Ramah Opens Its 71st Summer Season

More Campers than Ever Will Attend Ramah This Summer

Staff week 2017 at Ramah Wisconsin: awaiting arrival of campers!

June 13, 2017 / 19 Sivan 5777

Dear Friends of Ramah:

We are thrilled to announce the opening of Ramah's 2017 summer season, the 71st summer of Ramah camping! Yesterday, the Chicago-area day camp opened. Today is opening day for campers at both Ramah Darom in Georgia and Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. Over the next several weeks, all of our nine overnight camps, five day camps, and our Israel Seminar will begin. Overall, more than 11,000 campers and staff will participate this summer in a Ramah program, the largest number in history! And stay tuned for news about the opening of our tenth overnight camp, Ramah Sports Academy, scheduled to open in June 2018.

Our newest overnight camp, Camp Ramah in Northern California (Ramah Galim), now in its second year, will serve more than 280 campers this summer, many for multiple sessions. Located at the beautiful Monterey Bay Academy on the Pacific coastline just south of San Francisco, Ramah Galim offers specialty programming in ocean exploration, adventure sports, and performing arts under the leadership of Rabbi Sarah Shulman and Alana Tilman, along with an outstanding group of staff members.

More than 200 campers will attend the Ramah Day Camp of Greater Washington, D.C., during its third full summer of operation. The camp is run by Rabbi Rami Schwartzer under the auspices of Camp Ramah in New England, and is located at the Wellspring Conference Center in Germantown, M.D.

Three new Tikvah programs—at Ramah Darom, Ramah NorCal, and Ramah Poconos—have opened in recent summers, joining the expanding National Ramah Tikvah Network of programs for children, teens, and young adults with disabilities. We are delighted that the recent Ramah Israel Bike Ride and Hiking Trip raised more than $470,000 for all Ramah Tikvah programs.

Did you know that according to our recent survey, 94% of Ramah alumni feel emotionally attached to Israel? New research commissioned this year demonstrates the incredibly positive impact of Ramah on alumni. Hear from Tony Award winning actor and Ramah alumnus Ben Platt about the impact of Ramah on his life.

Among our 3,000 staff members, more than 1,800 university and graduate students will work as counselors, teachers, and specialists, and will bring the magic of Ramah back to their university campuses and home communities.

As participants in one of the expanded options offered by Ramah Israel Seminar, seven Ramah teens will spend two weeks volunteering at Camp Ramah Yachad in Ukraine, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this summer.

More than 1,300 individuals will participate in one of the programs offered by Ramah Israel this year, including 219 participants on Ramah Israel/Poland Seminar this summer; 44 students who recently returned home from Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY), our high school semester program in Israel; and hundreds more who are attending Ramah Israel Institute's trips for synagogues, school groups, and families, and the Ramah Jerusalem Day Camp.

With the help of many Federations, foundations, and the Foundation for Jewish Camp, the support of many of our partner Conservative synagogues, and the extraordinary efforts of our camps' professional leadership, boards of directors, and individual donors, Ramah has been able to meet the financial needs of the overwhelming majority of families seeking a Ramah experience for their children. Please click here to contribute to a Ramah scholarship fund.

As we begin our 71st summer of intensive Jewish identity-building within the fun, informal atmosphere of excellent summer camping, all of us at Ramah feel privileged to have this opportunity to contribute to the powerful experiences that influence the lives of more than 11,000 participants in our various camps and programs.

Wishing everyone a safe, enjoyable and meaningful summer,

Dr. Jeffrey Kopin, President

Rabbi Mitchell Cohen, Director

Amy Skopp Cooper, Associate Director

National Ramah Commission, Inc. of The Jewish Theological Seminary