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.
Read MoreNew Investment from Donors and Foundations in 2015-16 Supports Camps, Israel Programs, and Movement-Wide Initiatives
Read MoreIn 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.
Read MoreI’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.
Read MoreScott 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.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreWe are very pleased to welcome four outstanding new Ramah directors to our leadership team:
At the oldest Jewish summer camp in New England, you can hike, swim, sail — and now fly through the air with the greatest of ease.
The Camp Modin “trapeze center” is the first of its kind in North America, a “revolutionary” design with a “state-of-the-art inflatable landing pad.”
Read MoreWINGDALE, N.Y. (JTA) – The sky is clearing after a damp morning at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, and kids are emerging from their cluttered bunks.
An impromptu Frisbee game breaks out on the lawn, while down by the lake a counselor prepares the water trampoline and surf kayaks. On the other side of the 200-acre expanse, a staffer tests the high ropes obstacle course. Nearby, a group of teenagers is shooting hoops at the covered basketball courts, where industrial fans turn the sultry air.
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