Blog
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Virtually the Best Week Ever
June 21, 2020
Drishat Shalom Summer Edition In so many ways, this summer is הָפוּך – upside down. During all other summers, we appreciate disconnecting from technology to form relationships and build community. This year we are leaning into every online tool (Zoom, Band, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and more) to be together during Kayitz BaBayit (Summer at Home). […]
Geoff Menkowitz
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I am Inspired
June 14, 2020
On a Friday in early August 2018, I took my first trip up I-985 to spend Shabbat at Ramah Darom during Camp Yofi – our program for families with children with autism spectrum disorder. If I’m being completely honest, I worried it might be an incredibly awkward weekend since it was effectively a two-way interview: an opportunity for some Ramah Darom Board and staff members to get to know me as the potential future CEO, and the chance for me to decide whether I was really ready to make a substantial career change to come work for Ramah Darom. Fortunately, the weekend turned […]
Wally Levitt
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This Summer Counts
June 14, 2020
My simple message for this week is that this summer counts. In the Zoom meetings we held with each Aidah (age-division) immediately after our cancellation announcement, the question of t-shirts came up in almost every single one – even the meeting with Tzevet (staff). Will there be a t-shirt this summer? Will I still earn my 5-year shirt? Will […]
Geoff Menkowitz
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This Week in America: Reflections and Resources
June 5, 2020
By Eliana Leader and Geoff Menkowitz This week – a week filled with deep grief and anger over the state of racial injustice in the United States – we have also felt the absence of a vital aspect of the Ramah Darom experience. This week we are supposed to be together at Ramah Darom already, working with […]
Geoff Menkowitz
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COVID-19 Summer Update
April 30, 2020
To our Ramah Darom Community: As you know, we have been closely monitoring developments related to COVID-19 since the onset of this global pandemic. We have examined countless possible scenarios and contingency plans. We have engaged multiple task forces and committees and have considered an array of perspectives and guidelines from the medical community, camping community and […]
Geoff Menkowitz
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Ramah Darom at Home Through My Eyes
April 21, 2020
In the past few weeks, I’ve learned how to make Shakshuka and braid challah. I’ve been part of Ramah movement-wide concerts and taken dance breaks with Rachel. I’ve studied with rabbis, joined in on a panel discussion and taken art classes with both Camp and Retreat specialists. I’ve listened to stories from Chelm and learned about a dozen […]
Robyn Diamond
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Next Year at Ramah Darom
April 6, 2020
Eighteen years ago, when I was a college student, I got a call from Ramah Darom. I had been on Camp staff the summer before and they asked if I would come back and staff climbing at their first Passover Retreat. I checked with my parents to see if it was okay for me to […]
Ashira Konigsburg
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The Power of Community in a Time of Crisis
March 23, 2020
This is not a post about coronavirus. (OK, that’s not entirely true because – let’s face it – everything these days is about coronavirus.) This is a post about the power of community. I’m writing from Toronto where my whole family is back together: Beth, my pediatrician wife who is working on the front lines […]
Wally Levitt
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Mazal Tov Rachel Dobbs Schwartz
March 19, 2020
Five years ago, we welcomed alumna Rachel Dobbs Schwartz back “home” to Camp Ramah Darom as our Assistant Director. It was a testament to how much our Camp has matured over the years that we had hired our very first home-grown Assistant Director. In her tenure, Rachel has been an extraordinary leader bringing passion, energy […]
Geoff Menkowitz
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A Commitment to Jewish Camping
March 4, 2020
When I think about which Jewish institutions have been an integral part of my life two come to mind, Ramah and Ahavath Achim (AA) Synagogue Sisterhood. I remember being 12 years old in Wisconsin and desperately wanting to go to Ramah, but my parents couldn’t afford to send me to camp. Fast forward many years […]
Betty Behr