Reflections On Our Year

This was a tumultuous, sad, and scary year, but our decades of educational leadership, community building, and vision positioned us to guide our Ramah family through the turbulence. We were ready to meet the many challenges and we did not lose hope.

 
read more in the national ramah impact report
 

Research: Israel at Ramah, Summer 2024

The Stories of Israel at Ramah, Kayitz 2024 - Daniel Olson, PhD, Assistant National Director, National Ramah Commission

The goal of this research was to be able to tell the stories of how Israel showed up at Ramah camps in the summer of 2024. "The key takeaway: “We found that across Ramah camps there was a shared, primary story about Israel. It’s a story of providing a safe and supportive environment to Israelis and North Americans alike. It’s a story of memorializing various aspects of the past year in deeply moving ways. It’s a story about sensitivity to the emotional readiness of different parts of the camp population, due to age or personal experience, to encounter potentially difficult material related to Israel.”

Ramah Solidarity & Service Trips to Israel

Since December 2023, we have run dozens of solidarity missions to Israel. Participants have volunteered in the fields, planted gardens, painted homes, worked with displaced families, and barbecued for soldiers. We have visited Hostages Square and met with families. We have mourned with other families. We have been active listeners as a traumatized nation tells its story. We have been fully present.

We hope you will consider joining your fellow Ramahniks on one of the upcoming solidarity and service missions being led by Ramah Israel. This is our opportunity to be counted and to let our family in Israel know that we stand alongside them. As Israel faces perhaps her greatest challenge in 75 years, we are proud of our community’s response and Ramah’s deep and enduring commitment to Am Yisrael.

Upcoming Trips

  • Ramah Israel Intergenerational Trip to Israel | December 24–31, 2025 | Contact: elana@ramah.co.il

  • Ramah Israel Adult Volunteer Mission to Israel | January 12–15, 2026 | Contact: elana@ramah.co.il

  • Ramah Nyack Adult Volunteer Mission to Israel | January 25–29, 2026 | Contact: ami@campramah.org

Glimpses of Current / Previous Trips

“The most meaningful moments of the trip for me were the everyday moments of connection with local Israelis. It was hearing the stories of people like Tamar as we volunteered at the lettuce fields that brought a sense of the overwhelming unity. It was seeing the appreciation each store keeper on Ben Yehudah street had just for the fact that we chose to come to Israel during the war that showed that the importance of this trip extended way beyond the work of our hands.”
— Kira, Ramah Wisconsin
“Participating on the Ramah Israel support mission was an incredibly meaningful experience. Being in Israel during these challenging times was emotional and heartbreaking, inspirational and personally fulfilling.”
— Cliff, Ramah Berkshires
“It was an incredibly difficult Fall semester at NYU. However, going to Israel has absolutely wiped away the burnout I was sitting with and reinvigorated my passion for next semester. I felt healed and am absolutely ready for next semester. I have gained a network of 22 new friends and allies in the fight against antisemitism, and know that whenever I am experiencing my next challenge on campus, I have a sounding board of Ramah family to reach out to.”
— Jake, Ramah Darom

Ramah Birthright Israel Onward Missions for College Students

Ramah Birthright Israel Onward Missions for Summer 2025 Staff | May 2025

In May 2025, 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. Read: “Shlichut in Both Directions: What We Bring and What We Take Home”

Ramah Birthright Israel Onward Missions for Summer 2024 Staff | May 2024

In May 2024, 300 members of our summer 2024 Ramah community—North Americans and shlichim representing each of our North American camps—came together for two powerful back-to-back missions. Read: “Leading 300 Ramahniks in Israel for Volunteering, Learning, and Connection”

"B’Yad Ramah” Winter Break Volunteer Experience for College Students | December 19-January 3, 2024

To give is to receive: לתת זה לקבל. Our 25-person trip had an incredibly moving experience supporting and giving back to the people and land of Israel.

We worked in the sunny fields of Kfar Truman planting, picking, and shipping lettuce; we organized and packed fruits and vegetables at Tachlit for Israeli soldiers and families that have been displaced by the war plus shipped and packaged produce at Moshav Azaria.

In Jerusalem, we spent a day making sandwiches for soldiers and volunteered at a farmers market that sells produce from farms on the border of Gaza. We met several times with a group of Israeli teens on their Mechina gap year and visited several important sites like The Kotel and Kikar Hatufim (Hostages Square).

Throughout the trip, we had important and difficult conversations about Israeli current events, the rise of antisemitism in America, and what experiences and reflections participants will take from this trip back to their college campuses and local communities. We return to North America reignited with pride for being Jewish and Zionist, with a strong cohort of friends, and as advocates for Israel.

This trip was funded by Birthright Israel Onward and with NRC support, organized by the Israel Experience, and staffed by Ramah. 

In Memoriam

We mourn all of those who lost their lives on October 7 and since then in the continuing violence, including the following members of the extended Ramah family. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families and all of those who love them.

Lt. Yaacov Elian, age 20, first cousin of Dor Levi, longtime Ramah Day Camp in Nyack staff member and rosh mishlachat. Yaacov fell in battle in the north of the Gaza Strip. He was a cadet in the Gefen Battalion at the officers' training school and served as a class commander at the Givati ​​training base. Read more

Staff Sgt. Shachar Fridman, age 21, a member of the Paratroopers’ Brigade 101st Battalion, was killed while fighting Hamas terrorists in Gaza on November 19. Shachar was a camper at the Ramah Jerusalem Day Camp. Read more

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, was murdered while in Hamas captivity. Hersh served as a madrich for Ramah Israel programs, and his extended family attended Ramah Darom's Passover retreat for many years. Hersh's mother Rachel, has served for many years as a Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim staff member. Facebook: Bring Hersh Home | Instagram: Bring Hersh Home

Staff Sgt. Dror Hen, age 20, cousin of Dena Tolkin, NRC development assistant, fell in battle in Lebanon alongside five other members of the Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion. Read more

Adi Vital Kaploun, age 33, daughter of Jacqui Rivers Vital, alumna of Camp Ramah in Canada and a participant in the Mador leadership training program in 1972. In this interview with Anderson Cooper, Jacqui describes Adi as “a superstar…everything she touched was golden.” Adi's family has relocated to Jerusalem and needs significant funds to start rebuilding their life. Please consider making a donation to the Adi Vital Kaploun Memorial fund to help support them.

Rose Ida Lubin, age 20, niece of Minda Snitkoff and Rabbi Ed Snitkoff, former director of Ramah Israel Seminar and niece of Elise Kosofsky, board member of Camp Ramah Darom. Rose died in a stabbing attack while serving as a border police officer. She made aliyah two years ago and joined the army through Garin Tzabar. Read more

Cpt. Omer Neutra, age 21, a former Ramah Day Camp in Nyack swim staff member, died on October 7 while serving as a tank commander in the 7th Armored Brigades 77th Battalion. Facebook: #bringomerhome | Instagram: #bringomerhome

Eden Nimri, age 22, sister of Hadar Nimri, Camp Ramah in the Berkshires mishlachat 2016 and 2017. Eden, a commanding officer in the “Sky Raiders” (Rochev Shamayim), died on October 7 while protecting her soldiers. Read more

Ari Yehiel Zenilman, age 32, cousin of Ava Lang Soffer, longtime staff member of Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, was killed while fighting with the IDF in Gaza. Read more

Aryeh Ziering, age 27, brother of Eli Ziering, assistant director of Ramah Israel Seminar, was killed in battle on October 7, 2023, while defending Israel. A proud member of Oketz, the IDF’s canine unit, Aryeh served as a platoon commander, inspiring others through kindness, humility, and strength. Read more

Educational Resources