Summer 2021: COVID-19 Updates

Ramah Camping Movement-Wide Statement

November 24, 2020

Over the last several weeks, professionals, lay leaders, and medical experts from all of our North American Ramah day and overnight camps have met to consider the challenges of running safe and healthy programs next summer. There is unanimous opinion that, assuming our state and local authorities allow overnight and day camping, all Ramah camps will be open in summer 2021, and will once again provide thousands of children, teens, and young adults with a high level of programming in a safe environment.

Based upon recommendations from the American Camp Association (ACA), in partnership with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and our National Ramah Medical Committee, which includes doctors with expertise in public health, vaccination protocol, and infectious disease, our camps may make modifications to camp staffing and programming. These modifications will be designed to mitigate the risk of having any COVID infection in camp, as well as to minimize the chance of transmission within camp should someone in our community be infected with COVID.

We are researching best practices from schools, universities, and those camps which operated without the spread of infection last summer, as well as communicating  with local health department officials in our camp communities. As specific state and local regulations are clarified, each camp, given its own unique physical plant and program design, will keep families up to date with COVID developments and its own modifications, where necessary, to staffing, program design, testing policies, etc. 

The entire Ramah camping movement remains dedicated to three key principles:

  1. Opening camp next summer for as many campers and staff as possible as allowed by law;

  2. Adopting the policies and protocols recommended by experts in public health to maximize the safety of our communities; and

  3. Being transparent with all members of the Ramah community as changes (if any) are made to session dates, camp program, screening procedures, etc.

We are grateful for the excellent lay and professional leadership at all our camps, and to the many experts who continue to help guide our decision making. We look forward to re-opening all of our sites next summer, and creating, once again as we have done for 74 years, inspiring youth communities filled with joyful Jewish experiences.

Ramah Camp COVID-19 FAQs

Overnight Camps: Berkshires | California | Canada | Darom | New England
NorCal | Poconos | Rockies | RSA | Wisconsin

Day Camps: Chicagoland | Nyack | Philadelphia | Washington, DC

NRC Medical Committee Members

  • Dr. Cliff Nerwen; Chair, NRC and Ramah Berkshires Medical Committees; Pediatrics (bio below)

  • Dr. Michael Agus; Co-Chair, Ramah New England Medical Committee; Pediatric Intensive Care & Endocrinology

  • Dr. Alyse Baron; Chair, Ramah California Medical Committee; Pediatrics

  • Dr. Mark Drexler; Chair, Ramah Wisconsin Medical Committee; Family Medicine

  • Dr. Sandy Herman; Past Chair, Ramah Darom Medical Committee; Emergency Medicine

  • Dr. Mark Joff; Medical Director, Ramah Poconos; Pediatric Emergency Medicine

  • Dr. Andrea Kasowitz; Ramah California Clinical Director; Family Medicine

  • Dr. Orly Klein; Medical Director, Ramah Darom; Pediatric Oncology

  • Dr. Jeff Kopin; Past Chair, NRC Medical Committee; Internist & Hospital Administrator

  • Dr. Philip Levy; Member, Ramah Berkshires Medical Committee; Neonatology

  • Dr. Irene Moff; Medical Director, Ramah NorCal; Pediatrics

  • Dr. Marcus Oginsky; Chair, Ramah Rockies Medical Committee; Adult Hospitalist

  • Dr. Steven Schwartz; Co-Chair, Ramah New England Medical Committee; Family Medicine

  • Dr. Tanya Wyman; Chair, Ramah Canada Medical Committee; Family Medicine

Dr. Cliff Nerwen

Dr. Cliff Nerwen, Chair of the NRC and Ramah Berkshires Medical Committees, ​is an academic general pediatrician on the faculty of Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York.​ He ​is a graduate of the Joint Program​ of The Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University and the University of Connecticut School of Medicine​. He completed his residency and internship at Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

​Dr. Nerwen is the president of CSAIR in Riverdale, NY, where he is also the ​founding chair of the Child Protection Committee​. He has served for several years as the Board Chair of Sacred Spaces, an organization that aims to prevent and address child abuse and other abuses of power in the Jewish community.

​​In addition to being a parent of two Ramah Berkshires alumni, Dr. Nerwen is a Ramah Canada camper alum, and a staff alum of Ramah New England and Ramah Berkshires, where he spent many years as a camp doctor.

  • Board certifications​: Pediatrics - American Board of Pediatrics

  • Academic titles​: Assistant Professor, Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell

  • Affiliations​: Long Island Jewish Medical Center​; North Shore University Hospital​; ​​Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children​'​s Med​ical​ Center​ of NY