One of my greatest joys is seeing our campers and their families throughout the year. As we count down the days until summer (134 days to go!), we relish the opportunities to be together in our campers’ home communities. Just over a week ago, we saw many of our Atlanta families for Havdallah. With nearly 120 people in attendance, the room was filled with ruach, connection, and joy. This past weekend, we also gathered for mitzvah projects with many of our campers, and this weekend we will celebrate Yom Ramah Darom with our South Florida campers.
At Camp, we install our values with the aim of them carrying over to the non-camp months. We build Jewish leaders who value Shabbat, community, mitzvot, and being mensches.
It is hard for those of us in the thick of raising children (myself included) to imagine how choices like sending our campers to Ramah Darom will impact their lives long-term. This past Shabbat, I had the opportunity to get a glimpse into what our camper alumni look like ten years out and how Ramah has shaped them.
Nearly 100 of our twenty-something Camp Ramah Darom alumni gathered on campus for a ruach-filled Shabbat for Machzor Gimel (Get it? Campers have Machzor Aleph and Machzor Bet and now alumni have a third session!) They sang with passion during Kabbalat Shabbat and slo-ach (the songs sung during seudah shlishit, the third meal of Shabbat). They danced with great enthusiasm to the Israeli songs they loved as campers, reminisced, and reconnected. And in between it all, they saw the many ways our campus has changed, and yet the feeling has remained the same.
When you send your child to Camp at Ramah Darom, you are not just giving them fun and enriching summers. You are tying them to a community that guides their life choices and friendships for many years to come.
I loved hearing from our alumni about how they are involved in Jewish life and how meaningful it was for them to be back at Ramah Darom.
In this week’s parsha, Bo, the Israelites are given their first series of mitzvot to observe. The very first is to create and mark Rosh Chodesh. With every new moon, there is a new month and a festival to observe. Why might this be the first mitzvah given after leaving slavery? It reminds us that, as Jews, time is central to how we live our lives. Our calendar sets us apart and gives us guardrails for how we live. We mark the new month not when the moon is full, but when it is dark, highlighting the unlimited potential of what lies ahead.
At Camp Ramah Darom, our campers and alumni have unlimited potential, guided by the values of Jewish time and place that hold us so closely.