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Since 2003, the [[Friends of the Israel Defense Forces]] association has sponsored a summer camp program, Moreshet, for Israeli children who have lost a parent or sibling in a war or terrorist attack. The children spend the summer at Jewish sleep-away camps in the United States. In 2007, Camp Ramah in the Berkshires hosted 50 campers and staff members. The program continued in 2008, 2009 and 2010. <ref>[http://cicisrael.org/forums/index.php?s=b9203ced7d784fbf8f4a0e37a1b4a73d&showtopic=1254 Summer camp for bereaved children]</ref>
Since 2003, the [[Friends of the Israel Defense Forces]] association has sponsored a summer camp program, Moreshet, for Israeli children who have lost a parent or sibling in a war or terrorist attack. The children spend the summer at Jewish sleep-away camps in the United States. In 2007, Camp Ramah in the Berkshires hosted 50 campers and staff members. The program continued in 2008, 2009 and 2010. <ref>[http://cicisrael.org/forums/index.php?s=b9203ced7d784fbf8f4a0e37a1b4a73d&showtopic=1254 Summer camp for bereaved children]</ref>


==Notable directors and alumni==
*[[Chaim Potok]] - Director of Ramah in California before embarking on his career as a writer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/25/classified/paid-notice-deaths-potok-rabbi-chaim.html |title= Deaths POTOK, RABBI CHAIM |publisher=NYTimes.com |date=July 25, 2002 |accessdate=September 14, 2010}}</ref>
==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}

==External links==
==External links==
*[http://www.campramah.org/ The National Ramah Commission]
*[http://www.campramah.org/ The National Ramah Commission]

Revision as of 20:03, 14 September 2010

Camp Ramah (Template:Lang-he Machaneh Ramah) is a network of Jewish summer camps affiliated with the Conservative Movement. The camps operate in the United States, Canada, and Israel. Ramah camps serve kosher food and are Sabbath observant.[1]

File:RamahshirtS.jpg
Ramah-in-Israel T-shirts imprinted with "Yachad Be'ramah" ("Together in Ramah") logo

History

During the 1940s, the Jewish Theological Seminary established several programs to reconnect Jewish youth with the synagogue and cultivate American-born Jewish leadership. One of these programs was Camp Ramah.[2] The first camp opened in Conover, Wisconsin, in 1947, under the aegis of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the academic hub of Conservative Judaism. The program was drawn up by Moshe Davis and Sylvia Ettenberg of the JTS Teachers' Institute.

In October 2007, Ettenberg was awarded Pras Ramah (the Ramah Prize) as part of Ramah's 60th anniversary celebrations.[3]

A Trinity College researcher, Ariella Keysar, documented a significant impact of Ramah on college students: She found that Ramah graduates were three time more likely to date only Jews, four times more likely to attend synagogue services, and three times as likely as the general Jewish population to spend significant time in Israel. [4]

National Ramah Commission

The National Ramah Commission is the coordinating body of the camping arm of Conservative Judaism, providing oversight, educational planning, and coordination on behalf of the network of Ramah camps throughout North America. The mission of the Ramah Camping Movement is to create and sustain summer camps and Israel programs which inspire commitment to and engagement with Jewish life, and develop the next generation of Jewish communal leaders.

Each year, more than 6,500 campers and 2,000 university-aged staff members populate seven residential camps and three day camps within Ramah’s North American network. An additional 250 young Israelis join the Ramah camp staffs annually. The seven overnight camps include: Berkshires (New York); California; Canada; Darom (Georgia); New England (Massachusetts); Poconos (Pennsylvania); and Wisconsin. The three day camps include Nyack (New York); Philadelphia; and Chicago. Ramah Outdoor Adventure in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, Ramah’s first specialty camp, opened in the summer of 2010. [5] Additionally, Ramah runs summer and high school semester programs in Israel, and partners with summer camp programming in the Ukraine, Argentina and Israel.

Today

Today, Ramah camps are attended by over 6,500 youngsters, ranging in age from 7–16, with a staff of 1,500 counselors, co-counselors, specialists, and teachers.[3] In addition to typical summer camp activities, Ramah camps offer a unique educational program focusing on Judaism, Zionism, and Hebrew-language instruction on different levels. Every camp has a corps of "shlichim/שליחים" (emissaries) from Israel on staff (known as the "mishlachat/מישלחת").

Camp Ramah offers sleep-away camps with an option to stay for either 4 or 8 weeks, day camps with busing, an Israel summer tour program for teenagers, a day camp in Jerusalem for American and Israeli children, and a variety of high school programs in Israel.

North American overnight camps

Located on Lake Ellis, 90 minutes north of New York City by car. Serves the metropolitan New York/New Jersey area.[6]

Located in the hills of Ojai, California, 90 minutes north of Los Angeles by car. Opened in 1956. [4] Alumni include Chaim Potok.[7]

Located in the Muskoka Region of Ontario, 2 hours north of Toronto, on Skeleton Lake.[8]

Located in 122 acres (0.49 km2) in the Appalachian Valley near Clayton, Georgia, 2 hours north of Atlanta.[5]

Located approximately 1½ hours west of Boston and 45 minutes east of Amherst and Northampton.[9]

Ramah Poconos

Located in the mountain region of Wayne County in Northeastern Pennsylvania, 3 hours driving time from both New York City and Philadelphia.[10]

Located in the lake region of Northern Wisconsin, 18 miles (29 km) north of Eagle River, 350 miles (560 km) from Chicago, and 240 miles (390 km) from Minneapolis, on the shores of Lake Buckatabon. [11]

Ramah Programs in Israel

The Ramah movement’s Israel programs include the Israel Seminar, a seven-week study tour of Israel, and Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY), a high school semester in Israel. When campers age out of the Ramah summer camping experience at age sixteen, they can sign up for the Ramah Seminar in Israel. The six-week program is devoted to exploring the north, south and center of the country. It is based at two principal sites: Havat HaNoar HaTzioni in Jerusalem and the Hodayot youth village, adjacent to Kibbutz Lavi near the Sea of Galilee. [12]

The Seminar includes an optional ten-day trip to Poland to learn about Jewish life in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. In 2010, Ramah Israel Seminar offered a second optional program. "Yarok," focusing on the environment.

Ramah Programs in Israel also offers short-term Israel experiences (10 days to 3 weeks) in the context of the Ramah Israel Institute for 8th grade day school classes, teens (Confirmation classes) as well as families and adults. In addition the Israel offers runs two day camps during the summer, one for Israelis and one for children of English-speaking tourists or Israelis (the Ramah Jerusalem Day Camp).

Additional Israel programs include USY High, a two month program for high school juniors and seniors and the Jerusalem Day Camp, a Ramah-style day camp for English-speaking children from abroad.

Tikva Special Needs Programs

Since the first Tikvah program was established in 1970, the Ramah Camping Movement has been committed to providing a Jewish camping experience for special needs children. Ramah camps serve different age groups and offer programs of varying lengths.

Ramah in New England offers inclusion bunks for special-needs and mainstream youngsters, stand-alone bunks, and a vocational training program for older children and adults. There are bunks with entrances that can accommodate motorized scooters, barrier-free bathrooms, and paved roads suitable for wheelchairs.[13]

Day camps

Ramah Day Camp – Chicago (Wheeling, Illinois)

Located northwest of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois.[14]

Ramah Day Camp in Nyack (Nyack, New York)

Located in Rockland County, New York, approximately 45 minutes by car from New York City. An eight week day camp at which the staff remains overnight, though the campers, ages 5–14, go home every day. Activities for the campers include basketball, soccer, hockey, tennis, two ropes courses, art, woodworking, ceramics, and cooking. A hot kosher lunch is provided daily to the campers, and the staff receive three meals per day. The staff members participate in an intensive program of Jewish learning, leadership development and social engagement in the afternoons and evenings.[15]

Ramah Day Camp – Philadelphia (Melrose Park, Pennsylvania)

Located in the Perelman Jewish Day School. It has use of nearly all the grounds of the extensive campus. The camp shares a pool with the Jewish Federation Day Care Center, and also rents an Olympic-size pool from an apartment complex less than five minutes away.

Activities include sports (soccer, football, baseball, T-ball, archery, gymnastics, basketball, hockey, etc.), swimming (twice a day – instructional and free), art, drama, nature, cooking, Judaic studies, music, and dance. Special events include Rick Recht concerts, Yom Yisrael (a carnival celebrating Israeli culture, history, and people), Maccabiah (color war), and Yom USA (July 3).

Older campers go on overnights, while younger campers have 'undernights.' An arts festival is held at the end of the summer, combining drama, song, and dance.[16]

Camp Ramah in the Rockies is a 360-acre (1.5 km2) camp site in Deckers, Colorado (1½–2 hours by car from Denver and Colorado Springs). [17]

Program for bereaved children

Since 2003, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces association has sponsored a summer camp program, Moreshet, for Israeli children who have lost a parent or sibling in a war or terrorist attack. The children spend the summer at Jewish sleep-away camps in the United States. In 2007, Camp Ramah in the Berkshires hosted 50 campers and staff members. The program continued in 2008, 2009 and 2010. [18]

Notable directors and alumni

  • Chaim Potok - Director of Ramah in California before embarking on his career as a writer.[19]

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ The Jewish Theological Seminary – Record Group 28: Camp Ramah
  3. ^ a b The Jewish Theological Seminary – Camp Ramah Celebrates 60 Years of Jewish Camping
  4. ^ Jewish Theological Seminary News
  5. ^ Kolot Ramah Winter 2010
  6. ^ "Camp Ramah Berkshires". Ramahberkshires.org. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  7. ^ Davis, Carin (December 28, 2006). "Camp Ramah marks 50 years | Education". Jewish Journal. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  8. ^ [2][dead link]
  9. ^ "Camp Ramah New England". Campramahne.org. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  10. ^ [3][dead link]
  11. ^ "Camp Ramah in Wisconsin – is affiliated with the Conservative Movement and National Ramah Commission operating under the educational auspices of The Jewish Theological Seminary". Ramahwisconsin.com. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  12. ^ Ramah Israel Seminar, dates and accommodations
  13. ^ Camp for everyone
  14. ^ "Ramah Day Camp – Wheeling, IL – Home". Ramahday.com. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  15. ^ "Ramah Day Camp in Nyack". Ramahnyack.org. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  16. ^ "Apply for a Job". Ramahjobs.org. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  17. ^ "Ramah in the Rockies". Campramah.org. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
  18. ^ Summer camp for bereaved children
  19. ^ "Deaths POTOK, RABBI CHAIM". NYTimes.com. July 25, 2002. Retrieved September 14, 2010.
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