Howard Blas Receives Prestigious Covenant Award

What a wonderful evening for Ramah, Tikvah, the disabilities inclusion field, and Howard Blas! This past Sunday night, October 27, Howard Blas received the prestigious Covenant Award at the Covenant Foundation’s annual awards dinner at the Chicago Hyatt Regency. This award is given each year to three outstanding Jewish educators. With hundreds of people in attendance, Howard was acknowledged for his leadership of the inspiring Tikvah program at Ramah New England, supported by camp director Rabbi Ed Gelb and the entire Ramah New England team. He was also recognized for his role as a consultant to the National Ramah Tikvah Network; his year-round teaching of children with disabilities for their bar or bat mitzvah; and his advocacy for inclusion in Jewish education. Howard was nominated for the award by Shira Arcus, the immediate past coordinator of the Ramah Tikvah Network and a long-time Ramah New England camper and staff member.

Tikvah/Special Needs, AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterOctober 31, 2013Howard Blas, Tikvah, New England, National Ramah

Reflections on Al Pi Darko: National Ramah Symposium on Special Needs Programs

We have all heard these sentiments expressed before: “Camp was my child’s best Jewish experience,” “Camp changed our lives,” “”I love Camp Ramah!” What was special about hearing these words last week was that they came from Ramah camper alumni with disabilities and parents of campers with disabilities. These families never dreamed that they could have a Jewish camp experience.

Blog/Reflections, Tikvah/Special NeedsNRC WebmasterOctober 22, 2013Tikvah, Voc-Ed

Survey Finds Camp Ramah Offers Outstanding Jewish Educational Experiences for Children, Teens and Young Adults With Disabilities

The National Ramah Commission has released the results of a new strategic planning survey conducted to document the impact of Ramah special needs programs. Ramah’s leadership in the field of Jewish special needs camping dates back to its first Tikvah program in 1970, the first program of its kind.

Ramah in the News, Tikvah/Special NeedsNRC WebmasterOctober 18, 2013Tikvah

From Ojai, CA: A Morning with Participants in Ramah California’s Ezra Program

Ezra, part of Tikvah at Ramah California, is a program that provides vocational education (voc-ed) training for young adults with special needs. Last Monday, August 5, I had the pleasure of traveling with five Ezra participants in the van that transported them from camp to their work placements in the town of Ojai. This year, Ezra has been supported in part by a generous National Ramah grant from the Ruderman Family Foundation.

Tikvah/Special NeedsNRC WebmasterAugust 12, 2013Tikvah, California, Summer 2013, Voc-Ed

“You Make Our Company Better”

At the end of an inspiring few days that I spent at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin last week, Tikvah director Ralph Schwartz invited me to see some of the work placement sites in nearby Eagle River where Tikvah graduates, now part of the Atzmayim program, are working as interns.

Tikvah/Special NeedsNRC WebmasterJuly 23, 2013Voc-Ed, Wisconsin

Camp Ramah Expands Its Vocational Education Programs for Young Jewish Adults with Special Needs

Major Ruderman Family Foundation Grant Enables Post-High School Campers with Disabilities to Return to Camp, Strengthen Their Jewish Identity, and Gain Valuable Job and Living Skills to Use in Their Home Communities

Tikvah/Special Needs, AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterJuly 22, 2013Ruderman Foundation, Tikvah, Voc-Ed

Howard Blas, Director of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England, Receives Prestigious 2013 Covenant Award

Annual Award Recognizes Three Exceptional Jewish Educators for Innovation, Inspiration, and Impact on Jewish Education and Community

Tikvah/Special Needs, AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterJune 5, 2013Tikvah, National Ramah

Tikvah Staff Alumni at the Post-GA Disability Inclusion Initiative

When Shelley Cohen and Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi returned to their bus after their tour of Camp Ramah in New England, they knew they had to bring the issue of inclusion of people with disabilities to a much larger audience. They had just participated in a three-day bus tour for funders of summer camps for children with disabilities sponsored by the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Jewish Funders Network. Shelley and Jennifer, two energetic, visionary women, who had only first met on that bus, immediately went to work. Astonishingly, in under three months, they managed to assemble nearly 150 people from every part of the Jewish disabilities world for a conference entitled, “Opening Abraham’s Tent: The Disability Inclusion Initiative,” which took place in Baltimore, Maryland following the recent Jewish Federations of North America‘s 2012 General Assembly.

Tikvah/Special Needs, Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterNovember 28, 2012Tikvah, Howard Blas, New England