Heading back to school in the fall after a fun-filled summer at camp has always been a bit of a letdown for kids. Who hasn’t wished that school were more like summer camp and that teachers were more like camp counselors?
Read More
The National Ramah Winter Leadership Training Conference at Ramah California in Ojai this past January 2-5 was truly extraordinary! This weekend training and Shabbaton were marked not only by inspirational and powerful interactions among staff members across the camps in the Ramah movement, but also by the exchange of ideas and experiences across generations of Ramah leaders.
Read More
The summer camping season at Ramah has not even begun, and yet I have already been privileged to participate in a series of Ramah programs over the last few weeks that have left me truly inspired.
Read More
"I leave Hava Nashira this year with an overwhelming confidence in our mission as Jewish songleaders, and with the knowledge that the power of ruach and song continues to be shared with thousands of Jewish youth in the Reform and Conservative movements each summer"- Josh Warshawsky
Read More
“Every time I come to Winer, I feel like I’m getting an upgrade,” said Rafi Spitzer, Rosh Solelim this summer at Ramah New England. “I feel like I become Rafi 2.0.”
Read More
We are halfway through Day 3 of the 2013 National Ramah Spring Leadership Conference, which is being hosted this year by Camp Ramah in New England. The buzz of simply being back on campgrounds and surrounded by Ramahniks is powerful and invigorating. This week marks the kick-off of Kayitz 2013, and I am just as excited about it as the counselors, rashei edah, and staff specialists learning around me.
Read More
I recently returned from an exciting and inspiring five days at Kibbutz Shefayim, training the 250 shlichim–180 new and 70 returning–who will be working at Ramah camps across North America this summer. Together with a delegation of directors and assistant directors from each of the Ramah overnight camps, we talked about the core values of Ramah, the centrality of Israel within our camps, and how shlichim can successfully integrate within our communities.
Read More
This year’s Bert B. Weinstein Institute for Staff Training was truly remarkable. Over 100 Ramah staff members–our largest winter gathering ever!–came together at Ramah California in Ojai from January 3-6. Seventy-five second- and third-year madrichim, representing all our overnight camps and Nyack, were joined by contingents of Ramah Service Corps interns, Daber Fellows, 11 staff from most of our special needs programs, and directors, assistant directors, and other senior leaders from our camps and from NRC.
Read More
I’ve been back from the 2012 Staff Leadership Training Program for a couple of weeks now. It’s difficult to capture the sense of excitement and accomplishment that we all felt during this week of amazing leadership development. But when I re-read the evaluations from our remarkable participants, I was once again inspired. I hope that you will also be moved by the enthusiasm of these tzevet, all of whom participated in the Winer Institute for Rosh Edah Training.
Read More