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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, a dedicated and well-qualified group of lay leaders and staff have been following the science, evaluating camps that did operate during summer 2020, and researching best practices to ensure we can deliver on this commitment. 

Before a typical summer we prepare for a variety of scenarios. Scenario planning is key to running a safe community. We are taking a similar approach to preparing for kayitz 2021; we are considering a multitude of scenarios and coming up with plans for each. Our Roadmap to Summer 2021 is the first step in this scenario planning, and we are excited to share it with our community. 

This document is dynamic, posted on our website, for all to see our latest thinking and plans. You will see a 6 word version (Keep COVID out. Contain COVID spread), a two minute overview, and the full ten minute read version. This document is NOT our final operations manual for 2021. Rather is a snapshot of our thinking if we were to open camp next month, based on what we know now. In it, we outline our core assumptions and various operating procedures, including sections about community structure, health & safety, travel, program, food service, facility, and communication strategies. 

Please visit ramahoutdoors.org/covid-19 to read our Roadmap. On the same page, you will see a form inviting you to share feedback and questions. We will be holding a town hall meeting on Monday, November 30th at 7pm MST to answer your questions and hear additional feedback. You will also see the link to register for the Zoom call on that page.


Finally, we appreciate your trust and your patience. Ten months ago we could not have imagined the possibility of a ‘canceled summer’ let alone the notion that this pandemic will impact this coming camp season too. As we turn towards the Winter months, we sit here imagining the feeling of opening day in summer 2021. We imagine giving our chalutzim a joyfully Jewish experience next summer, and we all know that what our kids need and deserve most of all right now is camp! Please do not hesitate to reach out, connect with us if you have any questions or just to say hi too. 


With gratitude, 
Rabbi Eliav, Julia, and the Ramah in the Rockies team 

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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 years. If your child registered before Yom Kippur, you should have received your sweatshirt. Everyone else who is registered should receive it in 3-4 weeks. Thank you to all who continue to spread the word about Ramah in the Rockies! We hope to register an additional 100 campers before the summer begins and know that most will come through word-of-mouth.Before Thanksgiving, we will release our first operations manual that will describe how we plan to open amidst a likely continued COVID pandemic. We plan to hold regular town hall meetings with our broader camp community about our COVID plans beginning in the first week in December.


We would also like to update you on a few edah grouping changes that are necessary both due to the missed 2020 season as well as the need for social distancing and podding at camp. These changes only affect the 2021 season.

  • Solelim will include all rising 7th and 8th graders. When possible, we will have a rising 7th grade ohel (tent) and also a rising 8th grade ohel. Two-week chalutzim (campers) are welcome to join the first two weeks of each session, though no two-week chalutzim will be joining this edah for the final two weeks (B sessions) of each four week session.
  • Bogrim and Sayarim (rising 9th and rising 10th graders) will be combined into a single edah. We will take programming aspects of each edah to give chalutzim the best summer possible.
  • We will not be welcoming any new IIB chalutzim this summer. Chalutzim who want to join us for two weeks in the second one month session are invited to do so for IIA (July 22-August 4).
  • We still plan to run our Taam Ramah (Taste of Ramah program) for four days each session, but will be switching the dates to June 28-July 1 and July 26-29.

As a reminder, all our dates and rates are found here. 
We appreciate the trust you put in us to care for your children. As we head into the winter months, we are staying focused on reopening our camp and giving your children a joyful Jewish experience next summer. Please plan to join us on November 22nd to celebrate our community, and encourage your children to sign up to participate in the singing and dancing below. We know that what our kids need most of all right now is camp! Thank you for being on this journey with us.

-Rabbi Eliav

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