Reflections from Participants on the Weinstein Vocational Training Track

by Maya Albin, Program Director, National Ramah Tikvah Network

February marks Jewish Disability, Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month (JDAIM). JDAIM is an incredible opportunity to highlight the amazing adults with disabilities who are part of our Ramah community and to share the work being done to advance disability acceptance and inclusion in our Jewish communities and worldwide.

The National Ramah Tikvah Network includes many year-round virtual (e.g., TikvahNet, Tikvah Family Speaker Series) and in-person opportunities (e.g., Weinstein leadership training conference, inclusion at Reshet Ramah events) for Ramah alumni with disabilities and their families to remain engaged in the Ramah community. Our programs continue to serve adults with disabilities years or decades after attending a Tikvah program at one of our Ramah overnight camps. This JDAIM, we share participant reflections from our most recent in-person leadership training initiative for Ramah Tikvah alumni: the vocational training track at the 2025 Bert B. Weinstein Leadership Institute.

In January 2025, we welcomed a record number of participants on our vocational training track, with 10 participants from seven of our Ramah camps. This is our third year running this track, which focuses on developing leadership and vocational training skills for adults with disabilities who will return to work at camp in 2025 as part of vocational training programs or as staff members. This track was led by Maya Albin, program director of the National Ramah Tikvah Network, as well as Sam Weiner (Ramah Wisconsin) and Rachel Arditi (Ramah California) to ensure that all participants had the support they needed to be included in all Weinstein activities and travel to and from the conference.

We have several track-specific programs that focus on goal setting, planning programs, managing free time, self-advocacy, and more. Participants were fully included in the entire Weinstein program, including living in cabins with other Weinstein attendees, eating meals together, and enjoying time with their camp friends. To quote one of our participants, Charlie: “Weinstein is a fun time, and you’ll get to meet new friends and re-connect with other friends—that’s what I found out, that it is really beneficial."

We asked several of our vocational training track participants to reflect on their experiences at Weinstein:

Weinstein’s vocational track built important skills.
Charlie (Ramah Wisconsin) gained program planning skills: “I learned that programs can be very different, and that everyone’s ideas for programs look different”; Dahlia (Ramah Galim) enjoyed the SMART goals program “to get a refresher on these concepts” and apply them; and Shayna (Ramah Galim) enjoyed “talking about being a counselor.”

Participants felt included and fostered connections within our track and beyond.
With the entire Weinstein group, Dahlia “liked how we interacted with the different camps and different tracks. I liked meeting with the Tikvah staff too.” Charlie shared with the group that he set a SMART goal to meet new people, which he proudly achieved—“I liked getting to reconnect with my old camp friends, but also meeting new friends.” Highlights of inclusion included “time with other Weinstein participants from my home camp” (Dahlia) and “silent disco” (audio-immersive dancing with wireless headphones) — “I felt like I could dance with whoever I wanted to, and then when we went into a circle, it made me feel included because we were all together.” (Charlie).
During our track time, Charlie thought, “it was nice to hear about each other’s experiences at camp, and how different it was between camps”, and remarked how wonderful it was to gather together and “get to know each other more, even if you knew each other before Weinstein." Dahlia enjoyed “[reconnecting] with people [she] went on the Tikvah birthright trip with” in 2023.

Weinstein was a valuable opportunity to discuss disability and inclusion with peers.
One of our programs focused on self-advocacy and disability pride. Charlie shared, “I liked to hear other people’s perspectives about how they feel about having a disability. I feel like it’s important to know that we’re all in the same boat. We all have stuff we’re dealing with, but we all push through—we got this." This discussion extended into a joint program with the Tikvah staff track, giving the vocational track participants the opportunity to talk about their inclusion experiences with people who will be Tikvah counselors in 2025.

Our Ramah Tikvah alumni value year-round opportunities to connect.
Participants actively engaged in all programs and thought critically about how to take what they learned back to their home camps. Charlie shared - “It’s important to reconnect with old friends and make new friends that all go to the same camp. I could talk with the people from Wisconsin about what I learned from the people from different camps and how it connects to Wisconsin." Dahlia also shared that Weinstein “made me think about what I want to bring back to my own camp."

Weinstein connected participants to Judaism and Israel
Dahlia shared that the dancing, rikkud, “made me feel connected to Israel." Charlie felt most connected to his Judaism on Shabbat: “I always love Shabbat. We’re all in one community just praying…I always find it fun at [Ramah] Wisconsin, and I wanted to see what the other camps would be like."

In summary, our track was an amazing example of inclusion and celebration of our Ramah Tikvah alumni, and we look forward to more in-person leadership opportunities in the future. We are excited to continue to bring JDAIM’s mission of advancing awareness, acceptance, and inclusion for people with disabilities into all of our work at the National Ramah Tikvah Network.

Building Skills, Making Connections, and Preparing for Summer