Camp Ramah in Wisconsin

Happy Chanukah from Camp Ramah


מחנה רמה בוויסקונסין

Camp Ramah in Wisconsin

December 5 / 25 Kislev


In this issue

Hanukkah Greeting from Rabbi Soloff

Conover Construction Update

New for Summer 2008

Upcoming Enrollment Meetings

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It's not too late to order Summer 2007 Play DVDS

If you would like to purchase a DVD of any of the plays from this summer, click on the link below to print the order form. Please return this form with a check to the address printed on the form.


Click Here to Order Your DVD


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Upcoming Enrollment Meeting Dates!

Rabbi Soloff will be in the following cities in the next week. Come catch up, bring a friend, and share your Ramah experience with new families interested in camp!


December 5: St. Paul
Temple of Aaron at 6:00pm




December 9: Des Moines
Tifereth Israel at 12:15pm


December 10: Chicago
Moriah Congregation at 7:00pm


December 11: Madison
Beth Israel at 5:30pm


For more details, email registrar@ramahwisconsin.com
This past Sunday I was privileged to attend the wedding of our Program Director, Jacob Cytryn and Tamar Bednarsh, who was a member of our outdoor education staff last summer. Both Tamar and Jacob were faculty at the A.J. Heschel High School in New York. Tamar was a member of our outdoor education staff last summer. Hundreds of friends and relatives joined these two wonderful families to celebrate together.



There were so many special Ramah moments incorporated into the simcha! On Shabbat we enjoyed camp-inspired davening, divrei Torah and zemirot singing. So many people who joined together each had their own connection to the bride and groom but independently shared a personal Ramah connection with the Cytryn family or an East Coast Camp Moshava connection with the Bednarsh family.



So many guests had spent past summers at Ramah Berkshires, New England or Wisconsin. People shared camp stories reflecting their years as campers, staff members or even as parents sending the next generation to Ramah.



Community leaders attending represented shuls, day schools, camps, universities and seminaries. Each had their own connection to the celebrating families. These guests shared stories of Jewish activism in their youth at summer camp and/or in Israel.



Since mid-October I have traveled to the many synagogues that partner with Ramah Wisconsin to send campers to Conover each summer. Often the initial encounters with first time families inquiring about camp start with conversations about sports fields and tennis instructors, meal menus and shower facilities. Only after we begin to get to know each other do we get to the heart of the matter - summer is an awesome time for Jewish kids to discover their Jewish selves and strengthen their Jewish self-esteem while having an amazingly fun time.



This week we celebrate Hanukkah. The texts for the holiday recall Jewish national liberation and Jewish religious renewal. As Jews in America we comfortably light our menorahs and put them in our windows.



What gives our children the confidence and strong self-esteem to publicly celebrate Hanukkah? What experiences empower our kids to search out their Jewish identities and internalize Jewish values and traditions as they prepare to excel in high school, college and beyond?



From where do today's Jewish heroes emerge?



I met many of today's Jewish heroes at this wonderful wedding! Often it was their camp experiences that shaped and empowered them.



Mazal Tov to Jacob and Tamar and

Hanukkah Sameach to our Ramah families!



Rabbi David Soloff, Director

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Conover Construction Update
Thanks to generous community support for our Milestone Campaign, renovation projects at camp continue and the changes are very exciting! Construction is underway on the new Tikvah Vocational Center, being built in the staff housing area. For the last four years, the Tikvah program has provided vocational participants, ages 18-22, a sense of independence through job training at local businesses by developing their communication skills. The participants are called Atzmayim, the Hebrew word for "independent." The new building will provide housing for the Atzmayim as well as for other staff members. It will include a staff lounge, small kitchen, and a lower level room for programming. Architectural plans for the new Chader Ochel / Kitchen are now complete. We will continue preparing for the exciting project during the year with construction slated to start after the 2008 camp season. The new dining complex will be ready to serve its first meal when camp opens in 2009!


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New for Summer 2008!

Thanks to a grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camping as part of its Camper-Centric Initiative, Ramah Wisconsin campers will enjoy a new high ropes course this summer! The new challenge course will enable us to enhance our outdoor education curriculum and activities, providing opportunities for team building and leadership training. We are very excited for this new addition at camp!








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Camp Ramah in Wisconsin | 65 East Wacker Place | Suite1200 | Chicago | IL | 60601