A Note from Rabbi Joel and Elana Rivel We just returned from the Training Seminar for Summer Shlichim (Emissaries), run by the Sochnut, the Jewish Agency. Each and every summer of our existence, Camp Ramah in the Poconos and Ramah Day Camp have sought out, hired, and trained young Israelis to lend their talents to our camp community. This year, we were fortunate enough to have both the mishlachat for our overnight camp and the mishlachat for our day camp […]
The Taxman Cometh If you drive a car, I’ll tax the street, If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold I’ll tax the heat, If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet. Don’t ask me what I want it for If you don’t want to pay some more ‘Cause I’m the taxman, yeah, I’m the taxman -George Harrison, Taxman 1966 From Benjamin Franklin’s certainty regarding “death and taxes” to the Beatles lamenting Britain’s […]
By Shira M. Cohen-Goldberg We are on a mountain, surrounded by mountains, by a lake. There is stillness. Except for my oldest who is clutching their ears, overstimulated, my daughter, yanking on my arm “mommy, mommy,” and the shifting inside my belly, our baby, a month away from birth. Our cabin has a sign on the door: Welcome Cohen-Goldberg Family. Baruchim Ha’baim. Hallel is my bright-eyed oldest child. They are a brilliant kid who learns things instantly though what looks […]
There are moments in camp (and in life) where the thousands of little choices, decisions, convictions, and circumstances combine to create flashes of perfection. One such instant in time was a Friday afternoon this past summer, when, as is our weekly tradition, we award deserving chanichim (campers) and tzevet members (staff) one of the most-coveted pieces of swag in the history of our beloved machaneh (camp) – a Me’ah Millim T-Shirt. I have often joked, that my entire educational philosophy […]
January, 2019 A Note from Rabbi Joel Seltzer, Executive Director I was hopelessly out of place. The prayer leader stood in the center of the black-box room and requested that we stand. He asked us to practice involving our bodies in the act of prayer, by first squatting, arms aimed low, and then by quickly raising our arms and our bodies to the sky as we proclaimed for all to hear: “Praise Yah!” I imagine in that moment, shacharit (the […]
