Entries by Chatinover

Camp by the Numbers – Passover 2022

April 14, 2022 | 13 Nissan 5782 This year, as we prepare for our seders, we are thinking about numbers: eight days of Passover, four cups of wine, three matzot, and one Elijah’s cup. We think about the two years that have passed since we began living with COVID–the fear, the illness, the losses, the […]

We have so much to be grateful for!

Sunday November 28, 2021/24 Kislev 5782 With Thanksgiving behind us and Hanukkah starting tonight, I’ve been reflecting on all the things we have to be grateful for! 1) The new chadar ochel with a permanent roof. We can gather our whole camp under one roof, and do not have to worry about floods each time […]

We asked, You shared, We listened

Since returning to the office after Rosh Hashanah, our year-round team has heard from hundreds of parents, chalutzim (campers), and tzevet (staff) about their experiences at Ramah in the Rockies. We appreciate the honest feedback offered by all. Below are a few highlights of lessons learned from Kayitz 2021, along with some areas for growth […]

Rabbi Eliav’s End of Summer Reflections

August 17, 2021 Another summer at Ramah in the Rockies has come to an end. Kayitz 2021 will go into the history books as the first ever held on this ranch amidst a global pandemic. Everyone who came made sacrifices to be here; families self-isolated and campers took PCR tests in the weeks before camp. […]

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2021 Session I Wrap Up

Thursday July 15, 2021 6 Av 5781 The sun is shining and the air is cool. The ranch is silent, except for the sound of our backup generators at the sewage treatment plant and the kitchen which are humming amidst an area-wide power outage(!!). Staff are returning from their days off, during which they chose […]

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2021 Shabbat Update #1

June 18, 2021 It happened! Yesterday morning, under a blazing hot sun, we swung open our gates to welcome the first of 425+ chalutzim who will be coming through our camp this summer. Tzevet (staff) lined up on the migrash (field), some in costume, to unload bags and welcome chalutzim back to our transformed ranch. […]

A Time to Return

By Rabbi Eliav Late last month I returned to the Ramah in the Rockies Ranch for the first time since February 24, 2020. Driving through the gates, I was overcome with a sense of relief and excitement thinking about the reopening of our camp community in only six more weeks. This time last year, as we […]

Ramah by the Numbers 2021

This year, as we prepare for our seders, we are thinking about numbers: eight days of Passover, four cups of wine, three matzot, and one Elijah’s cup. We think about the year that has passed since we last gathered around the  seder table. We remember the hundreds of thousands who have died, the millions of […]

Connecting with the Divine in the Outdoors

By Rabbi Eliav Bock This blog post was originally featured as part of the Rabbinical Assembly’s #HeshbonHodesh: Nisan monthly newsletter.  This past Shabbat morning, I suited up my baby daughter in her winter gear, put on my own jacket and gloves, put her in the hiking backpack and headed out the door for my Shabbat teffilot. It is a […]

Building Together – Parshat Terumah

Dave Yedid is a long time tzevet member, former Bamidbar staff member, and 4th year Rabbinical School student at JTS. He is currently the Cooperberg-Rittmaster Rabbinical Intern at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York. He shared this d’var torah two weeks ago for Parshat Terumah, and we are excited to share it with our […]

Reflections from Weinstein Leadership Institute

By Hannah Saiger & Martha Lieberman The Weinstein Leadership Institute, a staff training conference led by the National Ramah Commission, is usually held at Ramah Ojai. This year, as incoming first year Tzevet members, we attended the event on Zoom. Although we would have loved to join Ramah staff from every camp in sunny California, […]

Crisis Management – Plan for the Unknown

This reflection from Rabbi Eliav was also shared in eJewishPhilanthropy. With a call going out on our emergency walkie-talkie channel, in early morning hours of August 7, 2017, I awoke to the horrifying news that our main lodge was on fire, billowing flames that could easily start a massive forest fire! With flames shooting three […]

Our 2021 Summer Roadmap

Chaverim,  Ramah in the Rockies will open its doors during summer 2021 for in-person programming. With your partnership, we remain steadfast in our commitment to create a safe operating environment for both campers and staff, while continuing to deliver on our mission to create a laboratory for joyful Jewish living and learning. Since early July 2020, […]

Looking Towards 2021

Dear Families,With the last of the leaves having fallen from the trees, and snow already on the ground at our ranch, we have fully turned our attention to reopening camp in 2021. We just completed one of our best super-early bird registration periods and have more chalutzim (campers) registered today than any other early November in recent […]

Shana Tova 5781

Dear Ramah in the Rockies Kehillah, We are excited to share “Kavanot Ramah l’Yamim Noraim,” a collection of resources to help enhance the meaning of the upcoming High Holidays. Ramah leaders from throughout our camps and Israel programs have created short videos—songs, prayers, and reflections. We hope that these resources will help inspire greater kavanah—meaning and […]

The Path to the Next Normal

August 25, 2020 Dear Families: As most of our Colorado families return to school this week, it is hard to believe that Summer 2020 has come to a close. We are so grateful to everyone who has joined us virtually to bring our Kehillah Kedosha together – from the nearly 100 Chalutzim who joined us for virtual camp, to […]

Off-Season Insights

Focusing on קשרים – Connections As we shared in our last Off-Season Insights blog, Summer 2019 has a number of program updates as a result of the feedback from our parents, tzevet, and chalutzim.   Year after year, we hear about the power of relationships our chalutzim develop while on their masa’ot, how important the friendships […]

Putting Screens, Sugar, and Adventure Back into Camp

A Purim Letter from Rabbi Eliav I write this letter having just returned from our ranch where we enjoyed the opportunity to meet as a leadership team and go over some changes we are implementing for this summer. As we look forward to opening our tenth summer, we want to ensure that our program remains […]