Posts

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes leaders and elders to help set the tone for the community.  Ramah in the Rockies is a magical village that opens its doors for nine weeks each summer and transforms the lives of the hundreds of youth who walk through our gates.  And, if our chalutzim (campers/pioneers) are our village members, then our village leaders are the madrichim (counselors) and the village elders are Hanhallah (senior staff).  The Hanhallah of our camp form an extraordinary group of passionate Jewish educators.  They are the ones who work tirelessly throughout the summer ensuring that your children have impactful, fun, and safe experiences at Ramah in the Rockies.
 
With only weeks until we welcome our first chalutzim, it is with great pride that we introduce the members of our 2017 Hanhallah.

Our Year Round Team (Click on Photo to read Bio)

Rabbi Eliav Bock, Executive Director                                                Douglas Wolf, Business Manager

 

Julia Snyder, Program Director                                                             Lisa Holstein, Office Manager

 

Sandra Yaron, Registrar                                                                      Rafi Daugherty, Director of Camper Care  

Abigail Gavens, Tikvah Director

 

 

 

 

  

Summer Senior Staff

Achinoam Aldouby, Summer Assistant Director

I grew up in Israel, now living in Jerusalem.  I work with LOTEM- a non-profit organization that makes nature accessible to people with special needs.  I also research at the Hebrew University theater performances incorporating Jewish texts and lead Torah study sessions at Elul- a pluralistic Beit Midrash…and best of all, I love making ice cream.  I’m excited to come back to camp and to see how the camp has grown from the first time I came in summer 2010. I’m looking forward to see our chaluzim and tzvet choose to challenge themselves physically, spiritually and socially.

 

Jacob “J-Chat” Chatinover, Director of Logistics ‘Car Czar’

I am from West Hartford, CT, and now live in Denver.  When not at camp, I read comic books.  Also, I am a math teacher (to pay for the comic books).  I am most looking forward to slowly gaining the trust and respect of the tzevet, and as the one in charge of all camp walkie-talkies, being feared and loved in equal measure.

 

 

Deena Cowans, Rosh Chinuch (Director of Education)

I grew up in the Chicago area, but now I live in New York City, where I am a Rabbinical student at JTS.   I am looking forward to singing on Saturday night and for sunrise yoga!

 

 

 Rashei Edah (Unit Heads)

Lexi Marcus, Rosh Ilanot (3rd and 4th grade)

I am a born and raised Denver Coloradan. I am currently studying human development, soon to become an elementary educator. I dance, laugh often, and pet puppies whenever I can. I am very excited to watch and grow alongside everyone at camp, and guiding the campers towards internal, external, and Jewish self discovery.

 

 

Liza Elkin, Rosh Metaylim (5th and 6th grade)

I am originally from Newton, Massachusetts but will be moving from New York City to Denver this fall to begin my Master of Social Work! This is my first summer at Ramah Rockies and I am really looking forward to helping create a summer rich in exploration, learning, and lots of fun for our campers. And I’m excited to experience the beauty of the Rocky Mountains! 

 

Ronni Gurwicz, Rosh Solelim (7th and 8th Grade)
I am originally from the dark wasteland that is the North of England, and now am a Storytelling Coach and Program Developer working for a Dutch based organization. I can’t wait to be part of the wonderful Ramah community spirit again, after having worked for Ramah Seminar last summer in Israel.

 

 

 

Eliana Willis, Rosh Bogrim

I’m originally from Los Angeles. Since graduating from UC Santa Cruz in 2015 I have spent my time traveling, working in environmental education, and currently, studying at Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. I’m most looking forward to Friday evenings at camp, when the whole community comes together for Shabbat with song, dance, blessings, and great challah!

 

 

Eli Witkin, Rosh JOLI

Born and raised in Minneapolis, MN I spent the last year in the Holy city and will be returning to Boston in the fall.  Outside of camp I like to smile at strangers and learn Torah – I like to think of myself as a professional community builder. I am looking forward to lightning storms, getting into that deep place in my mind that only a long trail provides access to, and trying out a new t’filla curriculum 

 

 

 

Rafi, our Director of Camper Care, has prepared this great list to help gear up for camp!

  • Rafi at Boulder Pride 2013If you think your kiddo might experience sadness or homesickness at camp, practice having more sleepovers at friends’ and family’s homes. Prepare your kid with ideas for self-soothing, bedtime routines that don’t include you, and how to get help at camp if they need it. Perhaps allow your child to pick out one comfort item to bring with them (eg. a stuffed animal, a special pillowcase, one of your shirts…)

  • Tell your kid/s about your fun camp memories, why you loved camp or wish you could’ve gone, and why you value it for them. (It Family photoshould go without saying do *not* tell them scary camp stories!!)

  • Read the Camp Handbook and go over the camp schedule and routine with your kids. Talk about the expectations that camp has of them and what expectations they can have of camp. For example, let them know about our food, trips, and electronics policy.

  • IMG_9091Make sure your kids know how to take care of their personal hygiene needs (ie. Showering, brushing teeth, changing their underpants daily) without you. Their counselors will help but the kids will need to self-direct to a certain extent.

  • Follow the packing guidelines listed in the Handbook, label all of your kid’s stuff, and let them help you pack or have them pack themselves so that they know what they are bringing and are less likely to lose belongings without realizing it.

  • Shabbat BoysMake sure that we at camp know everything we need to know to help your child have a successful summer. We will keep personal information confidential but knowing what’s going on in your child’s life can help us do our best job for them. (ie. Impending divorce, death in the family (including pets!), recent issues in school)

This past sunday we marked 100 Days until camp- so we thought this would be a good time to start introducing you to our 2015 Summer Staff!

PicMonkey Collage

 

From left to right: Ben Winter, Leora Perkins, Rafi Daugherty, and Moshe “Mushon” Samuels

Hey, I’m Ben, and I’ll be your program director this summer. I’m looking forward to a great summer full of ruach and fun! I’m super excited to be joining the Camp Ramah family. Although I’m new, I’ve only heard awesome things about the camp and am confident we’ll have a fantastic time together. I can’t wait to meet all of you in 100 short days!

Hey, I am Leora Perkins, a first-year rabbinical student from JTS. I am super excited to be at camp this summer as Rosh Chugim [Head of Base Camp Activities]. I love hiking,  swimming, cooking tasty vegetarian food– and recently started getting into gardening.

My name is Rafi. This year, i’m the Director of Camper Care. I’m really looking forward to seeing all of the chalutzim [campers] and their smiling faces at camp!

Hi I’m Mushon and I’m thrilled to be returning to Etgar b’Ramah as Rosh Chinuch [Director of Education]. My favorite thing about camp is Shabbat- I love the ruach [energy] and singing at Kabbalat Shabbat [Friday night services] at the Pardes Tefilah [outdoor sanctuary], the sense of kehilah [community] at the K’far [tent area], and of course the delicious Friday night dinner at the ohel ochel [dining tent]. Can’t wait to celebrate Shabbat with all of you in 100 days!

2014 Tzevet Tipus [Rock Climbing Staff], Noah Kaplan, wrote this spoken word poem this summer about the power of the Masa [backcountry excursion] experience.  Words to the poem are below the video.  We hope you will enjoy this!

 

For five days we leave behind our phones, we forget about conventional conveniences, the clutter of the day, we sweep it all aside for a while to find what hides behind our eyes unclouded by wifi. For five days We breathe the fresh air cradled rocky and strained by aspen groves, sipping on the sweet smells of summer fed to us by our sky Hashem whispers to us, adventure is out there. We, who fly a whole mile high, there is nothing like this ride. We call this time Masa, the journey. We leave early and pack light, for we plan to travel far, wide, We give up our complex comforts for a simpler sense of service to ourselves, of preference and priority, of sound, Listen, adventure is out there, listen. It’s laping at your shore. This song never gets old.  We leave our watches, our roofs, and yes often our bathrooms, for a timeless place, a forever truth in nature. These ancient languages have not been lost, the trees still whistle and hum in the breeze with their lips bigger thaan SUV’s and their tongues that never get tired, are you listening? Can you hear it? We call this time Masa, this place, the Journey. We are in search of adventure, in search of god and each other, we are the Masa, the journey and for four nights the moon is our spotlight, watching as the stars nod across the sky to tuck us into that silver darkness, nothing is warmer, nothing is freer than this blanket this fire by our side, we, the pioneers of our own potential have  songs with their endless arms reaching upward, there is something magic about this circle, these hurtles, this path untraveled, you’ll find your potential is just as endless, listen as the wind plays the trees against the drumming, there is rhythm to discover in our feet. Learn what it means to feed yourself full to this beat, what it means to push yourself more, to take care of your core, to be apart of this team, born of a collective dream, we are all in this together, strip the white noise of the city from your skin, we should all know this everything, and to make memories that do not require batteries. Write stories with your every step. For five days and four nights we learn to take care of our bodies, our minds, our souls. Look up, Hashem is all around us out here, this air, this water, these lives and laughter let its voice fill you, climb its mountains, ride it smooth, move with purpose, groove, climb, bike, shoot, lace up your boots. It is time, Learn precision and how to sleep by its side, no lie, out here we are the pioneers of our own potential, the students of our surroundings, the reverent citizens of our world, there is no end to this road, us all a part of this team, this whole, this time, like an endless smooth sounding rhyme, with light hearts, and laughter, find us pushing our limits going faster choosing the challenge that will bring us forward, for there is no end to this road. This journey where we sing ourselves to sleep and awake in the morning with the possibilities simply at our feet, all around us, waking up to find that adventure is out here.

by Beth Hammerman

Ben Skupsky w/water tankIn recognition of Shemini Atzeret, the holiday we just celebrated, we share with you the various ways in which Ramah Outdoor Adventure works on conserving its precious water resource. This holiday, which follows the Jewish festival of Sukkot, marks the beginning of the rainy season after the harvest in Israel. The prayer for rain, Tefilat Geshem, is the only ritual that is unique to Shemini Atzeret. After the prayer for rain is recited, the phrase Masheev HaRuach U-Moreed HaGeshem (“He causes the wind to blow and the rain to fall”) is inserted into the Amidah prayer until Passover. This is the season of divine judgment for the future year’s rainfall, the time when we pray that God’s goodwill may afford us the appropriate amount.

Donald Skupsky, Chairman of the Ramah in the Rockies Board, and his son Ben, developed camps most significant water related initiative. They spent years researching an effective way to bring hot water to our shower house that would be both economical and practical. After years of research, they designed and implemented a passive solar system made up of two hot boxes housing two bladders that are continuously being filled from the creek water that is piped in. Each bladder holds 500 gallons of water and measures 7ft. X 9ft. X 16 in. high. The black color of the bladder absorbs more of the sun’s rays and heats the water inside more quickly. By having a large surface area and shallow depth, the water inside the bladder is able to heat more quickly than traditional upright storage tanks.

camp waterfallThe two bladders are plumbed in series, so that heated water from one bladder serves as input to the second, increasing water temperature. The bladders are housed in separate hot boxes, each covered with polycarbonate, which is often used for greenhouses and lets 90% of sunlight pass through. The top of each box is angled to catch the maximum amount of sun in the spring and summer months. Each box is lined with reflective insulation to direct sunlight inward and further heat the bladders. Even if the sun does not shine for a few days, storing water above ground significantly improves hot water availability over traditional water heating systems.

The advantages to this system are many. It significantly reduces the monthly water heating cost from the shower house. On Friday alone, over 200 showers occur. The system is designed to use up to 1,500 gallons of hot water in that 3-hour period. It is very eco friendly since there are practically no moving parts, which means that the system does not use any fossil fuels or electricity to operate. Further, this has been a great learning experience for our campers and staff.

There are many other initiatives the camp has implemented regarding water usage. Campers are encouraged not to flush the toilet after each use so the tank does not have to empty out and fill up unnecessarily after each use. Half of the sinks in the new shower house have facets with 15 second timed water release. This reminds campers when cleaning their teeth and washing up of the need to be conscious of their water usage. The showerheads have a reduced water stream, further saving on water usage. Excess water from the dining room table pitchers is reused in the gardens and greenhouse. There is a poster board outside the dining room indicating each day how much water is being used in the different areas of the camp. This public display has sparked discussion among campers and staff and the hope is that water consumption will decrease as a result.

hydroMickey Vizner, the camp’s environmental and sustainability project manager, is always thinking of new initiatives to conserve water. The latest is thru the use of Hydroponics. This is where plants are grown without the use of soil. The nutrients that plants normally derive from the soil are simply dissolved into water instead, and depending on the type of hydroponic system used, the plant’s roots are suspended in, flooded with or misted with the nutrient solution so that the plant can derive the elements it needs for growth. ROA is testing this concept with two camp-made vertical “water trees,” each able to hold 14 plants and camp-made nutrients (egg shells and banana peels soaked in water with some added purchased minerals).

There are significant environmental benefits to hydroponics use. Such a system requires significantly less water than soil-based plants because it recycles and reuses water and nutrient solutions, as it is continually pumped through the plant roots. Hydroponics requires little or no pesticides and much less nutrients. This represents not only a cost savings but also benefits the environment in that no chemicals or nutrition pollution are being released into the air. As the population increases and arable land available for crop production declines, hydroponics will allow us to produce crops in alternative places. Hydroponically grown foods not only taste better and are more nutritional, but you can change the properties of your food and monitor what goes into it.

Lastly, one of Mickey’s dreams is to build a water powered ner tamid (eternal light). He hopes to design a water wheel that will be turned by the flow of the creek water to create electricity to power the light. He sees this as a force of nature coming from G-d, which serves as a reminder that G-d is forever eternal.

 

 

 

 

 

Chalutzim [campers] at Ramah in the Rockies now understand how the expression “busy as a bee” came into being. Chalutzim learned all about bees through Rinat Levinson, a tzevet [staff member] from Israel, who studied biodynamic beekeeping. Rinat became interested in this field only a year ago and has become so passionate that she found a Denver beekeeper, Oliver Stanton, who donated a hive full of bees so she could teach our chalutzim.

Bee KeepingBiodynamic bee keeping is an approach that respects the integrity of the colony and was founded over 150 years ago. Its aim is to minimize stress factors and allow bees to develop in accordance with their true nature. There are many protocols one must follow so as not to exploit the bees for their honey and ROA followed them while mainting the hive. Examples include: bees are allowed to build natural comb, swarming is acknowledged as the only way to rejuvenate and reproduce a colony, the queen is allowed to move freely throughout the hive and sufficient honey is retained in the hive to provide for the winter.

Rinat’s goal was to make us more aware of the bee’s life cycle and its impact on the environment. Bees are useful in helping thousands of plants to exist and multiply, since they carry pollen from one flower to another, enabling them to form seeds and reproduce themselves. Campers learned about community from studying the bees as each bee and bee activity is integral to the whole. No single part, not even the queen, can be seen as isolated from the whole. Isn’t this what community is all about?

She taught how to respect and take care of the hive and the importance of its survival. Unfortunately, the honeybee is becoming an endangered species, with more than a 50% US decline in managed honeybee colonies due to parasites and disease, climate change and air pollution. The most serious of all is the impact of pesticides– an environmental hazard for any being. Campers discussed what they could do about this phenomenon.

Honeybees are the only insects that provide an important food for man. Interesting note is that the bee is a non-kosher insect, so why is its honey kosher?

So much Jewish learning can be taught through studying the bees. “Devorah” is Hebrew for “bee.” It’s also the name of two great women mentioned in the Torah. What is so special about a bee that these great women should be named after it? There are several citings in the Midrash where the Jewish people and the Torah are compared to bees. For example, just as bees swarm behind a leader, so too are the Jews led by the sages and prophets who teach and guide them. Just as the nature of a bee is to collect pollen and nectar for others, so do the Jews toil accumulating Torah and mitzvahs, not for our own benefit, but for a higher purpose.

BeeHiveHoney is first mentioned in the Bible as one of the gifts sent by Jacob with his sons when they went down to Egypt to seek food during the famine. Moses, at his first encounter with God at the burning bush, hears God’s pledge for the first time: “I shall rescue them from the hand of Egypt and bring them up to a land flowing with milk and honey”(Exodus 3:8). Throughout the Bible, Israel is repeatedly referred to as the land of “milk and honey.” Manna, the most perfect food ever created, which sustained the Israelites for 40 years of wandering in the desert, is described as tasting “like a cake fried in honey” (Exodus 16:31)

“The Torah is sweeter than honey to my mouth,” sang King David. So just like a honeybee spreads the news of the sweet nectar it found to the rest of the colony, so too should we spread the word of Torah. A bee knows that spreading her knowledge is important for her entire colony to prosper. By spreading the sweetness of Torah and mitzvahs to others, you can enhance the capability of the Jewish people to fulfill its purpose, and to be a “light unto the nations.”

We all know that on Rosh Hashanah, honey is used in a symbolic way. We ask for a Shanah Tovah – “May we have a good and sweet year” as we dip apples into honey. It is not only for a good and sweet year in material blessings that we have in mind, but also a good and sweet year in our spiritual life of Torah and mitzvahs, which are “sweeter than hon
ey and the honeycomb” (Psalms). As we eat honey during these High Holidays, we hope campers will remember the labor of love that went into making that honey. There were a lot of honeybees, working very hard, as each honeybee will only produce about one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. We are hopeful that our Ramah bees will provide a taste of honey for the upcoming New Year.

 

 

Rabbi Ranon Teller

This morning at Ramah in the Rockies, for the first time in my rabbinic life, I watched a shochet slaughter a chicken. I’ve eaten meat all my life, but I’ve never experienced a shechita (ritual slaughter). I’ve never dealt head on, with the emotional, ethical concerns of taking an animal’s life to support my own. I’ve been meaning to visit a slaughterhouse for some time to confront this deficiency in my rabbinic and human experience. Confrontation time had arrived.

Every year, a local shochet from Boulder visits the Ramah Outdoor Adventure community to teach about kosher shechita. Yadidya Greenberg invited anyone who chose to participate to gather at the chava (farm) to witness a shechita. As we arrived, he carefully displayed his tools of his trade: the rectangular knives, the sharpening stones, the aprons, and a bucket of earth. He began by asking the chalutzim (pioneers/campers) to share their initial thoughts about shechita, eating meat, and slaughtering animals. Then, he told us about his journey from vegan to vegetarian to kosher meat eater. Some time ago, Yadidya discovered that he needed meat protein for health reasons. As an animal lover, he made an oath to stop eating the meat he needed until he learned how to slaughter it himself. He wanted to confront the dilemma with his own hands. And he did. He learned to be a shochet. Yadidya explained with great compassion about the Jewish code of ethics and his personal commitment to teach and spread kosher slaughter. When the shochet does it right, the the animal feels no pain and the animals death is given proper respect.

Yadidya prepared the area by placing some earth underneath an aluminum tube. Then, he bought out the rooster. It was a heritage rooster, a rooster that was allowed to grow naturally. It was a beautiful, big, orange rooster. He handed it to a madricha (counselor), who held the chicken in her arms. The shochet sharpened his knife. He recited the blessing – “Praised are You, Adonai our God, Source of All, for sanctifying us through the commandment of shechita”. What a meaningful blessing at this powerful moment. I thought to myself, ‘Thank you God, for Your system of mitzvot that allows us to partake of the blessings of this world, with ethics, sustainability and compassion.’ As the madricha held the chicken in a cradle hold, Yadidya exposed the rooster’s neck. With one swift, smooth stroke, he cut across its neck, and the rooster was dead. The madricha placed the rooster upside down in the aluminum tube to allow the blood to drain on top of the earth. When the rooster shook and twitched in the throws of death, we were all reminded about the gravity of life and death. Then, it stopped.

We were all a bit shaken by the experience. For those of us who eat meat, it gave us all a much deeper appreciation for the process that brings the meat to our supermarket and our table. For those of us who don’t eat meat, it confirmed the reality that kept us from eating meat. Yadidya stressed the importance of allowing our dietary decision-making process to evolve slowly and for the kids to be sensitive to their parents’ homes and practices.

After processing the experience with kids, Yadidya invited them up to pluck the rooster’s feathers. When it was all over, Yadidya asked me to fulfill the mitzvah of covering the blood with earth. I took some earth from the bucket and covered the blood that had been spilt. I recited the closing bracha (blessing): “Praised are You, Adonai our God, Source of All, for sanctifying us though the commandment to cover blood with earth.” I thought to myself, ‘Thank you God for your system of mitzvot that allows us to give honor and pay respect to the life that we’ve taken to sustain our lives.’

Thank you Yadidya and Ramah Outdoor Adventure for an incredibly meaningful experience for me and the Ramah Outdoor Adventure community of staff and campers. I don’t know yet how this experience will affect my food decision, but I know I’m a better Rabbi, Jew, citizen, and human for experiencing a shechita first-hand.

 

Rabbi Ranon Teller

Congregation Brith Shalom

Core Values revisited

In the winter of 2008‑2009, a full eighteen months before we were scheduled to welcome our first chalutzim (campers/pioneers) to Ramah Outdoor Adventure, a group of us spent many weeks articulating a set of Jewish core values that we would use as our guiding principles when creating the camp program.  We used Dr. Ismar Schorch’s Sacred Clusters as the basis for our principles, written in 1995 by the then‑Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in an attempt to articulate the principles of Conservative Judaism.  By beginning our planning process around our Jewish values, and not the activities we hoped to offer, we were able to ensure that everything we developed for camp from that point forward would be influenced by these values.  Each year, we begin our staff training with a program articulating our Jewish core values.  Anyone who enters our Chadar Ohel (dining hall) knows that these values are displayed in large print on the walls of the dining hall, as a constant reminder of why we come together each summer as a Kehillah Kedosha (a holy community).

Read more

Thanks for Eytan Deener-Agus (2010 session I) and Mikaela Kaiser (2010 Session II) for their submissions to our story contest.  While neither won the grand prize, both wrote terrific stories that are reprinted below.
Read more

Sitting here in my house listening to the constant drops of rain, it is hard to believe that it is August 1st and that we are now in our intersession before our last session.  Yet, this morning, we said goodbye to 56 of our campers, all of whom were here for our session II.  Like so much else this summer, it was an amazing session filled with countless highs and occasional lows.

At Havdallah, on Saturday night, one member of each ohel (tent) shared a high point of the summer.  While there were mentions of the masaot (excursions) the theme that emerged again and again were the close friends that chalutzim made during their time at camp.  I sat there smiling thinking about all the conversations I had with potential chalutzim and their parents over the course of the year.  The concern that emerged most often was “will I be the only person who does not know anyone?”  And 100s of times during the year I reassured potentialchalutzim that most people coming know one or two people at most.    Sure enough, over the past two weeks, we were able to transform ourselves from a group of 56 individuals into a single united kehillah (community).

Ironically, our kehillah became even more united after the week we spent in small groups on massaot (excursions).  During these massaot, chalutzim had a chance to become very close to a few other people with whom they spent 24 hours a day and on whom they relied to get them through the day.  What we witnessed on Friday, when everyone returned from their Massaot, was that chalutzim not only felt connected to those on their own masa, but that they also felt a closer bond to those who were not on their masa.  I believe that this “trans-masabonding” was due to the fact that they all had similar experiences (like cooking dinner over a camp fire, huddling together during a thunderstorm, waking up early and working to the point of exhaustion in the late afternoon, encouraging each other to keep going  etc).

Our last Shabbat was the perfect way to end the session.   We had time to sing together as a Kehillah, time to relax, time to study, time to play sports, time for some group bonding activities and of course, time for a festive Seudat Shlishit, AKA final banquet.   Packing on Motzei Shabbat posed an interesting challenge because there is no electricity in the camper tents (they live in a technology free zone).  We figured it would be easier for them to pack if they had bright lights, and not just their flashlights.  So after Havdallah, we drove seven cars over the camper tents, pulled them up to the front of them and turned on the lights on bright.  It was quite a scene to see all the chalutzim packing by the light of headlights with the din of the running motor in the background.  The extra lights enabled everyone to pack in time to make it to the 10:30 slide show.    After the slide show, chalutzim had a choice between going to sleep or coming to the field to “cloud gaze” (sadly there were no stars on our last night).  Not surprising, most chalutzim chose to stay on the field until 1:00am chatting in small groups before we sent everyone to sleep for a few hours.

This was the first time any of us on staff had ever run a two week camp program.  Overall, I believe it was a successful trial, one that we will replicate next year during session I & III (June 21-July 4th & August 3-15th) .  But I think I speak for many of us (chalutzim and madrichim) when I say that one of the challenging aspects of this session was that just as we were really coalescing as a kehillah, just as we were really getting to know each other on a deeper level, it was time to pack up and leave.  As I have written before on the directors blog, much of the research on the effectiveness of Jewish camping shows that three and four week sessions are far more effective in the long run at instilling a deep sense of Jewish identity and Jewish passion than are two week sessions.  The reason appears to be that campers who come for longer build deeper relationships with each other and have additional Jewish experiences with their pears.  My hope is that many of our session II campers from 2010 will return to our Kehillah next summer and be able to continue building the friendships they began this summer and continue to have intense meaningful life changing moments with each other, both in our adventure activities and in our Jewish activities.  Of course, because the sessions for next summer are different from this summer (session I & III are two weeks and session II is four weeks) we will have to see how the different communities we created this summer will come together next year during the different session.

Speaking of next summer:  Registration is already open and chalutzim have already registered!

Session I: Tuesday, June 21st -Monday July 4
This session is open to Chalutzim entering grades 5-11
Session II: Wednesday, July 6th – Monday, August 1st
This session is open to chalutzim entering grades 5-11.
Session III: Wednesday August 3rd – Monday, August 15th
This session is open chalutzim entering grades 3-8.  In the fall we are likely to be adding additional programs during these two weeks, so please check back soon or call the camp office for more information

As a thank you to our founding families, we will not raise tuition for you in 2011.  We will even offer the same early bird discounts to our founding families that we offered in 2010.

Until January 1 the rates are:

Session I: $2,000

Session  II: $3,800

Session III: : $1, 800


To register, please click here:

On Monday night we sat around our camp fire on our closing night of first session.  Our chalutzim hamiyasdim (founding campers) and tzevet (staff) had an opportunity to stand up and place two rocks around the base of the fire pit.  One rock represented a hope that had come true during their time at Ramah Outdoor Adventure, and the other was something they were leaving behind.  I sat there smiling and crying at the same time.  Here we were almost two years since we first wrote the proposal to start this camp, and we were wrapping up our first session.  Our chalutzim stood one after the other and reflected about the new outdoor skills they had learned, the new friends they had made and the new Jewish values they had learned.  They talked about leaving behind physical markers at camp (like a new footbridge that some helped to build), new smiles on people’s faces (because of the friends they made) and new traditions that will remain part of the camp for a long time to come (like yom sport).  At the end of the summer, we will use the rocks from this first group along with all the rocks  all 120+ chalutzim from their final night at camp to create a permanent base at our fire pit.   For years to come, campfires will be lit and campers brought together around the hopes and dreams represented by the chalutzim of our inaugural summer. Read more

One need only look at the lengthening of the days, the warming of the weather and expanding “to do” list to know that camp is just around the corner!   The next time you receive a Chodesh Tov newsletter, we will be living full-time at the Ramah in the Rockies ranch and nearing the end of our staff training week!

Read more