In mid-November, I spent three wonderful days at the GA (Jewish Federations of North America’s General Assembly) in Baltimore, where I had the chance to see colleagues, meet with funders and supporters, and learn about exciting new ventures in the Jewish world. Throughout my three days at the GA, I was thrilled to see dozens of Ramah alumni representing virtually all areas of Jewish life in significant leadership positions, as well as many of our current summer staff members attending the GA as leaders with Hillel on their campuses.

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterNovember 18, 2012National Ramah, Mitch Cohen

The Chancellor Goes to Camp

Chancellor Arnold Eisen of The Jewish Theological Seminary has said many times that visiting Ramah camps each summer is one of his favorite parts of his job as chancellor, and that Ramah is “one of the finest accomplishments of JTS, of the Conservative Movement, and of American Judaism as a whole.”

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterAugust 13, 2012National Ramah, JTS, Rockies, Berkshires, New England

6’8″ Israeli Basketball Player Becomes Bar Mitzvah

Although I love playing basketball with campers and staff when I visit Ramah camps, I was less than thrilled to be guarding a 6’8″ new Israeli sports counselor at Ramah Canada during June staff training week. Needless to say, he scored at will. Little did I realize that a few weeks later I would be attending his bar mitzvah ceremony!

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterJuly 17, 2012Mitch Cohen, Summer 2012

From Krakow to Ojai

As we came to learn during our travels in Poland with Ramah Seminar, and as we discussed repeatedly with our teen participants (110 campers graduating from all the Ramah camps), key Holocaust sites have become magnets for tourism here. On the one hand, we want more people to bear witness to the horrible atrocities committed by the Nazis and their collaborators. On the other hand, we cringe at the mention of Auschwitz as one of many interesting tourist sites in this region.

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterJuly 10, 2012Mitch Cohen, Israel

Experiencing Krakow with Ramah Poland Seminar

This morning, we prayed at the Isaac shul in Krakow. RebIsaac was a poor peasant in 17th century Krakow. He yearned to have enough money to find an appropriate shidduch for his daughter. According to legend, he found a buried treasure and became a most generous community donor, building a beautiful synagogue in Krakow, since known as Reb Isaac’s shul. This magnificent shul thrived for hundreds of years, but was damaged and defaced during the Shoah, when all its congregants were murdered in nearby Auschwitz.

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterJune 29, 2012Mitch Cohen, Israel, Poland, Seminar

Outstanding training week at Ramah Darom (Part 2)

As I wrote yesterday, there has been incredible energy and inspiration here at Ramah Darom during this week of multiple National Ramah staff training programs, including our newest program, Kivun, which this year includes about 12 representatives from our colleagues at URJ camps.

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterMay 23, 2012National Ramah, Mitch Cohen, URJ, Darom

Introducing Mishlachat 2012

I just returned from an exciting and inspiring trip to Israel with a delegation of Ramah directors and assistant directors. We spent five days at Kibbutz Shefayim, training the 250 shlichim who will be working at Ramah camps in North America this summer. During our time together, we talked about the core values of Ramah, the prominent role of Israel within our camps, and how shlichim can successfully integrate within our communities.

Ghost on Broadway

Last night I saw the new Broadway show Ghost, together with my wife Cari and Steve and Marlene Goldstein. We thought it was wonderful.

The female star of the show, Caissie Levy, grew up in Hamilton, Ontario and was our camper at Ramah Canada in the 1990’s. Caissie credits her leading roles in her edah plays as having given her the desire and confidence to pursue a career in theater (read more).

Blog/Reflections, AlumniNRC WebmasterMay 1, 2012National Ramah, Alumni, Reshet Ramah, Mitch Cohen