By Elyssa Hammerman, Tikvah Director
Ramah Outdoor Adventure has contributed so much to my semester in Israel. While I work at Ramah during the summers, and part time throughout the year, I am a full time second and third grade teacher at Denver Academy of Torah (DAT). I am currently taking a semester off from teaching to study at The Pardes Institute in Jerusalem. Despite my relative lack of formal Jewish learning, my summers at Ramah in Colorado have made this semester much more impactful.
This Pesach, as we read the story of yetziat mitzrayim in synagogue and at Seders, conversation may turn, as it often does, to leadership. We may discuss Moses’ fear about taking on the mantle of leadership, Pharaoh’s pride that keeps him from protecting his people, or Aaron’s capitulation to the Israelites’ demands to build them an idol. Every summer at the Jewish Outdoor Leadership Institute (JOLI), a program of Ramah Outdoor Adventure, teenagers have the same discussions, relating these core Jewish stories to their own leadership styles in the wilderness.
Sacred Environments: Teens Learn About Sukkot in the Wilderness. By Nathaniel Eisen
You shall dwell in booths seven days; all citizens of Israel shall dwell in booths; so that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. –Leviticus 23:42-43
For many of us, building a sukkah is just a commemorative act. We may pick up our schach from a local Hillel or Chabad, rather than gathering it in the woods. We have a warm house to retreat into should the fall weather turn nasty. But when you are huddled beneath a millimeters-thick tarp during a hailstorm, you begin to appreciate how wonderful and frail shelter can be.
It has happened!
Another successful summer at Ramah Outdoor Adventure has come to an end. All is quiet on the ranch. The goats, chickens and duck have gone home; the alpacas and horses will be picked up shortly. A few hours ago, we said goodbye to the last of our chalutzim (campers). Our tzevet (staff) are packing away equipment, sweeping the ohalim (tents) and readying camp for the long nine months of hibernation. Today is one of the hardest days of the summer. There is no cheering in the Chadar Ochel (dining hall), there are no yelps of joy coming from the chalutzim biking down the single track, and there is no one hanging around the table in the middle of the kfar (tent village) playing cards during free time.
Rabbi Marc Soloway, Rabbi of Bonei Shalom in Boulder, CO, wrote the following post for his synagogue bulletin. We hope you enjoy reading.
Are you Ready for Jewish Holiday Summer Camp ?
By Rabbi Marc
This summer I got to spend two whole weeks at “Ramah of the Rockies” as rabbi in residence at this amazing Jewish camp here in Colorado. As I prepared to leave, I had a taste of the emotions of the two-week campers who were also getting ready to end their heightened summer experience; that intense sadness at having to leave the sacred place and the wonderful friendships cultivated there.
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