Investing in Our Future: National Ramah Spring Leadership Training Conference 2016

The National Ramah Spring Leadership Training Conference brought together 75 Ramah staff members last week, marking the beginning of the 2016 camp season. (View the highlight video). The conference, which was held under sunny skies at Camp Ramah Darom in Clayton, Georgia, featured tracks for rashei edot (division heads) and staff members of Ramah Tikvah (special needs) programs, as well as Daber Fellows, who will focus on bolstering Hebrew at Ramah camps. As always, in addition to its array of educational content, the institute was infused with ruach at every level, from tefillot to rikkud to the inspirational “Ramah Talks” that staff prepared to capture their Ramah stories.

Ramah at 70: Growth and Innovation

More than 11,000 campers and staff will participate in Ramah's 70th summer season, which starts today with the opening of Camp Ramah Darom in Georgia and the Chicago-area Ramah Day Camp. Tomorrow is opening day for Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. Over the next several weeks, all of our nine overnight camps, five day camps, and our Israel Seminar will begin.

AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterJune 1, 2016National Ramah

Camp Community Comes To Michigan

For as long as I can remember, Camp Ramah has been a central part of my life. In fact, I vividly remember standing in the kitchen with my mom when I was eight years old trying to figure out my plans for the upcoming summer. My mom told me it would be wonderful if I chose a Jewish camp. With friends at Tamarack and my older siblings at Ramah, the decision seemed almost impossible to make. But I did ultimately decide to go to Camp Ramah in Canada.

AlumniNRC WebmasterMay 31, 2016Reshet Ramah

$15 Million Raised by Ramah Camping Movement in 2015-16

New Investment from Donors and Foundations in 2015-16 Supports Camps, Israel Programs, and Movement-Wide Initiatives

Tikvah/Special Needs, AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterMay 16, 2016National Ramah

Grassroots Alumni Basketball League Celebrates 20 Years of Nurturing the Camp Community Year-Round

In 1996, before alumni engagement was a buzz phrase in the philanthropy industry, a group of Camp Ramah in the Berkshires young alumni (recent college graduates) sought a place to play basketball with their camp friends. For many of them, playing on the courts in camp was one of their favorite memories as a camper and as a staff member. Without realizing it, this group of four teams of ten established the Ramah Berkshires Alumni Association’s basketball league – known as the RBA.

AlumniNancy ScheffApril 20, 2016Berkshires

Reflections on the Summer Shlichim Seminar at Kibbutz Shefayim

I’ve led Kabbalat Shabbat many times before, but this time is profoundly different. As I sing out the opening words to Yedid Nefesh, I hear only the voices of a handful of Ramah directors amid a sea of 250 people. I look around and see newly-minted Ramah Israeli staff members opening a Masorti siddur, hearing Carlebach melodies, and sitting next to co-daveners of the opposite gender, some for the very first time in their lives. By the second psalm, even though the words are still new, more and more people start to join in, humming and singing along. At one point, moved by the power of the music, shlichim start to get up and dance, forming concentric circles in the middle of our makom teffilah. This is the training seminar for summer shlichim, Israeli emissaries who come to Ramah camps each summer through the Jewish Agency, and I hold the heavy responsibility of being the first person to introduce them to Conservative Judaism in a real, tangible way – the way they’ll come to know and love Judaism at camp in just a few months.

Blog/Reflections, Israel and HebrewNRC WebmasterApril 7, 2016New England, Mishlachat

Kid Tested, and Now Adult Tested: A Grown-Up Taste of Jewish Summer Camp

Scott Michaud is a hard-working lawyer 51 weeks out of the year. But for that final week, the 58-year-old is more at home on the trail than in a courtroom.

“It was my daughter’s idea,” says Michaud, who splits his time between homes in Colorado and Florida. “She told me, ‘Dad, you need to go to overnight camp.’” Since his children had been Ramah campers, the adult camp at Ramah of the Rockies outside Denver seemed like a good choice.

NRC WebmasterMarch 23, 2016Summer 2016, Rockies

Ramah Darom Welcomes Teens with Special Needs

A summer camp for children with neurodevelopmental disorders is gearing up for its second season in the North Georgia mountains. Camp Ramah Darom, located two hours north of Atlanta in Clayton, is holding its four-week Tikvah program for 12- to 17-year-olds who have autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, intellectual disability or communication disorder.

Tikvah/Special NeedsNRC WebmasterMarch 8, 2016Tikvah, Darom

Four Outstanding New Ramah Directors

We are very pleased to welcome four outstanding new Ramah directors to our leadership team:

Sarah Shulman, Director, Camp Ramah in Northern California
Rabbi Ethan Linden, Director, Camp Ramah in the Berkshires
Elana Rivel, Director, Ramah Day Camp in Philadelphia
Rami Schwartzer, Director, Ramah Day Camp of Greater Washington, DC

AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterMarch 2, 2016Galim, Berkshires, Philadelphia Day Camp, DC Day Camp