Reflections from JTS Visitors to Ramah Camps, Summer 2023
The first Ramah camp was founded in 1947 in Conover, Wisconsin, by The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and visionary rabbis and educators from Chicago. Decades later, Ramah continues to flourish. Our partnership with JTS has been critical to the success of every Ramah camp and all aspects of the Ramah Camping Movement over the decades.
JTS students and alumni contribute to the dynamic Jewish living and learning environments at our camps. They also act as emissaries for JTS within their Ramah camp communities, encouraging campers to attend List College and staff members to consider preparing for careers of service to the Jewish people at one of JTS's outstanding graduate schools.
Each summer, leaders from JTS visit Ramah camps. They study and learn with campers and staff and have the opportunity to engage in informal conversations on such topics as their own personal Jewish journeys, career opportunities in the Jewish world, and study opportunities at JTS.
Some of these JTS leaders have graciously taken the time to share their reflections on their visits. We are delighted to share their moving reflections with you.
Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz
Chancellor and Irving Lehrman Research Professor of American Jewish History
“From Mishmar to Sha’ar: Standing Watch and Opening New Gates”
“Tov L’hodot Lashem.” [It’s good to give thanks to God.] Over and over, we sang together, the beautiful, haunting melody, building in intensity as the campers’ passion deepened. This was part of the Mishmar program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. Literally meaning “watch,” Mishmar nowadays generally refers primarily to a voluntary after-hours, informal learning opportunity. At Ramah Wisconsin, this stirring program focuses on learning through song. Each summer on Thursday evenings after formal programming has ended, the oldest edah prepares for Shabbat by eagerly gathering together to stretch their spiritual muscles in song. Led by campers, the singing is open to all post bar/bat mitzvah- age campers who sit in the outer circles and find themselves swept up in the fervor—clearly anticipating being the ones to lead Mishmar in a few years.
Chancellor Schwartz (5th from left) at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin with JTS students and alumni
Chancellor Schwartz (2nd from right) at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack
A few weeks later, I visited Ramah Day Camp in Nyack to observe the Sha'ar [literally: “gate”] Hebrew immersion program that it founded 10 years ago. In this program, some of the youngest campers experience camp through intensive engagement with the Hebrew language. Their counselors speak only Hebrew, and after a few weeks, campers respond to their counselors exclusively in Hebrew too! I visited them at lunch, witnessing a cacophony of conversations about all sorts of topics—all in Hebrew! Sha’ar has grown rapidly in popularity since its inception at Ramah Nyack ten years ago and is now found at all five of Ramah’s North American day camps.
Mishmar and Sha’ar are powerful illustrations of the ways in which Ramah, now in its 76th year, continues to evolve while remaining true to the vision of its creators. While the founders might find Ramah in 2023 unrecognizable with its “makerspaces,” swimming pools, and pickleball courts, they would be enthralled by a Mishmar program in its veteran camp. (Ramah Wisconsin, established in 1947, was the first in the Ramah camping movement). They would also be so proud of Sha’ar since it’s a new way to utilize the camp experience as a vehicle for deepening the Hebrew language competency of American Jewish children, a core goal of its founders in the 1940s. Programs like these skillfully fulfill the aim expressed by one of my predecessors, Rabbi Gerson D. Cohen, of creating proud and joyful Jews who were “uninhibitedly Jewish” in their behavior.
As JTS Chancellor, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to witness these experiences firsthand during my visits to various Ramah camps every summer. May Ramah continue to evolve in ways that embrace its core values while pushing the boundaries of its programming to meet the needs of today’s Jews and tomorrow’s. May it continue standing watch to savor the teachings of our tradition while continually opening new gates of engagement.
Dr. Arnold Eisen
Chancellor Emeritus and Professor of Jewish Thought
Two memories of the weekend that my wife and I spent at Ramah in the Rockies earlier this summer stand out distinctly in my mind.
The first: Kabbalat Shabbat on the hillside and meadow presided over by a glorious mountain. Campers and staff in white, of course; spirited dancing and song; silence when it was appropriate; tefillah from and to the heart. "Raise your eyes to the hills," the Psalmist urges, and we did; "help" to our tefillah came from the hills, as promised. There was excitement in the air such as I have rarely seen in any davening anywhere; just as palpably, there was joy at being there, together. This was not the only moment when I felt those emotions at camp, and shared in them. The setting seemed to work its magic on all sorts of activities. Take that long, twisting, unfenced dirt road up to an altitude of 8000 feet, and you arrive in a world all its own.
Dr. Arnie Eisen (right) at Ramah in the Rockies
The other memory came Monday morning, when we prepared to go back down the road to normal life, and the older edot at camp prepared for the week's masa. This time the air was quiet, appropriately so for the early hour and the seriousness of purpose the campers brought to the tasks of preparation: going down lists of needed supplies, making sure they had packed all that was needed, loading gear onto the vans, saying good-byes to friends not leaving camp with them that day. It's part of the ethos of Ramah "outdoor adventure" that campers take a lot of responsibility for the safety and success of their masa: one of numerous ways in which leadership is assumed, and fears confronted -- together, as always. I couldn't tell how much nervousness I was seeing, mixed in with a large share of excitement, and how much I was projecting onto campers and staff who seemed were far more confident than I would have been in their shoes at their age. Either way, it was a time to savor and happily share.
The Torah portion that Shabbat was Ekev, which compares mitzvah to a path through the wilderness -- the sort of path that only exists if people walk it again and again. These young people were headed out to wilderness, thanks to this Ramah, on Jewish paths as yet unmarked. I like to think that after weeks of studying and enacting Jewish values and Jewish teachings, many carried a commitment to mitzvah as they walked, and will carry it with them even when summer ends.
Dr. Amy Kalmanofsky
Dean, List College and Kekst Graduate School; Blanche and Romie Shapiro Professor of Bible
There is nothing like spending 25 electric hours celebrating Shabbat at Camp Ramah Darom to charge your commitment to Jewish life and catch a glimpse into its vibrant future. There were so many moments that moved me throughout Shabbat—singing yedid nefesh in the amphitheater when a sudden and torrential downpour forces the whole kahal to seek shelter on the other side without missing a beat, learning Torah with staff and campers, meeting so many kids interested in Jewish service, watching a counselor encourage kindness from a young camper, and, most of all, saying farewell to Shabbat with a full band and joyful dancing. It was beautiful and inspiring to be among people who care so deeply about living a rich and loving Jewish life.
Dr. Amy Kalmanofsky (back row, 3rd from right) at Camp Ramah Darom
Rabbi Rafi Cohen
Director of Graduate Admissions
Rabbi Rafi Cohen (far left) at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires on Clergy and Educators Day
This summer I had the pleasure of returning to two camps—Camp Ramah in the Berkshires and Ramah Day Camp in Nyack. For all the personal pleasure that I derive from visiting camps—especially getting to one of them where my son would be for one mahzor—the opportunity to learn with staff and colleagues at Ramah Berkshires was a real blessing. I joined fellow Jewish educators for Clergy and Educators Day, a day geared to connecting with campers and staff from their respective school and synagogue communities. The sheer number of kids who turned out smiling and enjoying time with folks from their “home” may have been about just that…seeing people from home. On a deeper level, the relationship that our leaders have with campers and staff and the imprint we hope to have on them as future Jewish educators, is not something to take for granted. Although I was there as a JTS representative, it was a privilege to join the education director from the synagogue where I’m a member to greet campers from Riverdale. Over snacks and schmoozing, we took pictures and heard stories about the activities and friendships they are enjoying this summer at camp.
Part of the visit was devoted to learning with the camp’s new director (and my former JTS classmate), Rabbi Eytan Kenter. We discussed how camp nurtures the campers and staff, and I can’t help but think that camp is good for our well-being too.
My visit to Nyack was highlighted by a chance to learn a rabbinic text about a young person who wanted to study rabbinic texts—Eliezer ben Hyrcanus—over dinner with a group of the tzevet (staff). Visiting a camp that I’m familiar with to see familiar faces and meet new ones is always a joy. It was a chance to hear from people about the reasons—joys and challenges—they are at camp. I cherish the opportunity to witness their commitment to camp and to their own growth, and I hope to explore further avenues of their Jewish formation.