Shlichut in Both Directions: What We Bring and What We Take Home
By Dr. Daniel Olson, Assistant National Director, National Ramah Commission
For the second year in a row, the National Ramah Commission invited North American staff members to join us for a week in Israel of volunteering, learning with the Shalom Hartman Institute, bearing witness in the Gaza Envelope, and meeting shlichim (Israeli staff members) before the summer season.
Since starting last year, these trips have become an essential part of NRC’s work. Ramah has a deep and enduring commitment to Israel, and we fully anticipate that this will be an annual event, even when this time of acute crisis has passed.
This year, over 150 Ramahniks answered the call, coming together in Israel for these powerful opportunities.
I extend gratitude to all of these 2025 staff members, our generous foundations and donors, our partners at Israel Experience and Birthright Israel Onward, and to the Shalom Hartman Institute for making all of these experiences possible.
Volunteering
On each trip, we volunteered for five mornings, mostly on farms where foreign workers had to return home after October 7th.
We tended to strawberries, lettuce, and garlic plants. We joined an organization called Venatata in beautifying a new neighborhood in Kibbutz Ruhama for evacuated Kfar Aza residents. We laid down sod and mulch, built new benches, and planted trees and flowers.
On the Friday of each trip, we joined up with dozens of other volunteers preparing schnitzel sandwiches for IDF soldiers as part of Nir Galim’s ShiShnitzel initiative. Each day’s sandwich making was dedicated to a fallen chayal (soldier). Family members attended, expressed gratitude, and shared their loved one’s heroic story.
“After spending a year working my mind at school, I was excited to come here and work with my hands through all the volunteering and helping in this land that I love, and just be able to give back after watching it go through so much from afar.”
“This was the first time I went to Israel and didn’t think of myself as a tourist. I was able to make a difference. No matter how big or small that difference was, it meant a lot to me that I had the opportunity to do what I could to help עם ישראל through these hard times.”
“Making schnitzel sandwiches for soldiers and seeing the truck drive away with the very sandwiches being delivered less than an hour later was really special. Working on the farms also gave a great opportunity to connect to the land with our hands.”
The Shalom Hartman Institute
Most afternoons after volunteering, we gathered at the Shalom Hartman Institute to learn from their expert faculty about some of the key challenges facing Israeli society and the Jewish people today. Highlights included an extensive Q&A session with Dr. Tal Becker, a leading Israeli diplomat who helped negotiate the Abraham Accords, among other breakthroughs. We thought about how to bring what we were learning and seeing back with us to camp, and many participants are excited to be leaders at their camps in Israel education and dialogue. We extend gratitude to Rabbi Na’ama Levitz Applbaum, a veteran Ramahnik herself, for coordinating our learning at Hartman.
“After feeling uncomfortable to sometimes share my opinions or ask questions on campus this past year, being in the safe, inclusive, vibrant Hartman learning environment was exactly the breath of fresh air that I needed. I really enjoyed immersing myself in relevant Jewish texts and hearing thoughtful insights from my Ramah peers. I am really looking forward to bringing this learning back to camp this summer.”
“The conversations we had at Shalom Hartman Institute were meaningful and opened my eyes to new perspectives. I engaged meaningfully with my peers and practiced how to have thoughtful discourse, so that I can have important discussions with my campers this summer.”
“Through provoking many emotions, learning the deep-rooted nuanced history of Israel, and hearing first-hand accounts of what is currently happening, this trip has allowed me to realize the true importance of history in order to understand and be a contributing member to the good of the world. This trip made me feel a strong connection to Zionism for the first time.”
Meeting Shlichim
Throughout each trip, shlichim coming to work at Ramah camps this summer joined us: for Hartman learning sessions, over Shabbat in Jerusalem, in Be’er Sheva as we were preparing to visit the Gaza Envelope, and in Tel Aviv. We welcomed over 75 shlichim, and these encounters provided so much value for our participants, for the shlichim, and for Ramah camps. Building a foundation of relationship before the summer, especially when Israeli and North American experiences have been so different from each other, is critical. We look forward to seeing how these relationships evolve and grow during our visits to each camp this summer.
“It was such an impactful experience to meet lots of the Israelis that will be working this summer because it really set the tone for camp. They seemed so excited to be there and eager to learn about what’s to come. I am beyond excited to see them again and work with them this summer; it made me that more ready to begin the summer.”
“By getting the opportunity to meet some of the shlichim coming this summer, I feel as though I have already built amazing connections and am so excited to see how they grow. Getting this opportunity is something I wish I had in the past as the mishlachat truly does ‘make camp.’”
“Getting to know the shlichim working at camp this summer was really great. It was very special to meet them and make them feel more comfortable walking into a new environment.”
What We’re Bringing Home With Us
Each individual participant will bring back so much of what they learned: everything from sharing the immediate impact of our volunteer work, to starting the summer already knowing some shlichim, to being able to describe firsthand what happened in the Gaza Envelope on October 7th, to feeling more confident facilitating Israel-focused conversations at camp, to feeling better equipped to talk about Israel back on campus in the fall.
For me, this trip drove home how much pride I take in Ramah’s young leaders. Each individual participant, both American and Israeli, brought so much of themselves to these trips: their physical labor, their critical thinking, their enthusiasm for meeting new people, and their passion for Israel. I am blessed to check in with many of them over the course of the summer and beyond, and I cannot wait to see exactly how they will share this trip with their broader camp, Jewish, and campus communities.
“All the sites we visited [in the Gaza Envelope] really made everything feel real. And I think that sense of reality and that sense of Israel is still standing strong, Israel is still a place that I love to call home, I think that’s something that we all really connect with and we’re really excited to take back to camp this summer.”
“Something that we want to take back from is the idea of collaboration, especially between Americans and Israeli counselors at camp. [We] work together to collaborate as a camp, and not feel like we’re separate entities as American counselors and Israeli counselors. To really feel like we’re one great camp community.”
“Every time we had a conversation about something we did, what we saw, how it made us feel, what we’re going to take away from it. I think that was really beautiful about this experience. I love hearing new perspectives. We love hearing new perspectives. And I’m very grateful I had the opportunity to come on this trip.”
