Conservative rabbis praise camp on its 50th anniversary

by Rachel Sarah, correspondent, National Ramah Director, February 2006

If there's one thing that Camp Ramah in Ojai did very effectively for the Bay Area, it was produce a handful of local rabbis.

As a kid, Rabbi Gordon Freeman of Congregation B'nai Shalom in Walnut Creek had "thought about becoming a rabbi, but being brought up in San Francisco, there weren't many people who became rabbis."

But Freeman found his rabbinical resolve at Ramah - where, in 1956 at age 16, Freeman was the oldest camper during the first summer that the Southern California camp was open for business.

"It was the most intense Jewish experience I'd ever had," says Freeman, who later returned as a counselor, like so many other Ramah campers have done.

Since its inaugural summer session 50 years ago, Camp Ramah has been a place for Conservative Jewish campers and staff throughout the West Coast and points beyond to spend summers together. The network of Ramah camps throughout North America now serves over 6,500 campers and over 1,500 university-aged staff members at seven overnight camps, three day camps and an Israel program. Ramah was described as the "crown jewel" of the Conservative movement, in a recent report on camps.

Bay Area rabbis who attended Ramah agree that the camp was inspirational in turning them into religious leaders. They will be coming out in full force this December for the camp's 50th anniversary festivities.

Before that though, in both May and October, "Ramah Reunion Weekends" are taking place to "reconnect Ramah friends, celebrate Shabbat and get back to your inner child at camp," say Ramah anniversary organizers.

A Young Alumni Camp Weekend is planned for Aug. 22-24. And then on Dec. 3, there will be the 50th anniversary celebration in Ojai. The ceremony will honor all of Ramah's past and present directors, including Rabbi Stuart Kelman of Congregation Netivot Shalom in Berkeley.

Kelman says that Camp Ramah is "probably one of the most important - if not the most important - way of promoting Jewish continuity in the religious sector."

Kelman, who started out as a teen camper, worked his way up to become Ramah's director in 1971-72. He also met his wife, Vicky, in 1959 at Pennsylvania's Camp Ramah. They have sent their four children to Ramah in Ojai, so they too could understand "the totality of the experience, both intellectual and emotional."

Assistant Rabbi Aaron Schonbrun, of Congregation Beth David in Saratoga, says that the most significant thing about Ramah is the fact that as a kid, "you can grow Jewishly in a very safe environment, and you don't even know it's happening to you. You're Jewish when you sing, when you play sports, when you eat."

Schonbrun, who started at Ramah when he was 10, eventually became a camp song leader. He recalls celebrating Shabbat on top of the camp's hill. "I really developed a connection to prayer at camp," he adds. "This was very powerful."

In fact, in the past few years, the National Ramah Commission has researched just how significant Camp Ramah has been for Jewish youth.

One of the reports, focusing on Conservative Jewish college students, said, "Students who attended Ramah as campers were more observant of Jewish ritual, more positive about Jewish and Zionist identity, more inclined to date and marry Jews, and more active in Jewish life on campus."

"I am firmly convinced that in terms of social import, in terms of lives affected, Ramah is the most important venture ever undertaken by the seminary," said Ismar Schorsch, outgoing chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary, when addressing a gathering to celebrate Ramah's 40 anniversary.

Adds Freeman about his summers at Ramah: "I felt completely in my element and completely at home. ... I would have stayed there all my life."

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