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Staff members at Ramah Outdoor Adventure (ROA) come with different levels of Jewish knowledge and observance back home. Some staff members’ journeys are less traditional than others, and Zach Usmani is certainly one of those.

Officially Director of Camper Care, Zach is now in his fourth summer with ROA, and is working year-round on camper recruitment, parent outreach, and planning for the summer.

Zach describes his Jewish upbringing in the small town of Twinsburg, Ohio as “ultra-reform.” “Basically we went to synagogue on high holidays—I didn’t know that 90% of the Jewish holidays existed,” he said. Zach’s father was born in Pakistan and raised Muslim, while his mother was born in Nashville and raised in a conservative Jewish household. Neither was particularly observant by the time Zach was born.

Zach attended The Ohio State University, where he studied Sociology. At OSU, he was moderately involved in Hillel, attending Kabbalat Shabbat and Friday night dinner, and occasionally leading the Reform services.

After college, Zach moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to teach pre-school through Teach For America. While in Tulsa, he also began teaching Hebrew school at Congregation B’nai Emunah. It was there that he met Rabbi Bock, who was visiting the synagogue to recruit campers.

Bock realized what an amazing camper care-giver he had found in Zach and hired him to work that summer with Metayalim, ROA’s age group for campers entering fifth and sixth grades.

At ROA, all staff members take part in Jewish education, which was at first a large challenge for Zach. “I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into,”he says. “I didn’t know what Conservative Judaism was.” However, Rabbi Bock feels that having staff with a range of knowledge and experience is actually an asset.

“What we’re looking for in our staff are role models for our kids,” he said. “If I have a staff member who comes from a less religious or observant background, but they are showing an interest in learning, then they may be better able to relate to campers from similar backgrounds than staff who are more observant or knowledgeable coming in to camp.”

Of the many Jewish lessons taught at camp, Jewish environmentalism practiced at camp is what impacted Zach most.

“The most profound impact has been understanding the connection between Judaism and the environment,” Zach said. “I became a vegetarian because of what I learned, and I became so much more conscious of ‘do I really need to print this,’ or ‘can I use reusable products for that.’ My knowledge base has grown, but so have the values that I hold dear.”

In fall 2012, Zach began a Masters in Social Work program at Columbia University in New York. While there, he has been living in The Bayit, a Jewish co-operative living house for students, something he says would not have happened had he not attended ROA. He also now celebrates Shabbat while away from camp, by attending Kabbalat Shabbat services, having Shabbat dinner with his housemates, and trying to avoid doing schoolwork on Shabbat.

“I really appreciate that I have this community that is different from my day to day life. I still don’t understand everything related to Judaism, but I appreciate it,” Zach said.

Zach has a few months left in his Master’s program, after which he would like to be a school counselor. “I’m really interested in removing barriers to learning in low income communities, and freeing up teachers to teach,” he said. “But during the summers, I want to keep working at camp as long as I can.” His presence will always be welcome.

2014 Grants for Day School Students Now Available for Ramah Outdoor Adventure’s Upcoming Camp Season

A grant of $100,000 by an anonymous donor will now make it possible for students in Jewish day schools to apply for generous scholarship support for the upcoming 2014 camp season. The grant represents unprecedented support for the camp’s day school campers, as well as traditional need-based scholarships and support for first-time campers.

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For the past few years, we have had  a number of former chalutzim who have written about their time at Ramah Outdoor Adventure as part of their college admissions essays.  Over the next few weeks we will feature a few of these from our former chalutzim (and hopefully future tzevet members).  If you want your essay to be featured email us at info@ramahoutdoors.org.  This weeks essay was written by Michael Harlow (JOLI 2012):

Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? 

The floor on the ohel ochel –the dining tent– sways and bounces on Friday night, as over 150 campers and counselors exuberantly sing and dance after the Sabbath meal. It’s a physical reminder of the incredible spirit that surrounds me.  I am smack in the middle of so much positive energy, Eytan on one side, Janine on the other, our arms around each other as together we lead the Hebrew songs.  I am completely at home here, part of a community of people who passionately share my interests and my values, at my home away from home, Camp Ramah in the Rockies.

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Risa Isard, one of our founding tzevet member (2010-2013) recently wrote a piece about her experience of living in California during this drought and reflecting upon the dryness through the Jewish lens she learned at Ramah.

I’ve spent the last year living in Fresno, California—the heart of agriculture capital of the country. It’s been an amazing and eye opening experience to have this kind of access to fresh fruits and vegetables, including being able to differentiate between varieties of fruits I’d never even heard of before now. But it’s not the fruitsJOLI 2012—the end of the labor—that move me most. Rather, I am most moved by this newfound knowledge I have about what exactly it takes to produce the food I enjoy so much. I’m grateful for the men and women in the field whose hard work makes it possible for me to shop at farmer’s markets almost exclusively, where I buy produce that was sometimes picked the very day I bought it. I’m also moved by the uncontrollable “x factors” and the game of roulette that seemingly determine the fate of my community’s economy and quite frankly, our nation’s and our world’s food supply. Read more

Written by 5th years counselor: Jordan Anderson

Every other week during the summer at ROA, we go out on masaot (excursions). We leave camp for backpacking, kayaking, rafting, horseback riding, climbing, and mountain biking. And each of those weeks, on the Sunday before we leave, Rabbi Eliav gives us a talk about what to expect for the next week. He tells us that we’re about to experience incredible highs and some not so incredible lows. He tells us that we will push ourselves beyond anything we ever thought ourselves capable of. Rabbi Eliav stands in front of the entire camp and tells us that we’re about enjoy views seen by very few and only accessible by horse, bike, foot, or river. But my favorite piece of wisdom Rabbi Eliav shares with us is this: he tells us we’re going to learn about who we are and, if we allow ourselves to grow, we will come back different people with a week’s worth of stories to tell.

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Written by: Elyssa Hammerman, Tikvah Director

elyssah@ramahoutdoors.org or 303-261-8214 x103

The Tikvah Program at Ramah Outdoor Adventure continued to thrive in summer 2013.  While we continued our incredible programming from the previous summer, one of our highlights was the extended masa (overnight camping excursion), which we extended to two nights.  Before the overnight Tikvah campers and staff carefully packed their hiking packs and prepared for our adventure.  Every camper saddled up his/her horse and rode off to our first campsite.  

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We played games, told stories, and feel asleep under the stars as we had done the year before; however, when we woke up, we rolled our sleeping bags, packed our packs, and hiked out of camp to our next spot.  We camped next to a beautiful stream in which we played.  That afternoon some of us relaxed around the campsite, while others set out to climb a nearby mountain! We all picked berries and then carefully followed an incredible orienteering course set up by one of our counselors.  We cooked a delicious dinner on the fire and sang silly songs!  In the morning we hiked back into camp singing our made up songs; every other group was also coming back from different directions.  We were warmly received with pictures and hugs and couldn’t wait for lunch and showers! This was a truly special component of our 2013 summer.  

Besides the masa we incorporated a buddy program which was also a huge success.  Every morning during Shmirat Hagoof (exercise) we played games with our buddies.  Everyone really enjoyed getting to know each other on a new level.  There were many other highlights from 2013 including: spending time with our baby goats, the talent show, archery, and Shabbat Shira.  We also hired a professional videographer and have a new Tikvah recruitment video.

As we count the days to summer 2014 we have a lot to look forward to. This summer we will be offering our traditional Tikvah program; however, campers will be participating in program prakims (periods) with their peers rather than their ohel (tent). We are also excited to launch a new inclusion track for campers who are capable of being integrated into BOTH our typical base camp program and a typical masa WITHOUT a one-on-one counselor. We will have an inclusion specialist who will be working with the counselors of those campers and who will be providing extra support to those campers while at base camp. We can’t wait until we’re all together again, back on the ranch riding the trails and gazing at the beautiful starry sky.

By Nathaniel Eisen

Farming and Food

The Torah commands us to wait three years before harvesting from fruit trees. As we celebrate Tu B’shevat, the New Year for trees that marks the three years of waiting, there are still several months left to experience before spring arrives. But when spring does come, the camp staff and volunteers of Ramah Outdoor Adventure become busy preparing the seeds that our campers plant, tend to and harvest for food during summer at camp. Our  farming program at Ramah Outdoor Adventure is a key component of our camp’s mission to educate campers on the origins of their food.

 

We believe that focusing on food is a way to leave campers with more insight on the way we value and appreciate our most basic needs. “If you really want to influence the character development of youth, you need to start with the thing we do most often while we’re awake, which is eat, “ Rabbi Bock said.

 

Since we grow our crops at 8000 feet, we are faced with a unique set of challenges. The growing season is extremely short, starting in Mid May and ending in late September, and the temperature is not hot enough for many favorite summer crops like tomatoes or peppers to grow. The soil is lower in nutrients and requires many additives.  Our ability to successfully harvest crops given these conditions, makes the experience all the more rewarding.

 

 

Some of the crops that mature just in time for campers to enjoy them, include leafy greens, radishes, kohlrabi and herbs. Almost every day of Kayitz 2013, our salad bar included  radishes and lettuce from our farm.

 

We  started our farm from scratch in the summer of 2010 and since then, the farm has increased in size from one raised bed to nearly a quarter acre of land. Summer 2013’s head of farming, Nadav Slovin, was so ecstatic to see how far the farm has progressed and has grown to where we can feed our community. “I’m excited that [the farm] grew and I think the summer proved that there’s greater potential for growth in the future to make the farm a significant contributor to the kitchen and play a significant role in the camp,” Nadav said. “More than anything, [doubling the size of the farm this summer] showed that that can happen in a really quick time.”

 

 

The option to participate in farming became one of the most popular activities at ROA this past summer. Campers who love getting their hands dirty, as well as playing with our farm animals (which this year included chickens, male, female and baby goats, and alpacas) got the chance to participate in every step of the growing process.

 

Frieda K., 13, found seeing the process of growing food h from start to finish very rewarding. “I really liked digging the beds and planting the vegetables and then eating them at the end of camp,” Frieda said. “It felt really good, like I was making the food that everyone else was eating.”

 

Our staff, including Nadav,  found ways to tie in Jewish learning to farming in a meaningful way.

“[There is] a vast history of Jewish farming that tries to take one of the most everyday and common practices of growing our own food, and sustaining our lives, and saying, ‘how can we do this in a way that treats our animals well, and respects all of our different vegetables, such that each of them has a place, and can really deepen our relationship with other people and with god,” Nadav said.

 

Education about food happens in many arenas at camp besides the farm. Food was the main focus of the daily limmud (learning) that our solelim (rising 7th and 8th graders) did this past summer.

 

Last summer’s food educator, Chavah Goldstein, focused her educational efforts on the sourcing of food, teaching kids on how food is grown and where it comes from.  Chavah used  signs at the entrance to the dining hall  as one way to educate campers about the land and water usage of growing corn,  how potato plants grow and nutrients in the foods presented in our dining hall.

 

Whether teaching campers about the raising of animals and kosher slaughter or the way we harvest and nurture crops, we continue to inform everyone who comes together in our dining hall on the wonders of natural food resources. Campers are left to internalize the lesson imparted by  the Torah—that we must be mindful about how we grow and harvest our food.

 

This summer, Alan P. and David and Michelle F. represented a first for a young camp named Ramah Outdoor Adventure – campers from Mexico. David and Michelle live in Mexico City, where Alan, their cousin, was also born and lived until moving to San Diego three years ago. Alan and David, both aged 13, attended Ramah Outdoor Adventure for two weeks in session one, and lived in the same bunk (for campers entering 7th and 8th grade). Michelle, 16, participated in session one’s month-long Jewish Outdoor Leadership Institute (JOLI), a training program for older high-schoolers interested in leading outdoor experiences. (Next Summer Michelle plans to be one of the founding participants on the Ramah Seminar Outdoors program launching this summer in Israel).

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By Nathaniel Eisen

 

As a new year approaches, full of resolutions for personal growth and improvement, it is the perfect time to revisit some of the changes our campers and staff  made at Ramah during Kayitz 2013 and see how they have applied these changes back home.

Jill Katz, solelim/frolf/duathlon staff: “I learned how to see where I’m needed and go there.”

Asher S., Metayalim: “I learned to push myself harder than what I think I can do.”

Brie Anderson, packout/metayalim staff: “I learned that being a counselor is very, very difficult, but extremely rewarding.”

Aden B., Metayalim: “I learned to make new friends, because I made new friends here at camp.”

Jonas Actor, packout/metayalim staff: “If you set high expectations for others and slowly build up to them, more often than not, people will rise to them, regardless of what level that is…So it’s important to set expectations for yourself and others, and to be able to meet them, to grow yourself, others, and the community.”

Ben K., Solelim: “At the beginning I would just go to the pasta bar, but I learned to value food more and I ate more healthily.”

Elan Keshen, Solelim/Farming Staff: “I learned from the Oncler in the Lorax that overuse of a product or natural resource can cause damage in the long run. [To apply this], I’m not going to overwork myself in the future, I’m going to try to maintain a standard that is equal and balanced and utilizes fairness and equality.”

Sharon B., Bogrim: “I’ve learned to take on every opportunity that life throws at me to see and do everything I can.”

Adam Rosenfeld, Rosh Bogrim “I learned that being the camp director means you get free babysitting, and I plan on becoming a camp director one day.”

Maya E., JOLI: “I learned to be comfortable doing what feels meaningful to me [in Jewish practice]. I don’t have to fit a mold, I don’t have to say I’m orthodox or conservative, just to do what feels right to me.”

Aaron Z., JOLI: “I’ve learned that [leadership] is takes a lot of patience…because if you try to push people or you get mad at people for the way they are, you’re never gonna win…I think it will help me being a leader in different academic things, like the Robotics team, and one day hopefully being a counselor here. “

With a new year ahead, may we all succeed in bringing what we learned this past year, and apply it to make this next opportunity even better.

I wanted to share with all our readers an email sent by one of our camper parents, Barbara Gottesman.  Barbara sent this message to the parent list at her kid’s school.  I think she captures what we are about 100%. –Rabbi Eliav

I’m not sure which Ramah you were considering but I highly recommend Ramah in the Rockies (Outdoor Adventure Camp). We are hosting an info session . . .  and the camp director will be there. Several kids go from the Bay Area each session (with numbers growing) and staff meet the kids at the gate in Denver – flights on South west are nominal. My kids (7th and 10th grades) LIVE for this camp.

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Solar Light at Ramah Outdoor Adventure

By Nathaniel Eisen

 

In the legend of Hannukah, the Jewish people (with divine intercession) found a way to make one traditional day’s allotment of a non-renewable resource last for eight days. Ramah Outdoor Adventure at Ramah in the Rockies, a Jewish outdoors camp located in Sedalia, CO, tries to do the same with respect to its energy, gas and water usage.

 

The camp opened in 2010 on the site of a former girl-scout camp. The site was scouted by Don Skupsky, a Denver lawyer, who has been involved in every aspect of developing the property and remains president of the board of Ramah in the Rockies, the organization that runs the site. According to Skupsky, environmental impact was a consideration from the beginning of the planning process. “We thought, each time we did something, about the materials and their impact,” Skupsky said.

 

Instead of cabins for staff and campers, the camp has built tent platforms with removable canvas structures, allowing for future changes with minimal waste of materials or impact on the environment. These tents have no electricity, relying instead on ambient light during the day, and flashlights at night.

 

Passive lighting is similarly used during the day in the dining tent, bathroom, outhouses and shower houses, though all now have lighting that turns on at night.

 

Most of the lights around camp are solar powered. All the path lighting on paths and roads around camp consists of individual solar powered lanterns and floodlights. Similarly, the guest housing, outhouses and bouldering wall all use small, solar-powered LED lights.

 

The most innovative feature of Ramah in the Rockies’ solar array is the hot water heater for the showers. The system was installed in 2012 in order to meet the peak demand for hot water on Friday afternoons, which totaled up to 1500 gallons over a 3-hour period as over 200 people prepared for the Jewish Sabbath. Skupsky researched commercial solar water heaters, and discovered that the costs were prohibitive.

 

So Skupsky, his son Ben, and the camp’s plumber, Shane Hyde from Conifer Plumbing, came up with a system of their own. They purchased two black 500-gallon bladders, similar to those used by the military to transport water, which passively heat the water they hold. They placed these bladders in a “hot box,” which has a corrugated plastic roof that allows in 90% of sunlight and traps heat. The box faces south at a 24-degree angle, which maximizes the amount of sunlight gathered in July, the month with the most days at camp. Mirrors inside reflect sunlight onto the bladders, further increasing water temperature.

 

In 2013, the system heated water to 95-98 degrees on sunny days in June. It is not entirely energy independent—Skupsky added a pump to increase water pressure, and a tankless propane heater to heat water up to 104 degrees, Fahrenheit. However, considering that the well water comes out of the ground at around 45 degrees, the gas and electricity savings are substantial.

 

The showers are also designed to conserve water. They are on a timer, which shuts off after 45 seconds. While users can press the button any number of times they want, the timers have proven to reduce the time users actually spend in the shower, and prevent water waste from campers forgetting to turn them off.

 

Often times the environmentally sustainable lines up with the economical. One example, according to Skupsky, is the path lighting—digging trenches for the wires to light the paths on the sprawling campus would have cost much more than the solar lanterns. However, sometimes the two are opposed. A commercial solar water heater could heat up water to 104 degrees without relying on any propane, but it would have cost about three times as much as the present system the Skupskys and Hyde improvised.

 

The camp’s managers thus must always balance their environmental commitments with budget constraints. “There are some people who’ve talked about a ‘green’ camp,” said Skupsky. “Our goal is to be environmentally responsible and sustainable. We can’t afford 100% green.”

 

Ramah in the Rockies’ approach is therefore more moderate than that of the zealous Maccabees. It works within its means, using innovative approaches, to reduce its impact on the environment. Now that’s something to emulate.

 

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.

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A camper profile on Josh Eakman

By Nathaniel Eisen

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Etgar B’Ramah (Ramah Outdoor Adventure) leaves its mark on every chalutz (the word we use for campers that literally means “pioneer”), but it  has impacted few more than Josh Eakman. Josh, 16, has attended Etgar B’Ramah for three summers (2010, 2011 and 2013), and has travelled a long way during both his Jewish and outdoor adventures with camp.

    Never having climbed before coming to camp, Josh participated in rock climbing classes and excursions his first two summers, and has since become an avid climber back home in Las Vegas.

    Josh explained that having a taste of lead climbing (being the first to go up the wall and set anchors for the route) on the excursion in his second year is what really hooked him. “After that, I just wanted to keep climbing,” he said.

    At the end of the summer in 2011, the assistant head rock climber from that summer visited Josh in Las Vegas and they went climbing together. “It was really fun,” Josh said. “I got to know him on a more of a personal level…kind of as a friend, rather than camper.”

    Josh then joined a gym in Las Vegas with a climbing wall. There he met many other climbers, with whom he began to climb in Red Rock Canyon on weekends. The process of climbing has helped him bond with the other climbers, even though most of them are older than him. “Rock climbing is so based on trust between the climber and the belayer that you get to know each other well,” Josh said.

    Even with this social aspect, climbing also produces a great sense of autonomy according to Josh: “I really like the freeness of being on the side of a mountain with nothing under me, and just being able to take a minute to stand and look at the canyon around me.”

    Josh’s short-term goals for climbing include improving at lead-climbing, and conquering a notoriously difficult climb named “Epinephrine” in Red Rocks Canyon.

    During his third summer at Etgar B’Ramah, Josh participated in the Jewish Outdoor Leadership Institute (JOLI), through which he was honed  his wilderness survival and medicine skills, and learned more about Jewish environmental ethics. Josh also taught the basics of climbing to chalutzim, passing on the same skills he gained at camp to the younger campers. The staff, whom he is assisting, praise his responsible nature. “His quiet leadership [impresses me],” said climbing staff member Jessica Dworkin. “He makes sure all the campers are included, and that nobody gets left behind.”

    Josh’s Jewish journey at Etgar B’ramah has been just as powerful as his discovery of rock climbing. In 2010, he became the first camper to have his Bar Mitzvah here, celebrating with family along with his new friends. “I thought it would be more meaningful to have it [at camp],” Josh said. “I love the outdoors, and I thought it would be more fitting to me than a big fancy synagogue with a lot of people in it.”

    During this past year in JOLI, as part of their backpacking excursion, Josh and the other participants went off by themselves for 12 hours in the wilderness. During this time, Josh said he thought a lot about his religious life. “I certainly realized…how, when I get home, I want to do things differently, and how I can be religious in my own way,” he said.

    Josh has continued his Jewish involvement outside of camp—last year he was the Membership-Kadima chairperson in his local USY chapter, and this coming year he will be the Communications Chair. Josh hopes to go on Ramah Seminar in Israel next summer, become a base-camp intern at Etgar B’Ramah the following year, and join the climbing staff here in 2016. It seems as though his Jewish and climbing adventures will continue to intersect here at 8,000 feet for the foreseeable future.

Richard and Eileen Greenberg cherish a strong commitment to creating Jewish community and preserving the environment. This commitment has led them to support the work of Ramah in the Rockies with their time and resources.

Richard devoted his professional career to preserving the environment, opening the Colorado office of the  United States Environmental Protection Agency as a senior enforcement attorney, and then entering the private sector.

The mission of the camp initially motivated the Greenbergs to support it; seeing that mission put into practice inspires them to stay involved. “It’s great to see kids from all over the country practicing their Judaism in an environment that encourages sustainability, environmental protection, and an intentional way of doing everything, including enjoying God’s creation,” Richard said.

The Greenbergs have donated both to the general fund for capital improvements and made specific donations to the equestrian program. Eileen’s parents, Sondra and Howard Bender, have been leaders in Maryland thoroughbred horse breeding for thirty years (Sondra passed away in February, 2012). The Greenbergs have provided funding to create an equestrian center in the Benders’ honor.

In addition to traditional horseback riding, Eileen is committed to helping camp develop more equestrian-facilitated learning, which she describes as “an experiential approach that creates a supportive learning environment for participants to learn about themselves, heal what has been broken, and re-connect to what has heart and meaning through interactive experiences with horses.” To this end, last summer Eileen brought to camp an equestrian-learning facilitator, who introduced the techniques of equine-guided learning to some of the horseback riding staff. In future summers she hopes to expand on this success.

Both Richard and Eileen have personal connections to Jewish summer camp: Growing up, Eileen attended Camp Ramblewood, a Jewish summer camp in Maryland, for six summers. Richard, meanwhile, worked as a “tripper” at Camp B’nai Brith in Starlake, Pennsylvania for four summers. Richard remembers his experience fondly. “It was great to lead these kids, most of whom had never been involved in real outdoor activity on overnight canoe trips,” he said. They passed this love of camp on to their (now adult) children, who attended Camp Shwayder in Idaho Springs, CO.

They have been active members of the Denver area Jewish community for many years, serving on the boards of HEA and The Colorado Agency for Jewish Education (CAJE-CO).

Richard devoted his professional career to preserving the environment, working as a senior enforcement attorney with the United States Environmental Protection Agency for many years.

The Greenbergs have been gratified to see how their support has helped camp to develop and are full of hope for Ramah in the Rockies/Ramah Outdoor Adventure’s future. “It’s remarkable how far the camp’s gone since it opened,” Richard said, but added, “We’re just seeing the beginnings of how the equestrian program can develop.” They urge other people to get involved and help create the camp they want to see.

(And as an update to this blog post, all of us at Camp Ramah want to wish the Greenbergs Mazal Tov on becoming grandparents last week to Jackson Joseph Greenberg– Their first grandchild!)

Check out an amazing video produced by the Greenbergs during their visit to Ramah Outdoor Adventure:

watch?v=hBVGT3e3Z2Y&feature=youtu.be

greenbergs

 

Throughout the off-season, we engage a number of parents in interesting “conversations” online about various aspects of our camp program.  This year, we thought it would be a good idea to publicize some of these email exchanges for our broader camp audience.  We will always remove names and any identifying factors.  We will make small edits to ensure anonymity and correct sentence flow, but otherwise we will publish them in their entirety.  We hope that this segment will be published whenever we feel that there is something worth sharing, and will shed a little light onto how we promote camp in the off-season and the intentionality that goes into making the summer season a success.

 

Parent’s letter:

 

“I do feel that making mincha optional sends a really weak message to the kids and is exactly the kind of thing the Conservative Movement in general suffers from. It’s important to us that he regulate himself to davening [praying] and we will ask him to attend mincha but with so many kids allowed to play instead it makes this a real uphill task for those who know their parents/Hashem [God] expect it. I wish these divisions between movements would disappear and mitzvot would simply be a given and not an option.”

 

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Check out our video, Mining at Ramah!

A group of chalutzim (campers) walk along a ditch, eyes glued to the ground. They call out eerily profound advice to each other. “You can’t be looking for it if you want to find it,” says one to the others.” “It doesn’t matter if it’s topaz or not, as long as you think it looks cool,” says a second. What has produced this level of wisdom in these chalutzim? Rock-hounding.

Rock-hounding (looking for rocks near the surface of the earth) is one of the most popular peulot (activities) at Ramah Outdoor Adventure. Rafi , 13, has done rock-hounding all three summers he’s been at camp. “You get to find cool rocks, learn what they are, and once you memorize the different kinds, you can tell other people what they found,” Rafi said.

Situated on the outskirts of the Pike’s Peak batholith, the region around Ramah Outdoor Adventure has a long history of mining. Since the 1850s, prospectors have come through looking for gold and silver. They found a little metal, but mostly they found topaz, a semi-precious gemstone, and quartz.

Rock-hounding is led by Juliana Kern, a fixture at camp since it opened. Rocks are in Juliana’s blood. Her mother was the only woman studying among 1000 men at the School of Mines in Golden, CO, in the late 1940s, and went on to work for the United States Geological Survey and as a photocrographist. She also taught mining to adults at the Denver Free University, where a young Juliana sat in on classes. Juliana’s brother owns a claim on Crystal Creek (also in Colorado) that has been mined for close to 120 years.

Juliana herself worked in nursing for many years, and as a grocery stocker, always continuing to collect rocks as a hobby. After she hurt her leg in 2003, she began looking for rocks more as a form of physical therapy. Now she enjoys sharing her passion for rocks and minerals with children. “I love kids, and I love it when they first find something and they’re so amazed at the beauty of it,” Kern said.

Rock-hounding also led Juliana to a spiritual experience. “Finding something beautiful in Utah is what brought me closer to Hashem,” she said. She tries to bring in religious teaching to her activities with campers. “I try to tell them about the perfect laws of nature that they talk about in the torah, that nothing is added or taken away from God’s creation, and how cool it is for God to have put something here for us to find billions of years later,” she said.

Finding shiny rocks is also a great chance to talk about the perils of materialism, according to Juliana. Campers often want to know how much their finds are worth, but Juliana says, “I tell them, ‘If you like it, it has a sentimental value that money can’t be placed on,’ and about how people place claims and get greedy and harass each other until it’s no fun anymore.” Campers can keep anything they find at camp except for Native American artifacts.

While intensive mining can be environmentally destructive, Kern says that the rock-hounding she does with campers has a minimal impact, and actually provides an opportunity to discuss environmental stewardship. “I teach them to only dig it up if they’re sure it’s there, and I try to foster that love of nature. I tell them that they’re visitors here, and it’s more the spider’s home than it is theirs.” In the hands of Kern, rock-hounding becomes an opportunity to teach Jewish values, environmental ethics and life-lessons. Not bad for digging in the dirt.

Ramah Outdoor Adventure has challah that has campers and counselors coming back for more every Shabbat! Recreate the ooey-gooey goodness for your own Shabbos table.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_2ceKteb3E

Robyn’s Challah Recipe (makes 3)
Ingredients
5c flour (½ whole wheat ½ white or high gluten)
½ c sugar
½ c oil
2-3c water
1tbs salt
1tbs yeast
optional cinnamon or other spices ~1tbs

Combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast, and optional spices in a large mixing bowl. Measure out water and oil, add water SLOWLY mixing with your hands…send some love! Only use as much water as you need (it will vary), keep dough fairly dry. Add oil slowly bringing the dough to a moist but NOT sticky consistency. Knead dough for a while adding flour oil and water as needed.
Place dough in a bowl about 3 times its size and cover with a warm moist cloth to rise. If its warm outside let it sit in the sun otherwise heat the oven just a little so it’s warm and let it rise there. After about 2 hours take dough out to braid, don’t forget to knead and punch it down some more. Don’t forget to take the challah sacrifice here. Feel free to add more spices at this point. Once challah is braided you can put oil with spices and or syrup/honey/agave on top. Mix the topping together before painting on challahs.
Set oven to 350F, let the challah rise on the stove top while the oven is warming. Cook for 20-45 minutes. The challahs should have a hollow sound when you tap the bottoms.
Shabbat Shalom!

Counselors at Night: G-Baby is 3rd from left

By Nathaniel Eisen

Name: Gabi Wasserman, aka G-Baby

Number of years at camp: 3

Favorite things about camp: There’s a vibrancy in every single activity, and every staff member is so full of energy and completely dedicated to providing the best experience they can for the kids.

Favorite masa: Space-Masa (Ilanot). I recently got my space commander certification.

At camp you are G-Baby. Is your personality the same at home as at camp? Absolutely not. During the year, between school and triathlon, I am on lockdown, I don’t have much time to be kinda crazy like I can be at camp.

Favorite Program to run at camp: I like running the duathlon program, because the first time I did the duathlon chug, I had no clue if people would want to do duathlon, like run and bike, but I sort of underestimated the kids, and they really wanted to get out there and push themselves. As soon as I saw that, I was really inspired.

Characterize your relationship with co-counselor, Juiceboxx, in one word? Forever.

Favorite Eidah to work with: Ilanot, because I feel like I have a chance to—they’re so young and energetic and eager and open to everything…. that you can really help create incredible campers, and you have this opportunity to give them memories that they’ll always remember and that will shape them later in life.

Favorite Jewish thing about camp: The energy at Kabbalat Shabbat…Hearing all the energy and singing definitely evokes some kind of reaction in me and makes me feel very special.

How changed through working at camp: I’ve definitely grown as a counselor. My first year, in things like Yom Sport, I was super into it, and very competitive, and I think I lost sight a little bit…personally I could have been a little more focused on the kids’ experience…and my second and third year at camp I was able to rein that in and just make sure the chalutzim were just having the best time they could.

The Results Are In!

Over the past six weeks, our year round team has contacted almost all of our 2013 parents to solicit feedback on our season that ended just two months ago.  In addition many families filled out the third party survey conducted by the Foundation for Jewish Camp.   We appreciate everyone who left their comments in our online survey, who answered our calls, and/or who responded to our messages via email or telephone.  We have incorporated all these comments into an action plan as we begin our planning for the 2014 season.  The results of the online survey can be found here and will be available for all to see on our website throughout the year.

Here are some of the takeaways from all the feedback our families have provided us.

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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.

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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.

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