Blog
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Remembering Sim Jacobs
May 4, 2021
A few weeks ago, I lost an old friend, and our camp community lost one of the legendary figures from the formative years of Ramah Darom, Sim Jacobs. I call Sim a friend but I must admit I feel a sense of guilt about having drifted away from Sim since 2003, the last summer he […]
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The Double Decker Guest: An Untold Story
April 13, 2021
Once upon an early June 2000, there was a shiny new double-decker cabin up a hill from a glistening lake. Ambling through the woods, Goldi-Bearg found it to be a cozy place to beat the summer heat. He tugged on the screen door, and it tore right off into his claws. In his excitement to […]
Andrea Slomka
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Yom Hazikaron & Yom Haatzmaut Dvar Torah
April 8, 2021
After eight incredible summers spent at Machane (Camp) Ramah Darom, I knew my Jewish journey would not stop there. Little did I know, my journey was just beginning to grow. Following my senior year of high school, I made the life-changing decision to spend a year in Israel on the Nativ College Leadership Program. When […]
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The Baker’s Journey
March 31, 2021
Twelve years after Liora Dressler stepped foot onto Ramah Darom’s campus for her first Passover Retreat, she has returned as the Passover Baker. Ramah Darom has been an integral part of her life and now she gets to combine it with her passion for baking. From Passover participant to camper to summer photographer to Passover […]
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Tumbling Waters: A Work of Art
March 30, 2021
When Marilyn Rose told me that her award-winning watercolor of the Ramah Darom waterfall was a “pandemic painting” and that she painted it from a photograph, I had to admit to her that I was stunned. When I first saw the painting called Tumbling Waters, I immediately recognized the waterfall in the mountains on the […]
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Celebrating Pesach with Ramah Darom
March 26, 2021
For me, passing the cows is like crossing the Red Sea. Anyone who has ever driven to Ramah Darom in Clayton knows the cows. You see them lounging – sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right – just before that last curve in the road as you approach the south end of our campus. […]
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Spice Up Your Seder
March 25, 2021
Say goodbye to your chametz, and hello to a Matzalicious Pesach! The Camp Ramah Darom Alumni Association wants to Spice Up Your Seder! Enjoy this Passover Guide, created and compiled by alumni and families from 25 years of Ramah Darom. You’ll find shopping tips and recipes, memories, teachings and suggestions to beautify your festive table […]
Andrea Slomka
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Shabbat Hagadol Dvar Torah
March 25, 2021
We are coming upon Shabbat Hagadol, which is always the Shabbat right before Pesach. Hagadol can either be translated as “the big” or as “the great.” As in, gadol vs. katan, just like we’d teach our chanichim (campers) – large and small. Or as in, referencing “the gedolim,” the great rabbinic scholars of Judaism. We […]
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Dvar Torah Vayikra
March 19, 2021
With stomachs full of buttered and jammed biscuits, Sollelim me and her friends walked back to lower roads, hiking up to tzrif (bunk) 20 to begrudgingly participate in nikayon (cabin clean up) after breakfast. Her bunkmates shuffled in, carefully examining the nikayon chart to see which jobs were delegated to which person on that day. […]
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Parshat Vayakhel Dvar Torah
March 11, 2021
Let’s take a walk around Ramah Darom together. We start at the Margam (Lakefront Pavilion), pass by the medura (firepit), loop through the Beit Knesset (Sanctuary) and head upstairs to the Chadar Ochel (Dining Hall) before exiting and making our way to the Beit Am (Covered Basketball Court) and up the hill to the MarHar […]