"From Strength to Strength": NRC Leadership Transition
A Message from Jay Reisbaum, National Ramah President
It is a privilege for me to announce that on January 1, 2022, the professional leadership of the National Ramah Commission (NRC) will transition from our current National Director Rabbi Mitchell Cohen to our own Associate National Director Amy Skopp Cooper. Amy has been officially appointed to be the next National Ramah Director by Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz of The Jewish Theological Seminary, acting with the support of the National Ramah Commission. This transition was initiated by Rabbi Cohen with my full support. (See Rabbi Cohen's letter below.)
We have great confidence that by elevating Amy to National Ramah Director while retaining Mitch in a reduced yet meaningful role, we will further grow the impact of National Ramah and the Ramah Camping Movement.
Rabbi Mitch Cohen has provided the Ramah Camping Movement with stellar professional leadership for the past 18 years. Although I can point to many areas of Ramah’s growth and development over these past 18 years, it has been Mitch's consistent, well-informed, yet camp-friendly nature that I find most impactful. With this transition, Amy will assume the day-to-day management and oversight of NRC, while providing Mitch the opportunity to focus on certain strategic areas important to the ongoing success and growth of Ramah.
Much of NRC’s success during these last 18 years derives from Mitch and Amy’s strong partnership. All of us who have had the privilege of seeing Amy at work as Director of Ramah Nyack, and as Associate National Director, understand that Amy is a visionary leader, consummate educator, and best-in-class camping professional. Countless Jewish community leaders consider Amy to be their ultimate Ramah leadership dugma/role model.
We will have plenty of opportunity in 2021 to thank Mitch for his amazing impact on Ramah, and to welcome Amy as our new leader with great anticipation for what her unique voice and experience will bring. We are confident that the future of Ramah is in good hands, and that Amy's strong voice and boundless energy will soon lead us from strength to strength.
Jay Reisbaum, President
National Ramah Commission, Inc. of The Jewish Theological Seminary
A Message from Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, National Ramah Director
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Working as a second-year litigation associate in a New York City law firm in 1986, I informed my supervisors that I would be leaving the firm to pursue rabbinical studies at JTS and a possible career in Jewish education. Mr. Stein, the firm’s most senior partner, pulled me aside and asked, “Are you really leaving our law firm to go back to Camp Ramah?!”
I could never have imagined that 35 years later I would look back on a career with Ramah that has been so incredibly satisfying and enjoyable; that has been filled with wonderful relationships with so many extraordinary Ramah leaders; and that has witnessed so much growth and development. Even now, despite a year of closure, Ramah’s future looks as bright as ever.
And so today, after 18 years serving as the National Director of the Ramah Camping Movement, it is with mixed emotions that I announce that I will transition out of this role at the end of December 2021.
At that time, our outstanding National Associate Director, Amy Skopp Cooper, who for years has co-led National Ramah with me, will assume the role of National Director. We are so fortunate to have such a strong and natural leader in Amy so that this transition can be smooth and seamless.
I feel blessed to have had such a rewarding career at Camp Ramah in Canada, the Solomon Schechter School of Westchester, and here at the National Ramah Commission, where I look forward to continuing to contribute in a supportive part-time role, working on the projects that Amy, the NRC board, and JTS wish me to take on.
I am deeply grateful to Chancellors Schorsch and Eisen for their support and partnership, to Rabbi Michael Greenbaum and Marc Gary for their guidance and friendship, and to our new JTS Chancellor Shuly Rubin Schwartz for her confidence in this plan of leadership transition. I am also grateful to my predecessor and mentor Dr Shelly Dorph, and to the NRC presidents with whom I have worked: Dr. Skip Vichness, Mort Steinberg, Dr. Charlie Mann, Sheldon Disenhouse, Dr. Jeff Kopin, and current NRC President Jay Reisbaum and Senior Vice President Arnie Harris.
Serving as Director of National Ramah is a true privilege. And I very much look forward to my ongoing work in the future, helping to strengthen and grow Ramah in the years to come.
With tremendous appreciation,
Mitch
Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, Director
National Ramah Commission, Inc. of The Jewish Theological Seminary