attending a multi-day silent meditation retreat that gave her new resources to use in hard times. Another shared that focusing on loving others even in the face of hate helps with his spiritual resilience.
In addition to these participant stories, we also learned about spiritual resilience with representatives of JTS. Cantor Shoshi Levin Goldberg, director of the H.L. Miller Cantorial School, and Shira Bodnar, a first-year cantorial student, led inspiring sessions about different approaches to spiritual resilience in the Jewish tradition, with a special focus on prayer and song. With Purim on the horizon, we also looked to the story of Esther for examples of spiritual resilience, both in the actions of Mordechai and Esther, and in the ways Jews have commemorated Purim throughout history.
We were lucky to be hosted by the Westchester Jewish Center in Mamaroneck, NY. Their clergy—Rabbi Jeff Arnowitz, Rabbi Cornelia Dalton, and Cantor Ethan Goldberg—welcomed us with open arms. It was especially nice to hear Rabbi Arnowitz speak from the bimah about how formative Ramah was for his own spiritual journey. Our participants led various tefillot throughout the weekend, chanted Torah, joined the alternative yoga minyan, and hosted seudat shlishit singing for the larger community.
Participants described the weekend as a “breath of fresh air.” Being with Ramahniks for Shabbat in the middle of the semester was refreshing, especially with so many difficulties on college campuses and in the larger world these days. Our learning about spiritual resilience was not limited to song and text study. We also made it physical with a post-Havdalah trip to Hapik, an indoor rock climbing and ropes course center. We literally practiced falling down and encouraging one another to get back up.
Here are a few thoughts from participants about their experiences during this Shabbaton:
“After this Shabbaton, I’m going to work to more consciously incorporate spiritual practices into my daily life. I would like to spend more time meditating each day, and I would also hope to draw peers into experiencing more spiritual and mindful activities together.”
“It was very refreshing and a nice reset to have a Ramah Shabbat in the middle of the semester, connecting me to an aspect of myself that I am often missing from my regular life. It was also really special that I was able to bond so easily with people I had never met before, our Ramah experience being the commonality that brought us all together.”
“Spending time with Ramah people during the semester is really like a breath of fresh air in between the summer. Not only is it a gathering of Ramah people that is special, but it’s Ramah programming that really made the weekend special.”
“This Shabbaton made me reflect a lot on the importance of my spiritual practices and how they are able to help me get through tough times. I hope this summer to be able to share my experiences and the spiritual tools I have used to get through them in order to inspire my chanichim to best get through the challenges they are facing in their lives.”
“I really liked seeing the different ways that we approached learning throughout the Shabbaton. I would love to bring some of the formats that we used to peulot Shabbat and peulat tefillah. I especially liked dissecting the meanings of daily prayers and would love to do that in tefillah.”