Camp Ramah in New England

Camp Ramah in New England is located in Palmer, Massachusetts, in the south-central part of the state. It is one of the older Ramah camps, a group of summer camps that is part of the Jewish Conservative Movement, and which provide campers with a strong Jewish background. People who go to Ramah are called "Ramahniks." Ramah New England is known for cutting edge programs and innovation from sports to the arts and from Judaica to Hebrew. Ramah is fun, a place of spiritual growth and accomplishment.

The camp traces its roots to 1953, to Ramah Connecticut, followed by Ramah at Glen Spey, and has evolved into Camp Ramah in New England.

Ramah Today

The camp is broken into different age groups, or "edot" (עדות) (s. "edah"):

Kochavim (stars) : 3-4th graders (2 weeks)
Ilanot (young trees): 4-5th graders (4/8 weeks)
Solelim (roadpavers): 6th graders (4/8 weeks)
Shoafim (here means strivers, but depending on Hebrew spelling, can also mean inhalants): 7th graders (4/8 weeks)
Magshimim (achievers): 8th graders (4/8 weeks)
Bogrim (veterans): 9th graders (4/8 weeks)
Machon (foundation): 10th graders (4/8 weeks) as of Fall 2006 newsletter
Nivonim (wise ones): 11th graders (8 weeks)
Amitzim: (brave ones) campers with special needs, as old as 21 (4/8 weeks)
Tochnit Ha'avodah (vocational education or "voc-ed"): former Amitzim'ers who work at the camp

After Nivonim year, 12th graders go on Ramah Seminar, a trip to Israel, and spend six weeks traveling around the country with other Ramahniks of the same age.

Camp Life

The camp is divided into two sides, A-Side and B-side. A-side hosts Kochavim through Shoafim and B-Side hosts the rest of the "eidot" along with the dining hall, infirmary, ropes course, tree house, and beit midrash complex. The oldest edah, Nivonim, is hosted in a tent village on B-side known as the k'far, which is secluded from other campers. Intended to become an intensive bonding experience, the k'far has become a defining part of Nivonim summer.

"Palmer," as the camp is also nicknamed, has a number of traditions including Color War (an annual sports competition within the camp, led by Nivonim), "yamim meyuchadim" (see below), an ongoing sports rivalry with Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, "Zimkudiyah" (a song and dance festival), trips to Rondeau's (a local ice cream store), plays performed by the four older edot entirely in Hebrew (in 2007 Toy Story, Grease, High School Musical, and The Prince of Egypt were all performed), and singing the Camp Ramah song, "Shir Ramah". Each edah participates in a camping trip known as "etgar" (challenge); younger children camp out within the grounds of the camp while older edot are given the opportunity to travel off the grounds and choose from a number of hiking, canoing, biking, and spelunking trips. Palmer also sends a delegation each year to ArtsFest, a yearly gathering of regional Jewish camps featuring a variety of songs and dances.

Shabbat is given a great deal of attention, with all of the camp gathering together for Friday night services and dinner. Saturday morning services are held within each edah, with senior staff members often giving "Divrei Torah" to the campers. Many of the sports teams from Yom Berkshires will practice with Saturday afternoon games, and Mincha is held for Machon and Nivonim each week. Friday and Saturday night Shira sessions are led by Nivonim each week, and after dinner on Saturday each bunk participates in a separate "Kavanah" session during which campers participate in discussion groups with a staff member not from their bunk. Havdalah is held by edah, and B-side has Israeli dancing sessions immediately following this each Saturday night, known as mandatory fun time.

"Yamim regilim" ("regular days") are broken into time periods called "perakim" (s. "perek") and each one is identified with a Hebrew letter (א, ב, ג, ד, ה, ו, ז). A regular day includes a sport, swimming, a "chug" (a special interest), Hebrew classes, "Yahadut" (Jewish history and culture) classes, free time, a period of rest, and "shira" or "rikud" ("song" or "dance"). Examples of "chugim" include "omanut" (art), "nagarut" (woodworking), dance, swimming, boating, and video (in which campers usually help make the video yearbook). In 2007 director Ed Gelb introduced a number of new adjustments to the schedule, including an extra period known as bechirot (free choices) during which campers may choose from a number of activities in which to participate; shortened perakim for Ivrit and Yahadut, and a rotating two-meal schedule which has A-side and B-side eat separately. Although the new system increases the kitchen staff's day by numerous hours, advantages of the two-meal shift include the fact that the Ohel (the tent outside the dining hall), which was formerly used for B-siders to eat in when all of camp ate together, is now open for use in other programs; also, B-siders are able to wake up later due to their later breakfast time.

On Wednesdays, live-ins (non-counselors that live in a bunk) and all other non-counselor staff members take their day off, so the counselors in each "edah" plan a special day free of regular programming called "yamim meyuchadim (special days)" to make up for the lack of staffing. In addition, once a session each "edah" takes a trip outside of the camp. Each special day is called "Yom (Name)" ("Yom" meaning "day"). "Yamim meyuchadim" can be anything from Yom Pirate to Yom Willy Wonka, Yom Random, Yom MTV, etc, all with special programs and activities planned by the staff members. Special trips have taken campers to Red Sox games, art museums, the zoo, ice skating rinks, the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, and other locations around New England.

Yom Berkshires/Yom Palmer

Every year there is a competition between Camp Ramah in New England and Camp Ramah in the Berkshires. The host alternates every year, with Palmer athletes traveling to Berkshires during the even-numbered years, and vice-versa during the odd-numbered years. Sports normally played are girls and boys softball, soccer, tennis, cross-country (track), swimming, volleyball, boys and girls basketball, dance, Ultimate Frisbee, and recently Scrabble. In recent years Palmer has outperformed Berkshires with a sweep in 2005, only one loss in 2006 and a victory against Berkshires (7-4) in 2007.

General

CRNE hosts children from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New England, eastern New York (most notably Albany and the Hudson Valley), the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area (predominantly Maryland and Virginia). The staff are usually former campers and hail from the same territory, but there are many Israelis, collectively called "mishlachat". The "mishlachat" are counselors, live-ins , Hebrew teachers, and "Yahadut" teachers. They also organize programs to educate campers about Israel. CRNE has the largest Israeli delegation of all the Ramah camps, and also hosts a number of Israeli campers.

There are approximately 700 campers and 250 staff at the camp over the course of eight weeks.

ee also

*Conservative Judaism

External links

* [http://www.campramahne.org/ Camp Ramah in New England Official Site]
* [http://www.campramah.org/ The National Ramah Commission]
* [http://campramah.org/news/keysar_kosmin_2004_research_findings.pdf "Research Findings on the Impact of Camp Ramah," 2004]