Ramah as a Source of Strength and Comfort
Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, Senior Advisor, National Ramah Commission, Inc.
We usually think of the incredible power of Ramah communities as being demonstrated through the joy of children’s summer camp experiences. At times we are reminded that the power of our Ramah kehillot is also demonstrated by the tremendous comfort and critical support provided to families who have suffered a loss.
On July 15, Visitors Day at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, I was privileged to attend the dedication of a beautiful new basketball court in memory of my friend and teacher, Rabbi Sam Fraint z”l. Together with Sam’s wife Deena, his three children Hannah, Zeke (Laura) and Avram (Jodi), and Sam and Deena’s six precious granddaughters, I joined past and current leaders of Ramah Wisconsin and members of the Chicago Jewish community to honor Sam’s memory. The combination of sports and Judaism, of ritual and play, was a cornerstone of Sam’s life and Sam’s rabbinate. What a fitting tribute for a man for whom Camp Ramah was such a crucial part of his life, and who literally encouraged thousands of young people, over a long and successful career, to attend Ramah.
Less than two weeks later, I visited Camp Ramah in New England. While I was there, Rabbi Marcy Gelb Delbick, a 60-year-old beloved ceramics instructor and sister of my dear friend Rabbi Ed Gelb, Ramah New England CEO, tragically suffered a massive stroke and passed away. The camp community was stunned, and of course, the family was devastated. As everyone struggled with their own grief, Rabbi Gelb returned to observe shiva at camp after Marcy’s funeral in Los Angeles. And even as there was tremendous sadness over the loss of Marcy, a cherished member of the camp community, we also saw tremendous power in the healing that took place given the overwhelming support from campers, staff, and community visitors.
During shiva, Nivonim campers came to Shacharit services to read Torah on Rosh Hodesh. Campers told stories of Marcy’s creativity and her kindness as their ceramics instructor. Staff colleagues expressed their own grief. Members of the camp board of directors as well as visitors from the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s board of directors sat side by side with campers and staff to offer Rabbi Gelb condolences and to pray with him.
Perhaps most poignant was Rabbi Gelb’s re-entry into the Ramah community on Erev Shabbat. There is a tradition that a mourner who comes to shul on Friday night during shiva doesn’t join the service until after the initial joyfulness of the beginning psalms of praise, following Lecha Dodi. A few of us accompanied Rabbi Gelb as he entered the magnificent camp grove, their outdoor sanctuary, when Lecha Dodi concluded. As 800 campers and staff stood silently, camp co-director Josh Edelglass beautifully framed the moment for everyone, and the entire community repeated the ancient words HaMakom Yenachem Etchem . . . (May God comfort you, together with all those who mourn in Zion and Jerusalem.) The power of this moment, of this demonstration of community support during the most difficult of times, will stay with all of us for many years.
The Ramah world also lost two giants of leadership in recent months, with the passing of Rabbi Albert Thaler and Rabbi Burt Cohen. Rabbi Thaler directed Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, NY for decades, and Rabbi Cohen served as director of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin as well as the National Ramah Commission. Members of both the Thaler and Cohen families commented that the outpouring of love from the Ramah community has been a source of strength.
May the memories of Rabbis Fraint, Delbick, Thaler, and Cohen always provide blessings for those that knew and loved them. And through the power of Ramah, may our Ramah communities continue to provide comfort and healing to all those connected to our camps who experience the loss of a loved one.
יהי זכרונם ברוך