JDAIM Shabbat and a Surprise Reunion

by Veronica Leifer and Hannah Blas, Camp Ramah New England alumni (Niv, 2014)

This past Shabbat, February 12, Sutton Place Synagogue in New York City hosted a panel discussion with current and former members of the Tikvah program in honor of JDAIM, Jewish Disabilities Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion Month. We were excited go back to the synagogue where our edah stayed on our New York trip in Nivonim, but more importantly, to support our bunkmate Alexa, who would be speaking on the panel. Five of our edah-mates decided to surprise Alexa at the Shabbat morning services. 

Veronica (left) and Alexa (right)

Singing Shabbat morning prayers alongside camp friends next to whom we had prayed countless times reminded us how much richness Camp Ramah brought to our Jewish lives and identities. While Jewish literacy and prayer was one tangible learning from camp, Saturday morning highlighted the way inclusion was as ingrained in our memories of camp as daily tefillot were. 

During the panel discussion, we heard from campers, parents, and staff members that highlighted the journey of establishing a Tikvah program and the long term impact it has had on both participants of the programs and their peers.

Hannah (far left), Alexa (second from right) and friends

The program reminded us how proud we are of our involvement in the Tikvah programs—as campers in an inclusion bunk, CITs, and staff—and how integral it was to our camp experiences. The leap that Ramah took towards inclusion is a model for how the rest of the Jewish community can make their spaces homes for all people with all different needs. 

One point that was repeated by the speakers was how beneficial camp has been for Tikvah graduates in gaining vocational and social skills that they can go on to use outside of camp. While chatting after the services, we reminisced about camp memories and reminded each other how living together for two months every summer at camp helped ALL of us years later when navigating living with roommates in college and in apartments, moving out of our parents’ homes, and becoming independent young adults. 

Summer 2009 - Alexa is in the front row, yellow shirt; Hannah is in the middle row, purple shirt, and Veronica is on the far right, pink shirt.

We started as campers in a bunk with Alexa as eight-year-olds in Ilanot and grew together through our years at camp. We are so grateful for the lifelong connections we built during our summers together. Thank you to Sutton Place Synagogue and the Tikvah program for giving us an opportunity to come together and reflect on the ways that those summers together at camp have changed our lives and guided our paths so many years later now that we are young professionals and graduate students living in New York City.