National Ramah Commission

09/03/2026

As another summer season ends and a new academic year begins, we reflect on our decades-long partnership with The Jewish Theological Seminary - JTS. This partnership has been critical to the success of every Ramah camp and all aspects of the Ramah Camping Movement over the decades, beginning with the establishment of the first Ramah camp in Conover, Wisconsin, in 1947.

Each summer, members from the JTS senior leadership team spend time at Ramah camps. They study and learn with campers and staff and have the opportunity to engage in informal conversations on such topics as their own personal Jewish journeys, career opportunities in the Jewish world, and the various programs and courses of study at JTS.

👇 Read their reflections on their visits to Ramah camps! Link in the first comment

This summer, JTS faculty, staff, and students spent time at Camp Ra...

08/26/2026

Know a high school student who might want to spend a semester studying in Israel?🇮🇱

Tell them about this Sunday's Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim (TRY) info session, so they can learn what it’s like to live, learn, and grow in Jerusalem with Ramah Israel’s high school semester program. This session will be co hosted by the Weitzman, Eisenberg, and Polikoff families.

🗓 Sunday, August 30
⏰ 1 PM ET
📍 Zoom: Register now!
https://ramah.zoom.us/meeting/register/qdOarMO7ROaqnZpinSimHQ #/registration

08/11/2026

We sent this letter yesterday to Ramah Israel Seminar 2026 participants as they were scheduled to land in North America. Kol Hakavod to the Ramah Israel team and Jonathan Madoff, Seminar Director, for their incredible leadership. We extend enormous gratitude to RootOne, Masa, and the individual philanthropists who ensure that every Ramahnik is able to participate in Ramah Israel Seminar.

Dear Bogrei Seminar 2026 (Seminar 2026 Graduates),

You left home, and you are returning home.

For the past six weeks, you have lived a life of verbs—fully immersed in building a Ramah community in Israel. You have experienced pure joy alongside deep complexity: hiking, volunteering, tilling, painting, davening, studying, and celebrating. You held each other up on the train tracks to Birkenau, at the entrance to Nova, and in the presence of Rachel Goldberg-Polin, carrying the heavy weight of memory on your shoulders. You cried together, and then, with fierce resolve, you laughed and danced together.

👇 Read more! Link in the first comment

08/07/2026

Shabbat shalom from our Ramah overnight camp in Israel, which welcomed campers this week--now in its fourth season! קיץ ברמה ישראל

07/31/2026

Gratitude and Hope, From Tikvah to the Sea

Reflections from Amy Skopp Cooper, CEO, and Daniel Olson, Asst. National Director, National Ramah Commission - Camp Ramah in Canada Camp Ramah in Northern California

Whether we are gathered along the rocky cliffs of the Pacific or sitting together in a makom tefillah, these moments remind us of what makes Ramah so extraordinary. Seeing our campers embrace gratitude, build deep connections, and find joy in the world around them fills us with immense hope. As we cling to the last weeks of summer, we carry these blessings with us—thankful for the vibrant, inclusive communities we have built together.

👇 Read more! Link in the first comment

07/21/2026

Reflections from Amy Skopp Cooper, CEO, National Ramah Commission

Our journeys continue as we visit each of our camps and engage in deep, meaningful conversations about the Jewish journeys our campers and staff embark on each Ramah summer. There is so much I wish we could convey in these short updates—the blessings of quiet walks and shared meals, coaching a staff member as they practice a d’var Torah, observing camper interactions, and having campers and staff remind me of conversations we shared years ago. I feel incredibly blessed to do this work.

My recent journeys have taken me to Ramah Day Camp Greater Boston, Ramah Day Camp L.A. Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, and Camp Ramah in California.

👇 Read more! Link in the first comment

07/14/2026

Reflections from Dr. Daniel Olson, Assistant National Director, National Ramah Commission

At Ramah, we often speak about the “bubble" of camp. Every summer, for up to eight weeks, campers slip away into our beautiful campsites and take a breath from the daily pressures of their regular lives. In such an environment, we unselfconsciously explore our identities, sing and dance with abandon, and feel a sense of security and belonging so often missing elsewhere. We use this special “bubble time" to prepare for the outside world, ready to make our broader community just a little bit better.

Every so often during the summer, the camp bubble becomes permeable. Guests enter, campers and staff exit, and we encounter more of the world. At each of my Ramah visits this past week--Ramah Day Camp In Nyack, Camp Ramah New England, and Ramah Israel Seminar--I experienced the beauty of our bubbles and also the potential that emerges when we go in and out of them.

👇 Read more! Link in the first comment

07/08/2026

We are so grateful that Rabbi Mike Uram, on the third day of his new role as chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary - JTS, came to visit Camp Ramah New England. He shared his vision for JTS and the JTS-Ramah partnership at the summer board meeting of the National Ramah Commission (NRC), greeted JTS students and alumni, and talked with Nivonim, the oldest edah in camp, about the challenges and opportunities they are facing as they enter their junior year of high school. Thank you to Ramah New England for being such wonderful hosts!

07/06/2026

Reflections from Amy Skopp Cooper, CEO, National Ramah Commission

Despite the soaring temperatures—and certainly due to them—our camps marked the pre-July 4th Shabbat with plenty of water activities, extra swims, and ice cream. It is a delight to see directors, who carry so much on their shoulders, jumping into the agam (lake) and staffing ice cream trucks and water stations. Kol Ha’kavod to our remarkable tzevet (staff) members, who kept campers safe and happy while navigating this prolonged heatwave.

My recent journeys have taken me to Ramah Day Camp of Greater Washington, DC, Ramah Day Camp Philly, Camp Ramah in the Poconos, and Ramah in the Rockies.
👇 Read more! Link in the first comment

07/03/2026

Shabbat Shalom! The Ramah Jerusalem Day Camp קיץ ברמה ישראל welcomed campers for kayitz 2026 this week, and it's the first Shabbat together for all the participants on Ramah Israel Seminar as well as those in Israel for Yuval Yisrael, our joint summer program with USY.