"I leave Hava Nashira this year with an overwhelming confidence in our mission as Jewish songleaders, and with the knowledge that the power of ruach and song continues to be shared with thousands of Jewish youth in the Reform and Conservative movements each summer"- Josh Warshawsky
Read More“Every time I come to Winer, I feel like I’m getting an upgrade,” said Rafi Spitzer, Rosh Solelim this summer at Ramah New England. “I feel like I become Rafi 2.0.”
Read MoreWe are halfway through Day 3 of the 2013 National Ramah Spring Leadership Conference, which is being hosted this year by Camp Ramah in New England. The buzz of simply being back on campgrounds and surrounded by Ramahniks is powerful and invigorating. This week marks the kick-off of Kayitz 2013, and I am just as excited about it as the counselors, rashei edah, and staff specialists learning around me.
Read MoreI recently returned from an exciting and inspiring five days at Kibbutz Shefayim, training the 250 shlichim–180 new and 70 returning–who will be working at Ramah camps across North America this summer. Together with a delegation of directors and assistant directors from each of the Ramah overnight camps, we talked about the core values of Ramah, the centrality of Israel within our camps, and how shlichim can successfully integrate within our communities.
Read MoreAt a Shabbaton in Jerusalem last weekend, 150 Ramah staff and alumni gathered to celebrate the connections between the North Americans and Israelis who make up the Ramah community. Participants included Israelis who have served as shlichim at Ramah camps, and North Americans who have made aliyah or who are studying in Israel, and who have staffed the Ramah camps.
Read MoreThis year’s Bert B. Weinstein Institute for Staff Training was truly remarkable. Over 100 Ramah staff members–our largest winter gathering ever!–came together at Ramah California in Ojai from January 3-6. Seventy-five second- and third-year madrichim, representing all our overnight camps and Nyack, were joined by contingents of Ramah Service Corps interns, Daber Fellows, 11 staff from most of our special needs programs, and directors, assistant directors, and other senior leaders from our camps and from NRC.
Read MoreThe Ramah College Network assists Ramah alumni in their college decision-making by providing prospective students with access to a database of more than 800 Ramah alumni at over 150 colleges and universities. The Ramahniks included in the database are excited to make themselves available to speak about college to these prospective students. The Ramah College Network database is also a great tool for Ramahniks who are already on campus and are looking to connect with other Ramah alumni.
Read MoreWhen 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.
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