Hebrew Immersion in Camp

There’s a small buzzing slice of Israeli culture right in the heart of Rockland County. Up the winding country roads of Nyack, on a sprawling green estate, it’s 8:30 AM, and Israeli music is blasting. Hundreds of children in colorful T-shirts, shorts and sandals are running towards the central field to dance to Tel Aviv’s latest hits. Welcome to Sha’ar, Camp Ramah’s Areivim Hebrew at Camp program: seven weeks designed to instill Hebrew language fluency in young children through full language immersion. Here, roughly half of the campers are from day school, half are from public school, and some are from charter schools. Their knowledge of Hebrew is varied: some come from Israeli homes, while others don’t know a word of Hebrew when they first enter camp.

Israel and Hebrew, Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterJanuary 17, 2016Nyack

Announcing the Camp Ramah/Synagogue Initiative for the Bay Area

NEW YORK, NY (January 13, 2016) – The National Ramah Commission has received a new grant from The AVI CHAI Foundation to deepen the connection between Ramah camps and Conservative congregations. This grant will support a pilot initiative between the newest Ramah regional overnight camp, Camp Ramah in Northern California (Ramah NorCal), and a select number of synagogues in the San Francisco Bay Area.

AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterJanuary 13, 2016National Ramah, Galim

Op-Ed: Conservative Judaism — many options, unlimited possibilities

When I was a law student, I took a course by a renowned professor who warned that if a prosecutor ever told us that our client only had two choices, we should walk away from the bargaining table. His point: There are always more options.

Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterJanuary 11, 2016JTS

Ramah is beloved tradition for Tucson family

Tucsonan Lisa Goldberg’s connections to Camp Ramah in Ojai, Calif., run deep. She’s been a Ramahnik since she first attended camp when she was 8 years old, having “inherited” Ramah from her mother, Mimi Dinin Sisk, who was one of the first campers at the California location, and her grandfather, Samuel Dinin, a noted Jewish educator who helped the camp get its start back in 1956. Goldberg’s three children, Elana, Lily and Samson, have all spent summers there.

Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterJanuary 7, 2016California

Ramah and Ruderman Family Foundation Announce Video Contest Winners

The Ramah Camping Movement and the Ruderman Family Foundation have announced the winners of “TIPTOE (The Inclusion Project: Through Our Eyes),” an inclusion-themed video contest for participants from all Jewish camps. The goal of TIPTOE is to increase awareness of the inclusion work happening at Jewish camps across North America. The Ruderman Family Foundation will award a cash prize to the winners and make donations to the inclusion programs at the winners’ camps.

The winning videos can be viewed at http://bit.ly/1mcDnYf

Tikvah/Special Needs, Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterDecember 23, 2015National Ramah, Tikvah, TIPTOE, Ruderman Foundation

Winners of 2015 Tiptoe Inclusion-Themed Video Contest

Ramah Camping Movement and Ruderman Family Foundation Announce Winners of Video Contest to Promote Inclusion of Campers with Disabilities

Tikvah/Special Needs, AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterDecember 18, 2015Tikvah, National Ramah, TIPTOE

Francine Lavin Weaver Receives Outstanding Philanthropist Award

Francine Lavin Weaver of Denver, Colorado, was presented with the Outstanding Philanthropist Award for her significant contributions benefiting generations of Jewish children. Ms. Weaver was one of the lead donors who helped the Jewish community of Colorado fund the purchase of a large mountain ranch that is today the home of Camp Ramah in the Rockies.

Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterNovember 19, 2015Rockies

The Camp-Campus Connection: Seizing the Opportunity

The level of Jewish engagement and support for Israel on college campuses can be significantly strengthened by leveraging the incredibly positive Jewish experiences of the thousands of undergrads who spend their summers at Jewish camps. It is absolutely time for camp and campus leaders to work more closely together to harness this leadership potential to increase Jewish engagement and positive identification with Israel.

Alumni, Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterNovember 3, 2015Reshet Ramah

Arriving in Poland, Again

just arrived in Poland for the fourth time, and each trip fills me with a range of divergent emotions.

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The first time was in 1982, on a brief stopover from Moscow as I returned from a two-week visit with Soviet Jewish refuseniks. Martial law had just been declared, the Solidarity anti-Communist movement led by Lech Walesa was gaining strength, and no one could predict the fall of the Soviet Union in just seven years. My three subsequent trips have all been with Ramah — initially with our teens on Seminar and now twice with a Reshet Ramah adult trip.

Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterOctober 15, 2015Mitch Cohen