One of the highlights of the busy pre-summer preparation season is the training of mishlachat members at Kibbutz Shefayim. This year’s Shefayim, with its focus on sacrifice, celebration, and sharing personal narratives, lays the foundation for a summer of dialogue and connection that we hope will strengthen bonds among the Jewish people.
I had the privilege of spending the past week with our Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim high school students during their journey to Poland. I don't use the word privilege lightly—joining this group of 38 passionate, thoughtful, and articulate teens, along with our gifted educators, was an extraordinary experience.
Read MoreWith each visit I was reminded just how good it is to be in camp, even if only for brief moments of time. When I think about the meaningful interactions that I had during these short trips, I am energized by the deep learning, special friendships and lifelong connections to Judaism that I witnessed.
Read MoreIt happens every July just outside of São Paulo, Brazil, at the local NOAM chapter’s machané choref (winter camp). Dr. Daniel Olson, our Director of Strategic Initiatives and Research, visited Brazil this week to lead staff training sessions on disability inclusion, teach music, and learn from our colleagues in Latin America.
Read More“[Ramah New England] did everything in their capacity to make it possible for him to have this precious time with his friends and to recapture some semblance of adolescence that he’s missed over the last year.”
Read MoreAs we set into the winter month, families are facing months of unknowns. Will their children stay in virtual school, or return to in person learning? When will they next see grandparents and cousins? What will the summer look like? No one has all the answers.
Read More“This summer has provided us with countless shehecheyanu moments. Joel, thank you for helping us get to this point, for allowing 58 new campers to join the Ramah community, and for making camp happen this summer and always. I’m looking forward to a time when we can be together again, in person, at machaneinu Ramah.”
Read MoreThrough this program at Camp Ramah in Northern California, we noticed the barriers between teens and mentors, whether rabbi, cantor, rosh edah, or others, were lessened. Teens realized their mentors cared about them, made themselves available to them, and that they treasured having one-on-one conversations with them – our teens mattered.
Read More“The Tikvah virtual vocational training and socializing series offered reliability and predictability during uncertain times; it offered friendship and conversation during a summer when in-person socializing wasn’t possible. The program expanded the world of our participants.”
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