About Ramah
CONTENT
Ramah in the Rockies: A Miracle in the Colorado Mountains
By Donald S. Skupsky
The 2017 Fire
And so, the remarkable story of Ramah in the Rockies almost came to an end—the “brick and mortar” camp that could never be built, that might never have ever existed…but it did exist, and it did not come to an end!
At the HEA I met with Tammy, Albert Cohen (the HEA’s mashgiach and caterer), and others. Albert and I went to the only large grocery store open at 5:00 a.m., where we bought breakfast for 230 people…and then we waited. When we heard that the campers and staff would not arrive until later, our thoughts turned to lunch. In the interim, our wonderful neighbor, Lost Valley Ranch, sent cereal and milk to the camp for breakfast, while the campers and staff packed their belongings and waited for the buses to arrive. The Ramah advance staff team started arriving at the HEA early in the morning, to assess the facilities and prepare for the others to arrive. At 11:00 a.m., the buses started rolling into the HEA parking lot with tired, sad campers and staff. To them, the camp had prematurely ended ten days early. Little did they know that another Ramah in Rockies miracle was in the works, with several more to follow.
I greeted them all with a big smile and cheery words. “Why are you so happy?” they said. I responded (knowing that nobody was hurt in the fire), “Because we’re going to get a new chadar ochel (dining hall).” For years, we had dreamed about a new dining hall and kitchen that would meet our needs better than the 100-year-old lodge, which had been upgraded in the 1950s by the previous property owner, the local Girl Scouts. And I knew that with all that had happened in our formative years and all the miracles we had experienced, Ramah in the Rockies could not fail. I knew that something good would somehow happen, and it did. [2]
The phone rang at 4:00 a.m. on August 7, 2017. As I was sound asleep, I tuned it out and returned to sleep until it rang again. When I finally answered, Tammy Dollin, Founding Fundraising and Board Development Director of Ramah in the Rockies, gave me the bad news: “There’s been a fire at the lodge at camp. They’re evacuating everyone back to Denver. We need you at the Hebrew Educational Alliance (HEA) to help prepare breakfast for 230 people.” The lodge had housed our kitchen, staff offices, one dining room, and the staff lounge. How could this have happened? Was anyone hurt? Was this the end of the dream of a Ramah camp in Colorado?
Several miracles occurred right around the time of the fire. Every two weeks, since the first campers had arrived on site for the beginning of the camp season, there had been regular fire drills for the whole camp to gather and review safety procedures. The final fire drill of the 2017 season had been the day before the fire. With those procedures fresh in everyone’s mind, the camp performed the same evacuation procedure at 2:00 a.m. after the fire broke out. This was more than just good luck! And the local fire department miraculously arrived within forty-five minutes of the 911 call for help. They were able to utilize water from the nearby creek (over 350,000 gallons) first to contain the fire and then to totally extinguish it. Against all odds, the fire did not spread to local trees or other structures. The property was saved, and everyone was safe.
And, then, the next miracle began. The directors of the three major Colorado sleepaway Jewish camps had worked together cooperatively for years. At 5:00 a.m., Rabbi Eliav Bock, director of Ramah in the Rockies, contacted Noah Gallagher, director of the JCC Ranch Camp, and Noah provided unbelievable news: His camp in Elizabeth, Colorado had completed its last session the day before and Ramah could complete the rest of its camp session there. Was that a coincidence or a miracle?
So, for one day, the entire camp operated in the Hebrew Educational Alliance building. Staff went above and beyond to create programming and Ramah camp experiences on the fly. I remember with great emotion tefillot (prayers) the next morning, when staff held tallitot over the heads of the campers and recited the priestly blessing—because everyone was safe and protected. Throughout the day, staff met with Noah and his team to get up to speed about the facilities, as well as to plan activities and the transfer of over 200 people to the new venue. The following day, almost everyone moved to the JCC Ranch Camp to complete the session. [3]
You never know how people will respond in times of need. In its time of great need, Ramah in the Rockies was privileged to see the best in people, especially its staff and campers.
We will never forget the immediate and generous response to our needs by the North Fork Fire Department, the Lost Valley Ranch, the Hebrew Education Alliance, the JCC Ranch Camp, and the National Ramah Commission (NRC). And we are so thankful to the hundreds of donors, big and small, who stepped up to help us rebuild—with over 700 small donors contributing over $400,000 for our rebuilding in the month following the fire.
Rabbi Mitch Cohen, National Ramah Director, flew in on the day of the fire and provided guidance and encouragement, taking personal responsibility for handling the press and press releases. Mitch was not just a friend and mentor to our camp director, Tammy and myself; he was also the supporting hand that had enabled the creation of Ramah in the Rockies in the first place.
So what’s all this about miracles? The Ramah in the Rockies story is laced with miracle after miracle: a Jewish summer camp in the Colorado Rockies that should not exist, could not exist…but it does exist! Here is its story.
The Origins
By 1997, the Ramah movement had expanded to seven overnight summer camps: New England, Berkshires, Poconos, Canada, Wisconsin, California, and Darom (which opened in Georgia in 1997). Geographically, a gap existed between Georgia and California in the southern part of the United States. A camp in the Colorado Rockies Mountains loomed as an attractive option, due both to its location and to the camping opportunities in the mountains.
In 1997 Ismar Schorsch, the chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary (the governing entity of the Ramah Movement), contacted David Engleberg, a noted Jewish community fundraiser and leader who lived in Denver, to explore developing a new Ramah summer camp in Colorado. The chancellor indicated that since Colorado was the center for outdoor camping, it would be an ideal location for a new camp. David had been the campaign chair for Allied Jewish Federal and also the chairman of the National Jewish Medical Center. His four children were campers and staff at Ramah in California, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin, and he strongly supported the effort. Chancellor Schorsch suggested a new region for the Colorado camp, to include states that were currently in the Ramah California and Wisconsin catchment areas, and he even offered to help fundraise in Las Vegas. When word got out to the California and Wisconsin camps, it created the first of many challenges and controversies we encountered. David wrote an initial feasibility study indicating why Ramah camp in Colorado would be successful. [4]
Rabbi Sheldon Dorph, National Ramah Director, flew to Colorado to meet with David, together with Rabbi Bruce Dollin, Senior Rabbi of the Hebrew Educational Alliance, and Robert Loup, JCC president and a prominent Denver and national Jewish community leader and philanthropist. They visited the JCC Ranch Camp in Elbert, Colorado, together with Dirk Bird, the camp director. Mr. Loup suggested that Ramah could locate on the Ranch camp property. Rabbi Dorph instead wanted the camp to be in the Colorado mountains to benefit from that location’s resources, plus cooler and less humid summer weather than the other Ramah camps.
Rabbi Dollin told Rabbi Dorph that he and the Denver community wanted the new camp in Colorado and would support its development.
In the summer of 1999, David placed an ad in the Intermountain Jewish News announcing “Ramah is coming to Colorado,” to help identify Ramah supporters and alumni in the local area. When I saw the ad, I immediately called David to say I was all in. Having spent nine years at Ramah—in Canada, in Glen Spey, and in New England—I fully understood the impact of Ramah on my own life and on the Jewish community. Ramah remained my “happy place” where I grew as a Jewish leader, experienced Judaism as a way of life, and made lifetime friends.
David brought the area Ramah alumni together to become the project steering committee. We met at local coffee shops a few times to reminisce about camp and think about the project, without real progress. Then, the NRC decided to test whether the Denver community was serious about a new camp. The Commission established a fundraising goal for the community to raise $100,000 by the end of December 1999. To support fundraising, the Commission brought on Elissa Sherwin in Phoenix to fundraise in the Arizona community, believing (or rather hoping) that Arizona would be in the new Ramah in the Rockies region someday.
And so, with no offices, funding, or formal organization, we embarked on fundraising—our first major challenge. By December 1999, we had exceeded the NRC’s challenge by raising $129,000 and we received their approval to proceed. David formed a board of directors and we incorporated, wrote bylaws, and started meeting. At that point, Ramah in the Rockies existed as an idea and a dream, with no camp, no real constituency, and limited seed money in the bank.
The Board Revolt
The first order of business was to find a camp property. Through Rabbi Dorphs’s contacts in the United States Bureau of Land Management, Larry Bambry, z”l, a HEA congregant and a local Jewish BLM manager, identified a 200-acre lot overlooking the Eleven Mile Reservoir. A few of us visited the site, talked with the local rangers, and assessed the appropriateness of the site. While the price was a reasonable $200,000, the site would only work by adding more land across the road. Moreover, the reservoir was busy with loud motorboats, crowded with many visitors, and experienced significant wind and rain storms—and its water temperature stayed around 45 degrees Fahrenheit. With no infrastructure, no water well, and little flat land for sports, the site seemed unsuitable for a camp.
So, the search for other options proceeded. One realtor suggested Golden Meadows Ranch, a wonderful 500-acre ranch in South-Central Colorado on a stream, with several existing buildings and irrigated hay fields that were flat and could be converted to sports fields. The entire board was invited to visit and evaluate the site.
After the visit, some board members angrily challenged the idea of buying any land without money and a significant organizational structure, and without considering several property options. This was not just a disagreement; it was a revolt. I argued that since any available property would remain on the market for only a short time, we would need to either make an offer on it or not—it wasn’t realistic to think we could compile a list of several options. The dispute intensified due to interpersonal friction when some board members walked out, saying that they had “had enough.” A few of us remained, stunned. Did the Ramah dream just end? David, showing great leadership, dissolved the board and, with Rabbi Dorph’s approval, reconstituted a new board with the few of us remaining in the room, who still wanted to pursue the vision—including myself and Tammy Dollin. Things had looked bleak, but Ramah in the Rockies had a new lease on life.
The Hopeless Search for Property
The property search proceeded with renewed passion. From 2000 to 2005, I personally visited over 50 mountain properties and rejected over 500 other properties based on maps and promotional material. A few colleagues visited other properties without me. During that time, we submitted purchase offers for seven properties, indicating that we could only put $100,000 earnest money down (about one-third of the amount normally needed with an initial offer) and would require six months to close. David Engleberg had extensive experience working with large donors who might contribute and he correctly believed that we needed a property contract before approaching them. Otherwise, the property might be sold while we drummed up donor interest—and the donors might never work with us again.
By 2002, I was already frustrated. How could we hope to buy a property with so little money and require sellers to wait six months to close, especially when the owners want to close in thirty to forty-five days? The task seemed impossible until Howard Witkin, a board member with real estate experience, advised me: “People buy property all the time without money and with unusual terms.” I asked: “How do they do it?” He responded: “They just do!” Without that insight, the land search and the dream of Ramah in the Rockies could have ended.
Instead, the property search continued for several more years.
In 2003, Rabbi Mitch Cohen became National Ramah Director. He fully supported the Ramah in the Rockies project and worked to help make it a reality. As we better understood the Ramah camping system, we learned that although each Ramah camp was independent, the NRC needed to approve hiring the camp directors, and each camp needed to follow National Ramah standards. While the NRC Ramah did not directly fund the camps, it provided significant services such as training, some flow-through grants, group insurance, administrative support, Israeli recruitment, and many other types of advice and encouragement.
One Realtor’s Persistence
By April 2005, I was “done”—frustrated and tired of looking for property. Each trip to view a mountain property took a full day—two hours to reach the property, two to three hours to tour, and two hours to return. Luckily, I owned my own company and could take the time off. My wife, Lorraine, was very supportive, listening to me babble on about this property or that one. But I felt frustrated spending so much time on this task without success (and the time off probably hurt my business).
Then one day, the phone rang. Vicki Livingston, a mountain realtor who had shown me a few properties in the past, said: “Don, I’ve found your camp: the Girl Scouts’ Flying ‘G’ Ranch.” As we discussed the property, she explained that in 2002 the Hayman Fire had ravaged the area. It was one of the largest and most damaging mountain fires ever in Colorado, destroying over 137,000 acres of mostly National Forest. I told Vicki: “I didn’t want to see some burnt-out old camp. Regardless, we can’t get anyone to accept our terms.” Vicki assured me that the camp had been protected from the fire since the fire department had set up its base in the camp, and the Girl Scouts would be willing to negotiate on the terms. I agreed to drive with Vicki to the Flying G Ranch, but I did so convinced that this property, like so many others, would not work out, and it would be the last property I would look at.
We drove through the Hayman Fire burn area, and I became even more pessimistic. But then we descended into a beautiful tree-lined road with a babbling brook roadside and we entered the property. The Girl Scouts, Mile High Council, had bought the property in 1945 as a summer and winter camp for Denver-area Girl Scouts [6]. They expanded the turn-of-the-century lodge to include a dining room, a commercial kitchen, and a basement storage area. Not far away, they upgraded an existing barn to house their equestrian program, with an adjacent horse paddock and two outdoor arenas located further away. They built a new shower house in 2003, after the Hayman Fire destroyed their previous shower, and they had erected a large steel storage building. The Girl Scouts slept in six “villages” spread throughout the property in four-person tents on traditional scout tent platforms, with a covered outdoor cooking shelter, and composting solar toilets in each area.
The property’s crown jewel was a large open (mostly flat) valley to the north—which would later be called “Ramah Valley.” The area could conceivably provide sports fields and sufficient land for cabins, dining areas, and meeting spaces, similar to the layout I remember for Ramah in Canada. The Hayman Fire had singed the edge of the southern valley and the eastern hillside, but the rest of the property remained pristine. Four creeks ran through the property, with water gushing in one creek and trickling in the others.
Yes, this property could work. But how could we buy it? The realtor said: “Leave it to me. I’ll get it done.” The property had become available when the Girl Scouts restructured from a Denver-area group to a statewide organization, and therefore needed a bigger facility for their camping activities. They had selected a site in the Red Feathers Lake area for their new camp and had embarked on new construction for an $11 million facility. During negotiations, I asked how much they had raised toward that goal. They indicated that they had already raised $8.5 million; thus, we knew our bid had to be at least $2.5 million to meet their needs. We placed a slightly higher offer on the property of $2.725 million, to include all the kitchen equipment, shop equipment, beds, cubbies and vehicles needed to operate the property. I particularly wanted their new John Deere tractor to be included in the deal. And we requested six months to raise the money before closing.
As it turned out, several of the Girl Scout board members were Jewish—and the Girl Scouts wanted their cherished property to go to another summer camp, not to a developer. Thus, in June 2005 they approved our bid at the proposed price and gave us six months to close. They requested an additional right to lease back the property for their summer camp in 2006.
After so many years of frustration, we finally had a camp property! We had a contract for the new Camp Ramah in Colorado. But could we raise the money to buy it?
David Engleberg began contacting the major Jewish donors in Colorado. As word got out about what he was doing, Doug Sesserman, CEO of the Allied Jewish Federation of Denver (now “JewishColorado”), objected and asked David to stop contacting these people. Colorado already had two other Jewish overnight camps: the JCC Ranch Camp and Shwayder Camp (operated by Temple Emanuel, a Reform congregation). The JCC Ranch Camp was soliciting money from these same major donors at the same time, in order to upgrade its very old camp that needed significant upgrades. Mr. Sesserman felt that Ramah’s entry into the Colorado market would severely harm the existing camps’ fundraising efforts.
David informed me of this concern while I was in Israel. After everything we went through to find a property, without access to the major donors, was this going to be the end of the dream?
The Community Comes Together
David responded to Doug Sesserman that Ramah had every right to contact the major donors, and that Ramah would in fact be an asset to the Jewish community in Colorado. Doug reconsidered his position, and he asked if Ramah and JCC might contact the donors together—enabling a bigger ask for Colorado summer camps. To promote this idea, he invited Ramah and JCC representatives to lunch to discuss the issue.
At the meeting, the conversation moved in an unexpected direction. The JCC representatives explained that their camp was very old and rundown, and needed a lot of work to stay within operating codes and meet its current and future needs—and would require a large influx of money to make the needed repairs and upgrades. The discussion gradually moved from how we could raise money together to whether the JCC Ranch Camp could also move to the new Ramah property, thus building two new camps on one property, with some shared facilities.
We agreed to explore the idea over the next months, to see if a cooperative venture was possible, while we were simultaneously meeting with the large donors for a joint ask. By December 12, 2005, Ramah in the Rockies, the Jewish Community Center, and the Allied Jewish Federation of Denver signed a detailed Memo of Understanding (MOU). The MOU outlined how the new venture would function, the shared visions, and each party’s particular needs and interests. The JCC had already raised $1 million for upgrading its camp and conditioned their contribution of those funds on the completion of construction. Ramah needed its $100,000 earnest money returned when the land was finally purchased, and required what proved to be a most significant clause: If the JCC elected to withdraw from the cooperative venture or the venture failed, Ramah retained the right to continue developing the property for its own summer camp while assuming all responsibility for the property debts and operation.
With the agreement signed, the venture incorporated as the “Flying J Ranch, LLC.” We spent hours trying to create a different name, but we could not come up with anything better. In essence, the “G” from the Girl Scout’s “Flying G Ranch” name was changed to “J” for “Jewish.”
Joint fundraising continued toward a goal of $3.5 million indicated in the MOU. This amount included the purchase price of the property, plus additional funds for designing two camps with shared facilities, purchasing additional water rights [7], hiring an executive director, and general property expenses and maintenance. In February 2006, the LLC member organizations approved the formal Operating Agreement, again enshrining Ramah’s right to continue developing its camp on the land should the LLC fail.
Over the next few months, fundraising brought in over $1.5 million. While this was a substantial amount, it still fell short of the $3.5 million goal. When things looked bleak again, David Fellows, Chief Financial Officer for the Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Foundation, developed a project-saving plan. He applied for $3.5 million in non-profit bonds through the Jewish Federations of North America Bond Program, an initiative designed to help finance projects in the Jewish community. After some discussion, the board approved the deal.
Without JCF’s help, the dream could have ended.
Finally, on March 29, 2006, the Flying J Ranch, LLC closed on the Girl Scout property. The champagne flowed that day; everyone was smiling, yet, we all realized the great challenge facing us: to develop the property and build two camps. The LLC hired Shmidt-Copeland as the architects to design the new property—the same firm that had previously designed the Ramah Darom facilities. The architects held many meetings with Ramah and the JCC Ranch Camp to determine needs and designate locations and types of facilities. The design called for Ramah to be located in the Ramah Valley on the south side of the property and for the JCC to be located near the Wilder pavilion, uphill on the north side of the property. There would be a shared dining complex, swimming pool, and property administrative office between the two. The total project cost estimate came out between $30 and $35 million.
In 2007, the NRC recognized Ramah in the Rockies as its eighth overnight camp. At that time, the Ramah camps had firmly established regions for camper recruitment and fundraising, and so a new region needed to be carved out for Ramah in the Rockies. Through extensive negotiations, the other camps ceded Colorado, North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and Texas to our fledgling camp. Unfortunately, all these states combined had fewer than 350,000 Jews—for purposes of comparison, other regions had close to one million (or more) Jews in their catchment area. While we are grateful to the other camps for giving up something, it should be noted that we started formal Ramah life at a big disadvantage compared to other Ramah camps.[8]
Around this time, Ramah and JCC came to recognize that their camp philosophies and staffing models differed. Ramah operated a strictly Jewish camp based on the religious standards of the Conservative Movement of Judaism, where all campers and bunk staff were Jewish. The JCC Ranch camp also operated a Jewish camp but followed a different level of observance and included non-Jewish campers and cabin staff. To bridge the gap, Mitch Cohen met with Dirk Bird to explore how two distinct camps with different cultures, religious practices, and staffing models could co-exist on the same property. Dirk later related: “We spent hours exploring a myriad of issues that might come up (and we only scratched the surface, as anything is possible at camp). I came away from those discussions with a profound respect for the Ramah system and Mitch as a Jewish leader and a human being.”
The Project Almost Falls Apart
By early 2008, we had an organization, a property design, some progress in our water rights adjudication, and research on potential big donors. It looked like the time was ripe for this project to take off.
In May of 2008, National Ramah invited all the Conservative rabbis in our region, plus others from Denver, to visit the property—with the goal of gaining their support for the new camp. Rabbis from Colorado, Texas, Wyoming, and Utah joined us. A representative from Lost Valley Ranch (our neighbor), a Christian pastor, regaled the group about stories of Jewish pioneers in the West. We mentioned our desire to open a camp by 2010, although that was wishful thinking. After lunch and Mincha, Rabbi Eliot Baskin began to sing Esa einai el heharim (“I raise my eyes to the mountains”). It was a very emotional moment. A reporter from the Intermountain Jewish News was caught up in the emotion and optimism of the moment and wrote a follow-up article in the newspaper, which was printed with a picture of all the participants wearing cowboy hats, captioned “Ramah Camp Coming to Colorado in 2010.” Although we had indicated we wanted to open in 2010, we still had no plan for making it happen [9]. It looked like we had a pathway forward, but nothing came easy in our story.
In reality, the LLC had not raised much new money for building out this project. In late May of 2008, the JCC pulled out of the project, just after the rabbis’ site visit. They had waited for three years to upgrade their property and they concluded that the project would take too long and cost too much. At the height of our optimism for moving forward, this setback seemed like the end of the dream.
In June of 2008, the Federation called a meeting of the stakeholders to discuss what should happen with the LLC and the property. Over forty people showed up to determine the fate of this project. Everyone in the room was invited to express their opinion and indicate how they would vote. It was distressing to hear one person after another state their desire to sell the property and “be done with this failed project.” When it was my turn, I calmly smiled and expressed Ramah’s decision: “I’m sorry things did not work out as we hoped. It was a gallant effort of Jewish organizations working together. However, if you all remember, under the original Memo of Understanding and the LLC Operating Agreement, the land cannot be sold without Ramah’s approval. And Ramah does not agree to sell the land. Instead, we are leasing the property as planned for a short program this summer, and we plan to negotiate a long-term lease for Ramah to assume responsibility for paying the debt.” With that, the threat of selling the land ended—and Ramah entered negotiations with the Federation.
National Ramah had previously developed a relationship with Rabbi Marshall Lesack, a senior student at the JTS rabbinical school, to run a short camp session in the summer of 2008, with the possibility of him continuing as the first Ramah in the Rockies Camp Director. For four days that summer, Marshall ran our first camp for selected young adults (drawn mainly from other Ramah camps), to test the property facilities and get a feel for the land. National Ramah business manager Jeff Goodman joined the group to help me set up the kitchen and dining area. My last Ramah staff position was in 1972, at Ramah in New England. And now, thirty-six years later, I was back on staff—and Jeff even presented me with a staff sweatshirt! We all enjoyed that first “taste of Ramah,” which motivated us to keep planning for the future.
Negotiations continued with the Jewish Federation. In the fall of 2008, Ramah took responsibility for the property expenses, interest payments, and the water rights adjudication. But we still had no ongoing camp program, and little additional revenue beyond the initial seed money raised in 1999. The pressure was now on to raise money to support the ongoing financial responsibilities. Mitch Cohen hired Tammy Dollin to be the first employee of the nascent camp, with responsibility for helping push the project forward, raising funds, making the case for Ramah in the local community, creating a board of directors, and putting in place an organizational structure.
In another apparent setback, after trying to persuade him to become the part-time HEA assistant rabbi and also the camp director of Ramah in the Rockies, Marshall Lesack elected instead to become Assistant Camp Director at Ramah Darom. We wished him good luck, sensing that our own path to success was narrowing.
The Grant
In 2008, with funding from the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Foundation for Jewish Camp announced five $1.1 million grants to jumpstart new Jewish summer camps. National Ramah Director Rabbi Mitch Cohen submitted a grant application from NRC for a new Ramah Outdoor Adventure Camp—the first Ramah specialty camp, to be housed at Ramah in the Rockies. Eliav Bock, who had previously worked with Mitch on the tripping staff at Ramah in Canada, was named the camp’s first director. The application proposed a new Ramah camp that placed campers more in the outdoors and physically challenged them through extensive backpacking, rock climbing, mountain biking, and other more strenuous outdoor activities, in a Jewish educational setting. The Colorado Rockies would be an ideal home for this camp.
In November of 2008, National Ramah was awarded the $1.1 million grant to jumpstart a new specialty camp to open in the summer of 2010. The grant required the new camp to lease space and use the funds to build a new program from scratch, and prohibited using the funds for capital improvement on the property. Eliav, still a rabbinical student, started as director part-time until he was ordained.
With funding for a camp program, a camp director, a physical space, and organizational support, we were finally ready to start building a camp! Tammy spent much of 2008 and 2009 navigating this delicate structure, pitching it to potential supporters and creating marketing materials.
The Three-Headed Brain Trust
In November of 2008, Mitch and Eliav flew to Denver to meet with Tammy and me to plan the camp opening in summer 2010. Tammy led the fundraising, publicity, and board development. Since I knew the property best, I became the property manager and later the executive director, serving in a volunteer capacity.
We had a fledgling board of directors, which provided advice and consent to our actions. But time was tight and things had to move forward quickly. In the difficult period of preparing for the new camp, we found that our three-headed brain trust worked exceedingly well—and was supported, over time, by relationships with the board of directors, donors, supporters, volunteers, campers, and staff. We also had the unwavering support of Rabbi Mitch Cohen, representing the NRC. This was Mitch’s “baby,” the first new overnight Ramah camp since Darom had opened in 1997. He wanted us to succeed and he helped us through the growing pains.
Raising money for capital development in the post-2008 market crash was exceedingly difficult. Ramah in the Rockies received some financial support from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation and was able to provide Tammy with consulting support. Ramah Outdoors sponsored a staff training program in August 2009. Eliav selected some staff who would later join the first summer camp in 2010, plus others interested in an extensive training program on the property. Participants slept in their backpacking tents and cooked some of their meals. This was also an opportunity to test some of the systems in the lodge and other facilities.
Also in 2009, we offered our first Family Camp and Garin Ramah, a camp volunteer program. The facilities were still primitive, with electricity primarily in the Lodge and limited flush toilets. Volunteers came from Colorado and Texas to tear down old tent platforms, plant trees, and taste the Ramah camp experience. The volunteers created an outdoor tefillah space that subsequently grew into “Pardes Tefillah,” later used often for Kabbalat Shabbat services.
Building a Camp on a Shoestring
The first facility decision concerned where and how to house the campers and staff. The area near the new shower house and the log cabin proved to be the best central location, as it already had electricity, water, and a small septic system—but not much else. In my role as property manager I proposed building new platforms for 20 x 24 foot tents capable of housing at least twelve campers and two to three counselors—comparable in size to many Ramah cabins elsewhere. We also hired a building contractor to design the tent platforms, and was involved with many other construction projects, including an upgrade to the existing shower house. Since there were no bathrooms or sinks in the area, we rented an “event modular toilet building” and porta potties for the first year; the waste needed to be pumped out once or twice weekly, and unfortunately, overflowed when pumping was delayed.
The construction costs to open in 2010 totally drained the Ramah in the Rockies account. With limited rental income and donations, by October of 2010 we were technically bankrupt—there was no money to pay bills. I provided a $25,000 personal loan to cover the immediate crisis, which Ramah shortly repaid with donations. In October 2011 we found ourselves in the same financial dilemma, and we survived again. As word got out about the camp, we started to get more annual gifts, followed by multi-year commitments. In 2010 we held our first annual fundraising dinner, with growing support from the local community. A parlor meeting in 2011 raised money with a large matching grant.
Camp Opens: Summer 2010
Eliav hired Douglas Wolf as a year-round business manager before the start of the summer 2010 camp season. Douglas served the organization for many years, adding financial stability and procedures. He performed many important operational tasks, such as arranging airport transportation, bus services, food delivery, and equipment purchases.
By June 2010, we were ready! We erected tents, assembled bunk beds, provisioned the kitchen, repaired and tested the water system, and completed everything else as planned. And the program was ready when our twenty-five initial staff members started arriving for staff training week. We held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to usher in the first camp season, attended by donors, volunteers, and members of the board of directors. I was honored to cut the ribbon. Looking around, surrounded by our first-year staff, devoted board members, volunteers, Tammy, and Eliav, my heart fluttered and my eyes teared. We all sang and danced, welcoming in a borrowed Torah and affixing our first mezuzah to the lodge front door. The moment had come. We did it! Ramah in the Rockies and Ramah Outdoor Adventure were now a reality. The newest brick-and-mortar Ramah camp was now open for its first summer.
During this first pre-camp staff week, Eliav established the culture that would become Ramah Outdoor Adventure’s unique offering and began building the kehillah kedoshah, the holy community, where everyone is valued and treated with respect. Ramah in the Rockies was to be a place where campers could challenge their physical abilities through backpacking, mountain climbing, mountain biking, and other excursions outside the camp. For others, the challenges were less physical, but no less impactful—for example, getting through a Rocky Mountain thunderstorm, sleeping away from home, learning to lead services or read Torah, living outdoors, and making new friends. Regardless of the challenge, the concept of “challenge by choice” permeated the unique program of Ramah in the Rockies.
The power of “challenge by choice” is described by Aviva Dollin (who later became a leading counselor and rosh edah), describing her experience as a 14-year-old camper on a bicycle masa (excursion). Aviva was physically fit and did fine riding her mountain bike on the designated trails. Suddenly there was a steep ascent. Some of the stronger riders had already made it to the top, but she was struggling. She knew how to shift the gears but was unsure she had the strength to reach the top. This was a physical challenge that she had never faced before.
Those already on the top cheered her on, encouraging her with the Hebrew song Ozi v’zimrat Yah (“my strength comes from God”) as she peddled bit by bit toward the top. Suddenly she reached the top and realized that she had just done something she hadn’t known she could do!
Everything we did that first year would set the culture for the future. Friday afternoon brought Israeli dancing outside (and often a fierce thunderstorm!). Spirited singing raised the roof (tent!). Seudah shelishit brought quiet contemplative songs and stories. Havdalah turned into a dance party and song session.
While at camp that first summer, I was saying Kaddish for my mother, who had died the previous October. My mother grew up during the Depression in a very poor family. As a young girl, she sold apples and pies at the local factory, hoping to bring in a little money. Her mother died when she was just a teen. In all this sadness, she saw an ad for a scholarship to a Jewish summer camp, which her family could not afford. She and her sister were accepted to camp and spent the most wonderful two weeks of her early life. When she married and had children, she wanted her children to go to camp. Thus, I started at the local Michigan JCC camps, Fresh Air and Tamarac, and loved camp. My love for camp grew at the Ramah in Canada, Glen Spey, and New England. During pre-camp that first year of Ramah in the Rockies, I remember saying Kaddish at services with staff and thought about my mother’s role in my motivation to build Ramah in Colorado. Thank you, Mom. We all thank you for our new camp.
The Early Years
After the first summer, we asked the campers, “What is the first new building you would want built?” They unequivocally and universally shouted out with one voice “Bathrooms!” Recognizing the critical significance of flush toilets for the growth of this camp, Mitch Cohen worked with Debbie Nahshon, NRC development director, on a capital funding proposal to the Gottesman Foundation of NYC. They generously granted us $200,000 for the camp’s first new bathroom facility [10]. We also added additional tents and platforms in anticipation of increased enrollment.
Eliav initially wanted to recruit only rising eighth, ninth, and tenth grade campers, since they would have sufficient ability and interest to undertake more strenuous outdoor activities and excursions. But recruiting that age group proved to be very difficult. Since many teenagers were involved in other camps or sports activities by that age, it became clear that recruitment needed to include younger campers. We moved the recruitment age down to rising third graders, and we then needed to develop more on-site programs, since the youngest campers did not have the ability for strenuous excursions outside the property.
During those early years, we had an urgent need for improved facilities. By 2013, our staff had outgrown the staff lounge in the basement area of the lodge. Due to our remote area and mountain roads, staff could not leave the property at night. We needed a better, more comfortable facility onsite for them to relax and enjoy snacks. We also needed some upscale hotel-style bedrooms with private bathrooms to attract rabbis, scholars, doctors, and potential donors to the property. Francine Lavin Weaver, one of the first significant donors for Ramah in the Rockies, expressed interest in developing retreat capabilities on the property for events before and after camp. With Francine’s generous gift, we designed and built the Staff Building to meet all these needs and interests, later named by the donor “Beit Kesher.” House of Connection. The facility includes ten bedrooms, a large staff lounge, a basic catering kitchen, and a storage area [11].
Camp benefited greatly, as well, from the generosity of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, due to the wonderful relationship between Eliav and the Schusterman organization.
Matt Levitt joined Ramah in 2010 as a counselor and rock climbing specialist, in 2011 as a counselor for the oldest division, JOLI (Jewish Outdoor Learning Institute), and then joined the year-round staff as Program Director and Operations Manager. Matt worked with me on the staff building, helping with the design and details such as carpeting, exterior stone, and furnishing.
Dining remained a particular problem. We added a tented area next to the dining hall so that we could accommodate approximately 300 total campers and staff.
We realized early on that our program required additional sports facilities, so we installed a new basketball court. We elected to cover the court with high-grade sports tiles to reduce injuries and enable the court to dry quickly after an afternoon rain. These same afternoon rains in Colorado made outdoor rock climbing very difficult. Elad Omer, our rock climbing professional, suggested enhancing the program with a covered bouldering wall—which challenges campers to climb or maneuver sideways rather than upward. We constructed a support shell for the activity and to keep out the rain. Elad then added the hand, footholds, and pads to create a very successful, relatively inexpensive, and popular on-property activity.
In addition to upgrading our sport facilities, we likewise undertook to ensure that our arts programming was top-notch. Melinda Goldrich, a donor active in funding camp projects, including the JCC Ranch Camp, gifted Ramah the funds to build a new Arts Pavilion. Completed in 2018, this new facility provides a protected roof for arts and crafts and fine arts programs, with open sides to let in natural light, inspiring campers to create while looking out at the natural surroundings. The facility has also been used for various programs, including campwide Havdalah.
In 2015, we continued our upgrade of the physical plant by building a new bath house for the growing tent community, gifted by the Goldrich Family Foundation. With the expansion of tents up the hill, we needed a new full-service bath house with showers, toilets, sinks, and janitorial areas.
Board Leadership
As the camp grew, the organization grew. We expanded the board of directors and formed committees. No longer could we function with just our “three-headed leadership.” We needed more expansive participation and leadership. Throughout our history, many extraordinary leaders have stepped forward to help guide us through the twists and turns toward our goal.
David Engleberg was the first president and board chair of Ramah in the Rockies. His children attended Ramah in Wisconsin and California, and David’s previous fundraising and Jewish community activities brought Colorado into the picture as National Ramah considered the next location for expansion. His experience kept the fledgling organization alive when the project could have failed. David played an essential role in forming the Flying J Ranch, LLC collaborative venture and in raising the early money for the LLC.
I took over as president of the camp in 2014. My three kids had attended Ramah Wisconsin as both campers and staff, and my daughter worked as a counselor and head of the outdoor art program for Ramah in the Rockies during the first two summers.
When funding from the original FJC grant ended, we merged Ramah in the Rockies and Ramah Outdoor Adventure into one organization—with one board of directors, one accounting system, one team, and one goal—and promoted Eliav from Camp Director to Executive Director. In 2017, Gil Rosenthal became board president. Tammy had recruited Gil to the board years before and Chandra, his wife, had been an early volunteer. All three of their children attended Ramah in the Rockies as campers; two of them became staff members as well. Gil had previously served on the boards of Jewish Colorado, Ramah Outdoor Adventure, and then Ramah in the Rockies after the merger. Gil prepared all the legal documents for the merger and for the repayment of the bonds and Ramah’s title to the land. He also updated our bylaws to reflect the evolving organization and its structure. In other words, Gil moved us from a start-up to a more established non-profit organization—and helped us to maintain a standard meeting schedule, committees, and expectations for board members.
In 2021 Scott Michaud took the reins as board president. I had recruited Scott to the board after I first met him in our adult camp in 2014. Scott came to us with “Ramah family blood” in his veins, as his wife Debra Michaud had been president of Ramah Darom. Their children attended Ramah Darom, and their daughter served on staff at Ramah in the Rockies and married the wonderful staff member we called “Juiceboxx (Dan Gavins).” Scott implemented a new strategic plan, then updated it when all of its goals were achieved within four years. After the fire, Scott negotiated the settlement with our insurance company amicably and effectively. He also guided our reopening after Covid. He has, throughout his tenure, expanded our commitment to better and more effective board governance.
All of us in leadership positions understand the impact Camp Ramah has had on our children, and we have wanted to create an opportunity for other children and young adult staff to have those same meaningful experiences. As of this writing, all former presidents remain on the board of Ramah in the Rockies, working for the continued success of the organization we love.
Rabbi Eliav Bock’s leadership has made all the difference in the success of Ramah in the Rockies. He came to us in 2008 with a vision of a Ramah Outdoor Adventure Camp, which brought together outdoor living and joyous Judaism. Yes, we experienced many miracles to get off the ground. Yet, while the creation of a physical camp was a goal, the creation of a truly impactful Jewish summer camp was the ultimate goal. With Eliav’s leadership, philosophy, fundraising success and convictions, Ramah in the Rockies has grown from 2010 to the present, enjoying ongoing success.
Miracles and the Lessons Learned
This is the remarkable story of Ramah in the Rockies and Ramah Outdoor Adventure. From nothing in 1999, to a primitive site and humble beginnings of a camp program in 2010, we now have an outstanding outdoor adventure camp program on our own property, with the physical facilities to operate our camp for years to come. We serve hundreds of campers and staff each summer with immersive, joyful, and fun Jewish experiences.
There were many times when it seemed this project would never happen, but we have been blessed with miracle after miracle. We have been blessed with amazing, talented people who made a vision a reality. We have been blessed with amazing professional and volunteer leadership and amazing board members. We have been blessed with generous donors and passionate supporters who helped us through every roadblock. We have been blessed with parents who trust us each summer with their children. We have been blessed with talented and dedicated staff who create the magic of Jewish summer camp. And we have been blessed with campers who enthusiastically embrace our values—“challenge by choice” and “dirt is clean, filth is dirty”—and who want to be part of a kehillah kedoshah.
We have realized the dream of the camp that might never have existed. Ramah in the Rockies is truly a miracle in the Colorado Rockies.
Footnotes
- Donald Skupsky is a founder of Ramah in the Rockies, as well as a past president, board member, camper and staff parent, site committee chair, and supporter. This chapter is excerpted (with editing for clarity and brevity) from Donald Skupsky’s complete history of the establishment of Ramah in the Rockies, expected to be published in 2026.
- The insurance proceeds and parallel fundraising enabled us to build a much-needed kitchen and dining pavilion, an administrative center, and modular offices to significantly upgrade our facility.
- A few families elected to not transfer their campers to the JCC camp for the rest of the season.
- At that time, the Ramah camps were much more territorial than they are today.
- The JCC Ranch Camp is located in a beautiful outcropping of forest and rocks southeast of Denver, but is not technically in the mountains.
- As part of the fascinating history of the American West, the property had existed as an inholding in the Pike National Forest—private land surrounded on all four sides by National Forest. In 1803, the United States acquired much land from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase, from the plains to central Colorado. After the Mexican-American War ended in 1848, Mexico ceded the remainder of the western states to the United States. In 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act to encourage settlers to venture out into the vast open spaces of the West, where each family could claim up to 160 acres of land as their homestead. The Flying G Ranch was homesteaded by three families: two had claimed 160 acres each and one claimed 40 acres. In 1891 Congress approved the Forest Reserve Act, authorizing the president to declare and protect the National Forest. So the private land came first, and the federal government established Pike National Forest in the surrounding area in 1892. One homesteader family had built a home and barn that still stand today, with the home furnished by the Girl Scouts’ outreach for donations of historic artifacts. As the story goes, two families also built a log cabin, located between the two homestead properties, to serve as a home for children from each family who fell in love and married.
- Water rights, an existential issue for all properties in the western United States, has been a major challenge for Ramah in the Rockies since its inception. A breakthrough occurred in 2024, as construction began for a much-needed water-retention pond, securing Ramah’s rights to an adequate water supply for the future and ending the costly legal adjudication in Colorado Water Court.
- Rabbi Mitch Cohen adds: Discussions about catchment areas and recruitment of campers continued as we worked to create a viable new Ramah region. As detailed later in this chapter, these discussions became moot when NRC received a major grant to begin the first Ramah specialty camp for outdoor adventure. This became the first Ramah “national specialty camp” with no limits on regional recruitment. The enthusiastic cooperation of some of the Ramah directors made recruitment in their regions much more successful and added greatly to the camp’s viability in its early years.
- Through an incredible turn of events, we did manage to open in 2010!
- See NRC press release from February 11, 2011, included in “An Era of Growth and Development: The Creation of Ramah Specialty Camps,” by Mitchell Cohen, in this volume.
- We placed the new building in the shallow valley adjacent to the sleeping area—the same location identified during the LLC site plan for the Ramah-JCC shared facilities. This same area was declared the “new development area,” where the future art pavilion, health center, dining complex, administrative offices, and other facilities would be located.
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