Leaving Home, Returning Home
We sent this letter to Seminar 2026 participants as they were scheduled to land in North America.
Kol Hakavod to the Ramah Israel team and Jonathan Madoff, Seminar Director, for their incredible leadership. We extend enormous gratitude to RootOne, Masa, and the individual philanthropists who ensure that every Ramahnik is able to participate in Ramah Israel Seminar.
August 10, 2026 / 27 Av 5786
Dear Bogrei Seminar 2026 (Seminar 2026 Graduates),
You left home, and you are returning home.
For the past six weeks, you have lived a life of verbs—fully immersed in building a Ramah community in Israel. You have experienced pure joy alongside deep complexity: hiking, volunteering, tilling, painting, davening, studying, and celebrating. You held each other up on the train tracks to Birkenau, at the entrance to Nova, and in the presence of Rachel Goldberg-Polin, carrying the heavy weight of memory on your shoulders. You cried together, and then, with fierce resolve, you laughed and danced together.
Bogrei Seminar—it is not lost on us that you were only a few weeks into your freshman year on October 7, 2023. So many of you have reflected on how profoundly that day, and the years since, have shaped you. You shared that within your Ramah community, you feel your most authentic selves, fully able to express your love for Medinat Yisrael and your deep connection to Am Yisrael. We worked hard to ensure that you had space for this reflection and dialogue. We knew how vital it was for you to be in Israel this summer, and despite a tumultuous spring, we never lost hope that you would make it to Seminar. We are so deeply grateful to you, your parents, and the Ramah Israel staff who held onto that same hope right alongside us.
In the coming days, you will be asked countless times about your summer—give yourselves the gift of time before answering. Recounting an itinerary is easy, but sharing your authentic Israel story is far more complex. Your story will likely include conversations deep into the night, Shacharit at sunrise, contemplating Jewish destiny under majestic desert stars, and walking the Shabbat streets of Jerusalem. It will include challenging conversations about Israel’s future, her complex realities, and upcoming elections. It will include where you gave tzedakah and where you found the best falafel in town. Open your travel diaries and look back at your photos often as you uncover what truly defined this summer for you.
This past Shabbat in Jerusalem, I shared my own Ramah journey with you, along with our promise to take your Jewish lives and your Jewish leadership seriously. As you unpack your bags and your memories, please hold on to that message. You are our future Ramah leaders and our future Jewish leaders. Your life of verbs doesn't end here—it moves home with you. Our pledge is to support you as you bring that same energy, joy, courage, and leadership to camp, to your communities, and soon, to your college campuses. We are incredibly proud of you and filled with hope for the future you are about to shape.
Welcome Home.
