Reflections on Session 1 2024

Dear Ramah in the Rockies Community,

This year, more than ever, returning to our joyous Jewish community in the Rocky Mountains held special significance. Having spent this past academic year living in Israel with my family, I experienced the collective trauma felt by Israelis who have been living under a cloud of war for over nine months. Throughout the “off-season,” I interviewed over 70 Israeli tzevet (staff) members, never sure who would eventually show up if hired. Similarly, I spoke with numerous American college students who told me about the challenges and threats they were facing on their campuses and their hopes of coming to a supportive Jewish community. Amidst a range of emotions, we showed up on the Ramah ranch with a singular goal: to create a radically inclusive and joyous Jewish community for all who entered our gates. For many, it was a welcome homecoming. I could not have dreamt of a better place to land upon my return to the USA than Ramah in the Rockies.

While impossible to describe all that transpired here, I hope that these three highlights will give you a sense of the magic that characterized our first session.

Peanut Butter

Food is always one of the more memorable parts of camp. During meals madrichim (counselors) check in with chalutzim (pioneers/campers). It is a time for us to chat, eat, and sing together. Some meals are more delicious than others, but all contain alternative food options if chalutzim and madrichim do not want to eat the main course. One alternative we added this session was peanut butter. While we have never before served any sort of nuts in our community, after careful consideration of the low prevalence of peanut allergies in our community, we introduced peanuts and peanut butter into our menu for the first time! This change allowed us to add a new source of protein that would also meet the needs of vegetarians and vegans. It appears that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches make for very happy chalutzim and tzevet! Our kitchen staff made over 100 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each day.

Perhaps the place where peanut butter had the biggest impact, however, was out on masa (backcountry excursion). Aside from a trip with a child who had a known peanut allergy, all masa’ot left camp with a few jars of peanut butter. With this high-protein addition, we heard few critiques about food on masa. Most lunches were peanut butter sandwiches, in addition to tuna and tahini sandwiches. While we do not know if we will ever introduce other nuts, we hope that peanut butter is here to stay!

Infrastructure Challenges Create Resilience

Maintaining a remote ranch brings with it a host of interesting challenges. Over the years, we have constructed a municipal-grade wastewater treatment plant and installed a few backup generators and solar panels to ensure we have electricity after an outage. Other than a small year-round water system for our dining hall and two new main buildings, the rest of our camp relies on an aging, above-ground water system leftover from when the Girl Scouts operated a camp here. One of the more memorable hours from session I occurred because of our reliance on this infrastructure dating from half a century ago.

On the first Thursday of camp, we had an epic hail and wind storm. By dinner, the sun had returned and all seemed to be quieting down after the storm. The following morning, however, we discovered that we had no water in most of camp because a tree had fallen during the storm, rupturing a water line and draining over 15,000 gallons of water overnight. After fixing the break, we realized that we would not have sufficient water for showers before Shabbat or to flush any of our commercial toilets. The current one-inch pipes that fill our water tanks have such low flow that it can take 2-3 days to refill the 3 tanks when no one is using water – so much longer with 300 people on the property!

While this might have been a setback for many, our chlautzim and tzevet saw it as an opportunity for ingenuity. Early that morning, we brought five-gallon water jugs to the bathhouses so people could brush their teeth. We encouraged people to use pit toilets and a few flush toilets in other parts of camp. With Shabbat coming, all wanted to bathe. Many decided to use one of the three creeks we have on property. Others realized that they could fill cups and buckets with water, and use them in lieu of a hot shower. What was incredible about this situation was that there was almost no grumbling about the lack of water, and no casting of blame. Instead, there was a sense of being together in a tricky situation and laughing about it. Once we were able to restore some pressure on Shabbat morning, a few senior staff flushed and cleaned all the toilets, since our maintenance team is off on Saturdays. By Sunday morning, when full pressure returned and showers were once again possible, all had a deeper appreciation for what we often take for granted.

Masa

Almost 40% of our program happens away from camp while chalutzim and tzevet are on masa. On these masa’ot, chalutzim and tzevet challenge themselves physically, spiritually, and socio-emotionally. I love the Fridays of masa weeks, because I can feel the energy present as chalutzim roll back into camp in vans, on bike, and on foot. This session, I was able to go out on a masa for the first time in ten years(!). I joined a group of Sollelim (rising 7th graders) and their three madrichim on Wednesday afternoon, as they began their three-day bike ride back to camp after having spent two days white-water rafting.

On our first night, after 11 hours of rafting and biking, we had not yet found a campsite. The place we had hoped to camp was full and the next public land was at least a few miles away. I was there as an observer and needed to take a step back and allow our college-age leaders to take charge. And how they did! The head leader informed the chalutzim that we were going to try to find a site a few miles up the road. No one complained, even as a light rain began to fall. Instead, everyone hopped on their bikes, and rode single-file in tight formation until we found a site just after 8:00pm, in the waning hours of daylight. Despite their exhaustion, we pitched camp and made dinner with nary a complaint. The next day, under a blazing sun and record mountain temperatures, these tzevet and chalutzim climbed over 5,000 feet of elevation, offering words of encouragement and cheers to those who needed an extra push up the hills. Each day we took time not only to say tefilot (prayers), but also to reflect on the highs and lows of the day, including giving public praise to others in the group.

Being on this masa held a special significance for me because it exemplified the long arc of a Ramah experience. Ten years ago, when I staffed this same trip, Ben Wolf, then a 12 year-old middle schooler, was a chalutz; last week, he was one of the trip leaders. Additionally, one of the chalutzot on the trip is the daughter of a camper whom I led 25 years ago in Killarney Provincial Park during my first summer guiding trips, in 1999, at Ramah in Canada. The genesis of Ramah in the Rockies can be traced back to the experience of so many trip leaders from Ramah in Canada who dreamt about creating a camp based on their tripping program. The arc of a Ramah experience is deep and long, and it is pretty amazing to see former chalutzim grow into mature leaders, and to realize that my career has now spanned into a second generation of Ramah campers.

Conclusion

As I conclude this email, our tzevet have returned from their time off during the intersession break. We have cleaned the camp and reorganized the tents, and are preparing to welcome over 230 new chalutzim who will be joining us for the second session. We are planning the first few days of programming for our chalutzim and making sure that our new teams understand how they are going to work together in the weeks ahead. While camp is a place for young campers to thrive, no less important are the lessons in leadership gained by our staff. Over the past week a group of new tzevet members have been engaged in their own, mid-summer, staff training, and tomorrow they begin an epic 28-day leadership training course, otherwise known as session II.

A Final Request for Parents of Session I Chalutzim:

We LOVE feedback and can only continue to thrive with your honest thoughts and suggestions! If you have not already shared your feedback with us, please fill out this third party survey administered by the Foundation for Jewish Camp. We also welcome direct emails, and in the fall, phone calls with the year round leadership. Please stay in touch!

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eliav Bock
Camp Director