The Pardes Educators Program (PEP) is a vibrant and innovative two-year teacher training program that combines intensive text study at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies with an interactive and pluralistic Master of Jewish Education from Hebrew College.
PEP prepares skilled and devoted Judaic studies teachers who are ready to empower North American Jewish day school students towards excellence, growth, and opportunity.
Third-year bunk counselors are the "cornerstones" of their camps, making significant contributions to the camp program. Retaining these valuable staff members can be a challenge. The Cornerstone Fellowship, made possible by the generosity of the AVI CHAI Foundation, empowers third-year Jewish bunk counselors to view themselves as Jewish role models for both campers and younger counselors alike.
Now in its eighth year, Cornerstone's advanced professional training and incentive stipend enables Jewish camps to continue to attract these critical staff members. The program imparts counselor skills, best practices in Jewish content programming, and teambuilding exercises. Giving counselors the tools they need to succeed means that they'll come back year after year, helping to build camp community while camp continues to build them
Weinstein Institute for Counselor Training Held at Camp Ramah in California, January 3-6, 2011
What a fabulous week we just concluded in Ojai at beautiful Camp Ramah in California!
Directors from almost all our camps joined Amy, Rami Schwartzer and me for our annual Weinstein Institute for counselor training, and it was indeed one of the best ever. Some highlights:
56 madrichim participated from all our overnight camps and Nyack and the feedback has been great.
For the first time we included 3 madrichim from Camp Solomon Schechter in Washington State. 3 delightful young women shared their camp traditions and participated alongside all the Ramahniks, appreciative of the opportunity to feel included in a wider Conservative Movement camping initiative.
3 2010 Daber Fellows joined us, and together with newly hired Hebrew Coordinator Yael Seidman, they ran peulot in Hebrew throughout the week as a kick-off to this year's Daber training.
Program sharing, hadracha skills, Jewish learning, spirited tefila and dancing, and the development of many new friendships across the movement of Ramah camps characterized the week.
Davening mincha together on the beach near camp just before sunset was absolutely inspiring.
A morning of learning with Rabbi Aaron Alexander from Ziegler which challenged and inspired us all.
Every tefila included words of Torah delivered by our college-age participants, and the quality of teaching was very high.
Directors had the opportunity to spend quality time with their own groups of staff, beginning the process of building for the summer.
And much more.
I continue to be thrilled by of these movement-wide programs. Nothing brings me more pride than spending quality time teaching and learning from Ramah madrichim, the future leadership of our camps and communities.
We are also hearing great reports from our group of Ramah counselors spending the week in Israel doing service projects with JNF. We will report more next week on both of these NRC staff training programs as we receive feedback from participants.
As one Weinstein participant stated today in an email to her director: "I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed this past week at camp. The program was not only extremely informative but also very motivating as well. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity and I am anxiously awaiting this coming summer!"
Kol Hakavod to Rami, Amy and Yael, and all the participating directors for all their hard work.
NATIONAL RAMAH COMMISSION AND JEWISH NATIONAL FUND
ALTERNATIVE WINTER BREAK SERVICE TRIP TO ISRAEL
by Shana Zionts, National Ramah Special Projects Coordinator
Earlier this month, the National Ramah Commission partnered with the Jewish National Fund for a one-week Alternative Winter Break service trip to Israel. A group of 27 second- and third-year staff members from Ramah overnight camps and Ramah Day Camp in Nyack participated in this week of social action and community building. Six senior staff members formed a team of educators to lead discussions and study sessions.
Prior to the trip, participants were required to raise a minimum of $975 in funds for JNF's Indoor Recreation Center in Sderot. A visit to this incredible structure, which was designed by top Israeli architects with safety as the number one priority, gave participants a clear understanding of how these funds had been used. After spending some time playing with the local children and enjoying the facilities of the recreation center, one participant reflected in the group journal: "The playground was amazing and life changing. I'm so glad to see the tzedakah in a good place."
The social action projects that framed each day included creating a communal green space for elderly Ethiopian immigrants in Beersheva, painting apartments in a poor neighborhood of Mitzpe Ramon, helping to develop Kibbutz Keramim in the Negev, beautifying a park in the Ein Kerem neighborhood of Jerusalem, and working with children and packing food at the Jaffa Institute. Participants showed true dedication and energy, putting in long hours in hot weather to make a difference in so many lives. After the first day of the trip, one participant reflected: "Prior to the trip I was afraid a one-week trip wasn't enough to make a difference; however, after one day I really feel that we impacted a community in an extremely positive way." The participants infused their work and free time with true Ramah ruach.
Throughout the week, programs were shared and friendships were formed, helping the participants to see themselves as part of the larger Ramah Camping Movement. Counselors from different Tikvah programs shared stories and old Seminar friends reunited. On Shabbat, the entire group came together to celebrate a real Ramah oneg Shabbat. Later in the day, a visit to the Fuchsberg Center for Conservative Judaism for Shabbat mincha, a peulah held in Yemin Moshe on the subject of Judaism and the environment, and havdalah at the Kotel added great meaning to Shabbat.
Having made a commitment to return to camp for summer 2010, the participants are looking forward to sharing their experiences with their chanichim (campers), creating programs that teach about the aspects of Israel they experienced, and reinvigorating their commitment to social action. The participants will come to camp equipped with program ideas from JNF that emphasize the JNF mission of fulfilling Ben Gurion's dream of making the desert bloom.
As participants led a final reflection on the last evening, it was clear that this trip will have had a lasting impact on each of them. Although many had been to Israel previously, the experience through the Jewish National Fund empowered them to be caretakers of the land. Each day they rolled up their sleeves, got dirty, and were able to step back and see their accomplishments. Ramah is thrilled to have partnered with the Jewish National Fund, true visionaries in the building of Eretz Yisrael. Kol HaKavod to all who participated in this wonderful program.
Prior to the trip I was afraid a one-week trip wasn't enough to make a difference; however, after one day I really feel that we impacted a community in an extremely positive way.
- Ramah-JNF Alternative Winter Break Participant
NRC "Daber" Fellowship Program to Strengthen Hebrew Language Usage at Ramah Camps
The National Ramah Commission (NRC) proudly announces the second year of the NRC "Daber" Fellowship Program. Up to eight staff members from each Ramah camp will participate this spring in an intensive Hebrew-language training program with generous funding from The AVI CHAI Foundation. Staff members will take part in online Hebrew discussion groups, which will culminate in a four-day conference beginning May 22, 2011 at Ramah Darom. Together with parallel educator training in Israel, and the development of new curricular and programmatic materials for camp, it is envisioned that the "Daber" Fellowship Program will significantly strengthen Hebrew language usage at Ramah camps.
The Ramah Service Corps Program is an innovative new project of the National Ramah Commission (NRC) that links the magic of the Ramah summer camp experience with Jewish learning and activities over the course of the entire year. This continuum of informal Jewish education is accomplished by actively connecting Ramah-trained staff members to year-round activities and educational programming in synagogues and Jewish communal organizations.
In implementing this program, the NRC has three specific goals:
to increase the number of Jewish children attending Ramah and other Jewish camps;
to increase the number of children and families engaged in Jewish life by implementing Ramah-style Jewish learning experiences in Jewish communities; and
| 
Camp Ramah in California, January 3-6, 2011
the week as a kick-off to this year's Daber training. 
pride than spending quality time teaching and learning from Ramah madrichim, the future leadership of our camps and communities. 
Earlier this month, the National Ramah Commission partnered with the Jewish National Fund for a one-week Alternative Winter Break service trip to Israel. A group of 27 second- and third-year staff members from Ramah overnight camps and Ramah Day Camp in Nyack participated in this week of social action and community building. Six senior staff members formed a team of educators to lead discussions and study sessions.
the tzedakah in a good place."
the subject of Judaism and the environment, and havdalah at the Kotel added great meaning to Shabbat.
Having made a commitment to return to camp for summer 2010, the participants are looking forward to sharing their experiences with their chanichim (campers), creating programs that teach about the aspects of Israel they experienced, and reinvigorating their commitment to social action. The participants will come to camp equipped with program ideas from JNF that emphasize the JNF mission of fulfilling Ben Gurion's dream of making the desert bloom.
The National Ramah Commission (NRC) proudly announces the second year of the NRC "Daber" Fellowship Program. Up to eight staff members from each Ramah camp will participate this spring in an intensive Hebrew-language training program with generous funding from The AVI CHAI Foundation. Staff members will take part in online Hebrew discussion groups, which will culminate in a four-day conference beginning May 22, 2011 at Ramah Darom. Together with parallel educator training in Israel, and the development of new curricular and programmatic materials for camp, it is envisioned that the "Daber" Fellowship Program will significantly strengthen Hebrew language usage at Ramah camps.
