2023 Winer Institute for Rosh Edah Training
This year’s Louis and Shoshanah Winer Leadership Institute for Rosh Edah Training brought together 31 participants from 10 different Ramah camps from May 22-24 at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack. Winer is our signature training program for first-time and vatik (veteran) rashei edot. In addition, 10 Ramah staff members joined the conference a day early this year to become certified in Youth Mental Health First Aid.
Participants appreciated the opportunity to gain intensive training in preparation for their roles as leaders, educators, supervisors, and care providers. They discussed important topics such as structuring meaningful tefillot, balancing their role as a mentor and colleague, inclusion, logistics at camp, and more.
“At Winer, I was involved in so many meaningful conversations about what it means to be a rosh and how to empower my tzevet to be the best madrichim they can be. I’m excited to use what I learned at Winer to continue planning Shavuah hachanah and other staff training sessions throughout the kayitz!”
Rashei edot also had the chance to discuss current events taking place in Israel with Dr. Yizhar Hess, the vice chair of the World Zionist Organization. Dr. Hess answered questions about the judicial reform and protests currently taking place in Israel, and provided valuable insights to assist in planning Israel programming this kayitz (summer). In addition, participants met with National Ramah Director Amy Skopp Cooper to discuss safe and healthy community-building. These in-depth conversations focused on being an upstander to preserve a culture of consent, and on actively prioritizing inclusion across a diverse spectrum of identities.
“Winer was such a valuable and fun experience as an upcoming first-time rosh edah. From the extremely helpful learning sessions to the bonding time with my peers, I got so much out of my time in Nyack!
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The sessions when rashei edot came together as a kehillah were high points of the conference. Some top moments included first-time and vatik rashei edot eating together as mentorship pairs, tie-dying new Ramah t-shirts together, and taking turns sharing their “Ramah stories” in front of the entire group. Participants also had the opportunity to learn from one another during a series of round robin sessions, where they shared their best practices in small groups and modeled ways to structure moments of gratitude, appreciation, bonding, team-building, and kef (fun).
“It was really great to learn from all of the other rashei edot at Winer! I ate breakfast with the rashei edot for the other camps’ oldest edah equivalents. We talked about our camps’ programs designed to make chanichim’s last summer special and brainstorm new opportunities to offer these awesome young adults!”
All of our participants brought their ruach, good nature, and love for Ramah into our time together. We are confident that our rashei edot are returning to our camps this kayitz prepared with practical, detail-oriented skills to help them succeed from Shavuah Hachanah (staff week) through August. We are excited to watch everyone carry the skills learned at Winer into this summer!
- Maya Klareich, National Ramah Program Associate