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NEWS FROM
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October, 2013
Rocky Mountain High Colorado
Rabbi Joel and Michelle travel to Ramah Outdoor Adventure in the Rockies
During the aseret y'mei t'shuvah,The Ten Days of Repentance, Michelle and I traveled to our yearly Ramah Directors' meeting with all of the Directors and Assistant Directors to discuss the summer that was. These meetings are a chance for each camp to share success stories as well as challenges from the past summer; and there is always a deep sense of camaraderie and teamwork.
This year, the destination was Ramah in the Rockies. As the car began to climb through the foothills of the Rockies, we noticed the engine straining to keep up  with the ascent. The air grew thinner, cleaner, and purer - a reminder of the Rabbinic teaching ma'alin b'kodesh - as we ascend, we ascend in holiness. Finally we reached our destination, a rustic camp setting nestled in an alpine valley. And while the views were inspiring, and while davening on a mountaintop can never be beaten - the true motivation came from the thoughtful sharing of conversations united in a single purpose: how can we improve our camp experience?
Michelle and I left with notebooks filled with ideas: How to improve our programmatic day; how to create room for more inter-camp sports competitions; how to make our daily t'fillot more inspiring; how to re-envision our approach to camper-care; and how we can create better lines of communication to parents throughout the course of the summer and the year.
Leaving the Rockies with a sense of inspiration and motivation for the year to come, reminded me of line from Jack Kerouac's book The Dharma Bums, one which sums up my vision for where Camp Ramah in the Poconos can go from here:
"When you get to the top of the mountain - keep climbing."
-Rabbi Joel
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News from Camp Ramah in the Poconos
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Registration Coming Soon
Our new online enrollment system, CampMinder, will be launching in the middle of October! We will send out an email to all Current Families when it is available, and you will also be able to log in via our website.
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"Up at Camp" Reunions
Bogrim/Machon: October 18-20
Shoafim/Gesher: October 25-27
 | | Jordan Carrier, Ariel Monson, Eden Goldberg, and Claire Goldberg |
Camp Wide Reunion
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Virtual Tour Winners
Congratulations to the following people for being the first three campers to find all of the logos in our Virtual Tour!
Reena Bromberg-Gaber
Melanie Raush
Micah Ravital
Staff Honorable Mention:
Josh Hess
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2013 Camper and Parent Survey
The survey closes Monday, October 7th, so do not miss your chance to participate!
This new and improved (and brief!) survey is meant to focus on both camper experiences, as well as your experience as a Camp Ramah parent. We encourage you to sit with your child and fill out the beginning of the survey together, and then for you as parent to reflect and respond to the final portion of the survey.
We pledge to:
1. Read and analyze all of the responses.
2. Share some salient data with you.
3. Share with you specific areas in which we hope to improve in the coming summer.
Please click here to fill out this important survey, and we look forward to reading your responses. |
Important Dates for Kayitz 2014
Wednesday, June 11: New Staff Arrives
Thursday, June 12: Returning Staff Arrives
Thursday, June 19: First Session Begins
Sunday, July 13: First Session Ends/Visiting Day
Tuesday, July 15: Second Session Begins
Monday, July 21- Sunday, July 27: Taste of Ramah
Sunday, August 10: Camp Ends
Wednesday, August 13- Sunday August 17: Tikvah Family Camp
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Don't miss our Second Annual Alumni Shabbat Dinner in Center City!
October 18, 2013
Beth Zion Beth Israel
300 S 18th St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
7:00pm
The evening will begin with a Ramah-Style Friday Night Service, followed by a Shabbat dinner from Mama's Vegetarian!
This program is open to all Ramah alumni (from ALL Ramah Camps) living in the Philadelphia area; so you can enjoy catching up with old friends, meeting new faces, and sharing in the joyous memories of our summers spent at Ramah.
The cost for the evening is $18.00 a person
B.Y.O.K.B.W
(Bring your own Kosher Bottle of Wine)
Families with young children are welcome,
and children under 3 are free.
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Tour de Shuls: Not too late to give!
On September 22nd, 218 people participated in the Middle Atlantic Region- Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs Tour de Shuls event, including over 36 Young Ramah Alumni.
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Alumni Team Flying Ramahniks: Adam Waxman, Jacob Cohen, David Roberts, Jonah Cohen, Adam Romanoski, Max Ojserkis, and Ira Blum
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Campers Max Halperin and Jacob Leon with Rabbi Joel
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The event was a huge success!
Don't worry if you missed your chance to donate to this fantastic event, online donations will be open until October 14th by clicking here. We thank you for supporting Camp Ramah in the Poconos! |
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Chains of Love
Even though the summer has ended, you can still purchase fantastic customized jewelry from Chains of Love, while supporting Camp Ramah! Click here for more info!
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Ramah Service Corps Fellow: Marnie Wachs
Mazal tov to Marnie Wachs, long time Ramah camper and staff member, on her new position at Kellman Brown Academy and her Ramah Service Corps Fellowship!
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Guess Who!?
How many Ramahniks can you name in this photo? Share your answer on our Facebook Page, for the chance to win a prize!
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 A Note from the Director
Like aging cheese or a fine wine, the summers at Ramah Day Camp get better with time. Each summer surpasses the previous one with increased enrollment, excellent staff, programming, and so much more. Kayitz 2013 will be remembered not only by our creative and enriching program of daily camp activities, but also by all of the exciting new additions to our fun-filled summer. Our entire camp benefited from the addition of three new challenges on our low ropes course, Pecky and Flappy our two new hens, Hebrew games during s'chiyah (swim), and our unbelievable performing arts festival. Electives, our first soccer clinic with UK Elite, and our artist-in-residence program with Mordechai Rosenstein, all enriched the summer experience and our daily programming.
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Yuval Birati, Ben Goldberg, Noa Stein, Darah Zion, Alexis Zaroff, and Andrew Walters
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We offered more intensive specialty experiences and electives this summer, especially for our older campers. Our special needs inclusion program expanded, serving more campers and offering the opportunity to integrate speech/language therapy, occupational therapy, and social support into daily activities. We added a Special Needs Coordinator to our staff. Music filled the air, joy filled our hearts, and our spirits were nurtured everyday within our wonderful Ramah community.
This summer, as in summers past, we built community among our campers, their families, and our staff. So many magical moments have been shared together. I hope that your children will thrive on their fond memories of a fabulous experience at Machaneh Ramah Yomi.
Thanks to our wonderful chanichim, parents, and amazing staff for making Kayitz 2013 a special and memorable summer!
-Sue Ansul
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RDC Early Enrollment
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From top left: Claire Mansheim, Ravi Stein, Caroline Schure, Becky Dunn, Sam Nejberger, Jordana Goldstein, , Neomi Kaganovsky, Dalya Dunoff, Brett Frajerman, Ofek Yagur, Gabe Cohen, Lily Wolnek, Anael Brodski, Noa Richard, Lila Elkins
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*Available until November 15th*
Enroll your child(ren) now for Kayitz 2014 for a special early registration tuition rate, and a Ramah Day Camp blanket!
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Spotlight on: Music
Music, Joy, Ruach, and Fun... all ingredients for a tremendous summer at Machaneh Ramah Yomi! So many of our summer memories are linked to singing with friends and moments of intense spirit at Ramah. As we started each camp day with Hatikvah, began our week with Havdalah, and ended our week with Kabbalat Shabbat, our voices were heard loud and clear. Our love of Judaism and Israel came through in our music, filling our community with joy. Every day, our campers enjoyed singing with their song leaders during shira, with their madrichim as they walked throughout camp (often chanting their bunk songs and cheers), and of course, nothing better than the raucous song sessions in the chadar ochel. Campers wrote songs, created music videos, sang with Rick Recht, and learned so much Hebrew through music. Their musical repertoire grew each day.
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Benjy Ravitz, Judah Blitstein, Noa Berney, Nevo Ben Aroush, and Shira Klein
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We are blessed to have so many musically talented staff this summer who shared their creativity and skills with our chanichim. Campers learned how to sing a cappela, and were given guitar, ukulele, and harmonica lessons. Rhythms were explored with drums and tambourines, beautiful rounds and harmonies were sung, and fun movement and choreography were added to our songs. We had more singers and guitar players than ever before. They all inspired our youngest campers, with guitars in hand, to join with our song leaders in front of the whole machaneh at Kabbalat Shabbat. Truly a sight---aspiring song leaders! To top it all, our staff thrilled us with their own rendition of "Two Days More" from Les Miserables, performed at our end of summer play, Time Flies When You're at Ramah. I hope that your children are still singing the songs from this summer and maybe even teaching you a song or two! Keep singing, keep smiling, and keep thinking camp!
 | | Two Days More |
Check out the video above for Two Days More!
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News from our Ramah Family
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Mazal Tov!
Congratulations to these members of our Ramah Family:
B'nei Mitzvah-
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Hadassah
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Richman
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6/1/2013
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Charlie
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Gottlieb
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6/5/2013
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Hallel
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Cheskis
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6/8/2013
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Madeline
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Ginsberg
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6/8/2013
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Benjamin
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Weinberg
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6/8/2013
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Maxwell
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Adar
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6/9/2013
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Ava
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Jacoby
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6/9/2013
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Daniel
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Goldberg
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6/15/2013
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Aliza
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Saunders
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8/24/2013
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Ari
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Kaganovsky
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8/31/2013
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Samuel
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Caplan
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9/7/2013
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Joshua
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Berkowitz
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9/21/2013
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Joshua
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Goldstein
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9/28/2013
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Engagements-
Yair Blaier to Shani Michalowitz
Aaron Chalal to Courtney Dworkin
Andi Grossman to Nate Rothstein
Miriam Hoffman to Louis Capecci
Shira Rand-Lakritz to Ilan Haber
Dafna Soffrin to Michael Frumer
Rebecca Stern to Seth Orman
Melissa Sugarman to Mitchell Kleiman
Alisa Vogel to Chaim Fox
 Marriages- Steve Bosk to Allison Cohen Aimee Brookhart to Danny Lerner Matthew Graub to Jenna Montag (Ramah Berkshires) Danielle Klapper to Ronen Rybowski Jonathan Madoff to Roni Goss David November to Laura Frank Aliza Romirowsky to Sam Kerbel
Elizabeth Steele to Matt Kanoff
Births-
Mazal tov to Jenna (Toplin) and Josh Cohen on the birth of their daughter, Eiva Fraydel.
Mazal tov to Dan and Amy Dorsch on the birth of their son, Zev Noam.
Mazal tov to Dena (Steinberg) and Itzik Elad on the birth of their daughter, Adele Tova.
Mazal tov to Josh Fineblum and Andrea Golden on the birth of their son, Jonah Cooper.
Mazal tov to Alan and Danielle Kaufman on the birth of their son, Avi Noah.
Mazal tov to Josh and Alexandra Romirowsky on the birth of their daughter, Simone Hadar.
Mazal tov to Sari Toplin and Aaron Clark-Rizzio on the birth of their son, Edwin Frances.
If you would like to share news of your s'machot, please send your announcement to [email protected].
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HaMakom Y'nacheim Et'chem
Camp Ramah in the Poconos Mourns the Loss of the Following Members of our Community:
Gerald Ansul- husband of Harriet, mother of Ramah Day Camp Director Sue Ansul (Sion Segal), grandfather of Matan, Liora, and Eliana.
Sarah Lewis- wife of late Rabbi Albert Lewis (z"l), mother of Ramah alumnae Gilah (Brian) Sietz and Orah (Shimon) Lipsky, and grandmother of Ron, Eli, Rinah, Rachel, and Shoshannah.
Ari Zymelman- husband of Beth Gansky, father of Talia and Yossi Zymelman, and step-father of Benjamin, Mollie, and Sophie Gansky.
HaMakom Y'nacheim Et'chem B'toch She'ar Aveilei Tzi'yon virushalayim
Our heartfelt condolences go out to all of those who mourn their passing.
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Our 2013-2014 Board of Directors
Lee Sussman, President
| Rachael Abrams | Jon Adler | Debbie Albert | David Axelrod | Julie Berger | | Jay Dorsch | Bruce Engleman | Debbie Fleischman |
David Goldstein
| Shira Goodman | | David I. Haas | Judith Hess | Lynn Horn | Alan Kaufman | Don Miller | | Rabbi Micah Peltz | Nathan Relles | Josh Romirowsky | Michael Saewitz | Doug Sayer | | Richard Soloff | Martin Wachs | Michael Wachs |
Rabbi Eric Yanoff
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"Ramah makes Jews."
- Rabbi David Mogilner z"l |
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CCamp Ramah in the Poconos
2100 Arch St. Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-885-8556
Contact
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