Riding For Ramah

For Ben Yellin and Jeff Brand, of Swampscott and Marblehead respectively, participating in the Ramah Israel Bike Ride fundraiser to support special needs camp programs was a no-brainer. Both are avid riders, both love Israel, and both have sons who attended the Tikvah program at Camp Ramah in Palmer as youngsters and, last summer, as adults. Yellin, 59, who rode 257 miles, said the May 12-19 trip was an opportunity to reconnect with some of the people he had met when he did the ride in 2013. “The ride was like a reunion for me. The bond was amazing,” he said.

2015 Spring Staff Training Institute, Part 2

Walking through Ramah New England, basketball hoops are being netted, tents are being structured, and it’s clear that the first day of camp is truly in sight. It’s sad to see the National Ramah Spring Staff Training Institute come to an end, but the excitement for the reality of summer is evident.

2015 Staff Training Institute, Part 1

The 2015 National Ramah Spring Staff Training Institute kicked off yesterday in high gear. Eighty-five eager staff members have gathered at Ramah New England, representing ten Ramah camps (including the new Ramah Day Camp in Greater Washington, DC!), six URJ Camps and one Young Judaea camp. As always, it’s an incredibly moving sight to have so many talented Jewish educators in one space, learning from each other and preparing for the summer.

Jewish Outreach Goes to Camp Ramah

Jewish outreach on college campuses and through synagogues has, over the past two decades, become the norm. We are no longer surprised to hear that freshmen who never self-identified as Jews were invited to a Shabbat dinner on campus, or that synagogues are revamping their schools to accommodate competition from soccer practice and the plethora of activities many families choose over their children’s Jewish education.

Ramah in the News, AlumniNRC WebmasterMay 21, 2015National Ramah, Reshet Ramah, Abigail Treu

New Partnership Between JDate and Ramah Aims to Connect Camp Alumni

The first-ever partnership between JDate and a Jewish camping movement has launched. A project of the Reshet Ramah alumni and community engagement initiative, RamahDate will offer former Ramah campers and staff members the opportunity to connect online with other Ramah alumni 18 years of age and older who share the passion for vibrant Jewish life that characterizes the Camp Ramah experience.

Alumni, Ramah in the News, AnnouncementsNRC WebmasterMay 17, 2015RamahDate, Reshet Ramah

This New Dating Site Fulfills Every Camp Person's Lifelong Dream

Laugh all you want at the recent rise of "adult summer camps," with their booze-soaked mess halls and raucous grown-up dodgeball games. If the trend indicates anything, it's this: There's something special about camp that you never want to give up.That lifelong devotion and (let's just say it) obsession with summer camp is behind the latest online dating venture. On Friday, prominent Jewish online dating site JDate announced the launch of RamahDate, a partnership with Camp Ramah to create the first camp-specific online dating network of its kind. The tagline? "Find your future bunkmate."

Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterMay 15, 2015Reshet Ramah, RamahDate

The Incredible 2015 Ramah Mishlachat

Amidst cheers, dancing, and singing, we just concluded the 2015 Mishlachat Training Seminar,which for the first time was held at the Givat Haviva Educational Institute, about halfway between Tel Aviv and Haifa. We are very grateful to our partners at The Jewish Agency who organize this four-day program and provide Ramah leadership with the unique opportunity to work with the 188 new Ramah shlichim joining us this summer. And unique it was: this was the first year that the training seminar began on Yom Ha’Shoah. Just minutes before the shlichim arrived, Ramah directors stood together and listened to the two-minute siren heard throughout Israel. As we marked Jewish time, it was not lost on us how interconnected memory and destiny are to one another. Minutes after the siren, the most idealistic young ambassadors of Israel joined us.

And his name shall be Avishai…

Shira spent her first summer as a member of our Israel delegation in 2006. Tall, energetic, and charismatic, Shira was the type of young woman who seemed to run instead of walk, always with a bounce in her step. She was and remains a passionate young educator, drama teacher, and baseball player.

Israel and Hebrew, Blog/ReflectionsNRC WebmasterFebruary 20, 2015Amy Skopp Cooper, National Ramah, Nyack, Israel

Family pays tribute to Tikvah program

For the past five years, 20-year-old Adam Berzin of Ramsey has spent his summers at Camp Ramah Wisconsin, at the camp’s Tikvah program.

Created more than 40 years ago and offered at nine Ramah camps in the United States and Canada, Tikvah welcomes children, teens, and young adults with a wide range of learning, developmental, cognitive, and social disabilities, “enhancing Jewish identity and teaching Jewish values in a supportive, inclusive, fun environment,” according to its website.

Tikvah/Special Needs, Ramah in the NewsNRC WebmasterFebruary 13, 2015Tikvah, Wisconsin, JDAIM, Voc-Ed