Like many 22-year-olds, Ben Nadis has somewhat murky career goals. Though he likes his job at the Kroger near his house in Farmington Hills, Mich., he doesn’t want to work there forever. Maybe he’ll be on TV instead, he jokes — he’s not sure.
Read MoreBeth and Jeff Kopin are one of an estimated 700 married couples to have met at one of the Conservative movement’s Ramah camps. The Kopins, who fell in love at Ramah Wisconsin in the 1970s, went on to raise a flock of “Ramahniks.”
“There’s this family feeling if you meet another Ramahnik,” says Beth Kopin, who calls herself a “Ramah lifer” and splits her time between Chicago and Jerusalem. “There’s the communal experience of Shabbat singing, of keeping kosher, of being in a Hebrew musical, of exploring Israel together. It’s being part of a smaller tribe within a larger tribe.”
Read MoreWe have all felt exclusion at some points of our lives, but each of us likely forgot about it as quickly as it happened. Such is not the case for the numerous children and young adults with various different disabilities who attend Ramah camps across our network each summer. For them, isolation and exclusion may be the norm. Hopefully their summers at Ramah are different, and regardless of whether they are attending camp as part of a Ramah Tikvah program or an informal program set up to further our goal of inclusion, all staff members at every Ramah have an obligation to make it so.
Read MoreIt was our absolute pleasure to gather Ramah Service Corps Fellows together last week at Ramah California. During our four days, we enjoyed getting to know one another, studying together, program
sharing, and reflecting on the past few months of work. Emphasis was placed on the most effective ways of encouraging more families to send their kids to Ramah. “I really appreciated the chance to sit down and just talk with some of the other Fellows,” said Hannah Glickman of Ramah New England. “I know that they are doing work similar to mine, but getting to actually spend time together and share what we’re doing brings the experience to a much more tangible level.
Amy Skopp Cooper knows young adults have magic. “They’re cool. They have charisma,” she gushes. “They’re passionate, and kids respond to them.”
She’s not just talking about any young adults; in this case, Skopp Cooper’s talking about the special group of fellows in the Ramah Service Corps (RSC). “They’re future rabbis, or Jewish educators, or maybe they’re on their way to medical school,” she says. “These are well-rounded young people. They are so grateful for what they’ve gotten from their own Ramah experiences, they want to give back.”
Read MoreOver the past few weeks, National Ramah has sponsored several leadership training programs designed to educate, nurture, and cultivate young Ramah leaders. It has been an extraordinary few weeks for more than 150 Ramah staff members and those of us who have had the opportunity to work with them.
Read MoreThis past weekend, I was reminded about the true meaning of Judaism.
But not from reading the Torah or the Talmud or from talking to a rabbi.
Last weekend, 15 rowdy teenagers from across North America taught me everything I need to know about what it really means to be a Jew.
It’s not like this was my first opportunity to connect with my heritage. Growing up in Montreal, we were members of the still-in-its-infancy Reconstructionist synagogue. My parents chose to send their five kids to Jewish day school, and I even opted to continue on to a Jewish high school. I was active in BBYO, serving as chapter and regional president.
Read MoreAs Detroit emerges from the darkness of bankruptcy into the light of regrowth, this year’s fourth annual “Menorah in the D” celebration — starting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 16, at Campus Martius — holds particular significance.
Read More“Including campers with disabilities in summer camp is beneficial for campers with disabilities and neurotypical campers,” says Howard Blas, Director of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England and the National Ramah Tikvah Network. In an article published earlier this year in The Canteen camp blog at MyJewishLearning.com, Blas encouraged parents to consider summer camping for their special needs children for the following reasons:
