National Ramah Winter Leadership Training Conference 2023 - Program Guide

National Ramah Winter Leadership Training Conference

I am who I am the rest of the year, in the rest of my life, because I learned how to “be” here at Camp Ramah. Why I’m still here? Because I’m an incomplete project and always will be. And as long as I’m learning how to be me, I feel the pull back to camp to keep trying, keep making mistakes, keep growing.

Jon Adam Ross (JAR),

Jon is the founding artist and the managing director of The In[HEIR]itance Project and a lifelong camper at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin.

program tracks

Bert B. Weinstein Institute for Counselor Training

The Bert B. Weinstein Institute is the National Ramah Commission’s signature counselor training and leadership program for incoming senior counselors. Participants work with Ramah directors and senior staff to hone critical skills, enhance programming, and share best practices from across the Ramah movement.

Vatikim Leadership Institute

The Vatikim Leadership Institute is a program designed for experienced senior counselors. Geared toward upper-level students (returning for their third summer as a counselor), this track focuses on more advanced topics of culture-building, staff dynamics, mentorship, and other leadership development skills.

Rashei Edot

Rashei Edot are division leaders who will be returning to camp as supervisors this coming summer. At the conference, they will be learning from Ramah senior staff, leading and facilitating sessions for other cohorts, and overseeing components of the Weinstein Institute, providing them with hands-on opportunities to practice organization and executive functioning in a camp environment.

Ramah College Network

Ramah College Network (RCN) Coordinators implement Ramah-style programs on their university campuses. Events range from Shabbat and holiday celebrations to social and learning opportunities. At the conference, RCN Fellows will develop leadership skills and applications for community engagement on campus.

Ramah Service Corps

Ramah Service Corps (RSC) Fellows work with their home camps to create experiential programs, as well as assist with local recruitment efforts. At the conference, the RSC cohort will reflect on their past semester of work, brainstorm effective programming, and develop new educational resources to bring back to their home communities.

Tikvah

Tikvah is Ramah’s movement-wide network of programs for children, teens, and young adults with disabilities. Our Tikvah staff participants at the conference will be focusing on strategies and educational methods relating to building daily routines, nurturing independent living skills, collaboration with families, and strengthening inclusion efforts.

vocational training maslul Yisrael fellows

The Vocational Training Track provides leadership training and skill development to Ramah staff and vocational training participants with disabilities. For the first time, Tikvah-supported staff members from various Ramah camps will come together to network and develop skills for Kayitz 2023 and beyond.

Maslul Yisrael convenes a group of returning Ramah staff as they utilize Jewish texts, values, and ideas to explore how Israel fits into their North American Jewish identities. Maslul Yisrael Fellows will develop a set of tools and frameworks to foster substantive and compelling educational experiences about Israel at camp.

To me Weinstein isn’t about learning how to be a better camp counselor, Weinstein is about discovering that there are at least a hundred other people who care just as much about Judaism, care just as strongly about Ramah, and are motivated to have deep, personal conversations about how we can effect change.

Weinstein 2019 participant

National Ramah Winter Leadership Training Conference

Ramah California, 1950s

Ramah senior staff and faculty

Rachael is the director of camper care and staff development for Ramah Poconos. She is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW-C) with an MSW from University of Maryland, and is a certified thanatologist, specializing in grief and loss. Prior to this role, she spent many years as a clinician in the Baltimore Jewish community. A longtime camper and staff member, Rachael also served on the board of directors. She met her husband Josh at camp, and their two boys are proud Poconos campers.

Tobi is the program director at Ramah Poconos. She was a longtime camper and staff member at Poconos, including four summers as a rosh edah. Tobi graduated from Drexel University with a BS in visual communications and worked as graphic designer before pivoting to work full-time for Ramah.

Maya is the TikvahNet program coordinator at National Ramah. Maya spent many summers at Ramah Canada as a camper and tzevet member. She also worked at Ramah Darom to help establish their vocational training program. Maya completed her BAH in psychology at Queen’s University, and her MSc in speech-language pathology at McMaster University. Maya lives in Toronto, Ontario, and works as a speech-language pathologist (SLP).

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Molly is a recent graduate of Emory University with degrees in mathematics and hebrew. Before her full-time role at Ramah California, Molly served as the springboard innovation fellow at Hillel at UCLA. Molly has spent sixteen incredible summers at camp, five of them as a madricha and two as a rosh edah. Molly’s favorite activities at camp are going on her weekly Shabbat walks, busting her moves in rikkud, and uncontrollably laughing.

Aaron is a lifelong Ramahnik, having spent seventeen years at Ramah Poconos and counting as a chanich, madrich, rosh edah, rosh drama, hinuch, tzevet experience, and more. He graduated with a BA in history and secondary education from American University and an M.Ed. in curriculum & instruction from Marymount University.

Aaron is a high school social studies teacher in Washington, D.C., and enjoys DND, ultimate frisbee, and talking about camp.

Rabbi Lê is from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and lives in São Paulo, Brazil. He is passionate about Jewish education, and believes that camps and youth movements are the best place for it. He lived in Argentina, Brazil and Israel while studying at the Conservative Yeshiva and Hebrew University, from which he received an MA in NPO. He serves on the board of Marom Olami and is involved in the Rabbinical Assembly. Rabbi Lê received smicha from the Seminario where he currently works, and is now working to be a messader guittin.

Rachael abrams

Rabbi Leandro Galanternik

Tobi Afran

Molly Auerbach

Aaron besser

Maya Albin

Josef currently serves as the educational technology program associate at the National Ramah Commission. He graduated from Binghamton University with a degree in computer science in May 2022. Josef has worked at Ramah Nyack since 2014, most recently as a rosh edah of Kochavim.

Jeff is the national business Manager at the National Ramah Commission, a position he has held since 1998. He holds degrees from Cornell University and Hofstra Law School. He is a proud parent of two longtime Ramah campers who spent close to 30 summers combined at various Ramah programs, both as campers and staff.

Ami is the director of Ramah Day Camp in Nyack and has worked at Nyack since 2000. Ami, an alum of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, was ordained at JTS in May 2012 and also received an MA in Jewish education from the Davidson School of Jewish Education in 2013. A graduate of the University of Hartford, he holds degrees in elementary education and Judaic studies.

Paul is the program coordinator at Ramah Nyack. He has been at Ramah since he was a camper at Nyack, and then as a camper, counselor, and rosh edah at Ramah Berkshires. Paul studied politics and computer science at Princeton and was a fellow on the Nachshon Project. Paul is best known for his role in the Machon 2013 production of the Prince of Egypt as “the Hebrew that Moses saves from the Egyptian.”

Maya has spent her summers at Ramah California since 2008. She graduated from Brandeis University in May 2022, with a BA in near eastern and Judaic studies, and minors in anthropology and women’s, gender and sexuality studies. Maya’s best camp fun fact involves a fake wedding, One Direction, a Bruno Mars music video, and a yellow paper bracelet (find her and ask to hear the full story).

Noam is the director of education and programming at Ramah Berkshires. Originally from East Windsor, NJ, Noam has been part of the Ramah Berkshires community since 2009. He was graduated from JTS’s List College/ Columbia with BAs in talmud and History, and received his ordination and MA in talmud from JTS. He’s currently working on a PhD in the development of medieval Jewish law at Yeshiva University.

Josef Goldberg

Maya Klareich

Paul Horvath

Rabbi Ami Hersh

Rabbi Noam Kornsgold

Jeff Goodman

Ramah senior staff and faculty

Orlee is the Tikvah director at Ramah Poconos. Originally from Rockland County, NY, Orlee grew up at Ramah Nyack as a camper, counselor, and rosh edah. A graduate of the Nativ program, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Mercy College, Orlee holds a BA and an MA in Judaic studies and education. Orlee has also served as the director of camper care at Ramah Nyack.

Jeff is the provost of JTS and the Dr. Bernard Heller Professor of Jewish education. He did his undergraduate degree at Penn and received a PhD in clinical and community psychology at Rutgers. Dr. Kress spent several years at the Berkshires agam. He met his wife, a Wisconsinite, while they were both at a Weinstein Conference. They have a son and a daughter; the latter has been a chanicha and madricha at Berkshires.

Adena is the current day camp and early childhood education fellow at Foundation for Jewish Camp. She is a longtime Ramah California chanicha, madricha, and rosh edah. Originally from Los Angeles, Adena earned her BA in history, art history, and psychology from the University of Kansas in 2020. She currently lives in New York City.

Joe is the executive director of Ramah California. He hails from Portland, Oregon, and has been a part of the Ramah family since 1995. Rabbi Joe received a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. He obtained a master of Hebrew letters from the University of Judaism in Los Angeles in 1996 and received his rabbinic ordination and an MA from JTS in 2000.

Lauren is the director of camper care and inclusion at Ramah Wisconsin. As a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW), Lauren most recently worked as a therapist in child welfare at JCFS Chicago and has diverse therapeutic experience working with children, teens, adults and families. Lauren spent 2 summers as a camper at Ramah Nyack, 13 summers as a camper, counselor, and rosh edah at Ramah Canada, 2 summers as a yoetzet at Ramah California, and most recently, her first summer at Ramah Wisconsin.

Alli is the Assistant Director at Ramah Galim. She received a BA in psychology and Jewish studies from Muhlenberg College and a master’s degree in Jewish educational leadership from the Davidson School at JTS in New York, where she currently lives. During her study abroad experience in Israel, Alli heard about Ramah Galim and has been spending her summers immersed in this incredible community ever since, first as a counselor and then as a rosh edah.

Lauren mindel

Rabbi Joe Menashe

Alli Moses

Orlee krass

Dr. Jeff Kress

Adena Leon

Ariella is the camp director of Ramah California. Ariella came to Camp Ramah as a shlicha and served on staff at Ramah Canada for over a decade. Before she joined the Ojai community, Ariella was the assistant director at Ramah Canada. She studied Jewish philosophy at Hebrew University and theatre production at the School of Visual Theatre in Jerusalem.

Cliff is a general pediatrician who has been interested in the health and safety of the Ramah communities for more than 25 years. A graduate of JTS’s Joint Program, and University of CT School of Medicine, he practices general pediatrics in NY. He was a madrich and rosh edah at Ramah New England, and has volunteered his time as the camp doctor and medical director for Ramah Berkshires. Currently, he is the chair of the NRC Medical Committee and is the NRC vice president for health and safety. He is the proud father of two Ramah alumni.

Daniel completed his PhD in education and Jewish studies at NYU in 2020. He received the Harold Wechsler award for emerging scholars from the Network for Research in Jewish Education and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar. He attended Ramah Wisconsin as a camper and worked for many summers in Tikvah.

Talia is a program coordinator at Camp Ramah in California. She started on staff, and after being a counselor, was also a rosh edah before becoming program coordinator. Talia attended UC Berkeley, where she majored in cognitive science and minored in education. A fun fact about Talia is that she was a competitive gymnast until the age of 18 and can still walk on her hands!

Alex is the assistant director of Ramah Sports Academy. A lifelong camper, Alex recently earned a master’s degree in social entrepreneurship from USC. They spent five years previously running student life and international exchange programs at a Jewish high school in Los Angeles before joining the RSA team. Alex is also a nationally competitive ultimate Frisbee athlete.

Mirit brings her passion for relational engagement, curriculum development, and leadership training to Ramah in the Rockies as their camp life director. She graduated from JTS’s List College and the William Davidson School of Jewish Education, served as rosh edah and program coordinator at Ramah Berkshires, and worked at Central Synagogue. She loves listening and dancing to music, rooting for the New Orleans Saints, and making her way through New York Times recipes.

Dr. Daniel Olson

Ariella Moss Peterseil

Talia Patt

Alex Rubin

Mirit Sands

Cliff Nerwen

Ramah senior staff and faculty

She was a chanicha, madricha, and rosh edah at Ramah Berkshires and also had a brief stint at Ramah Nyack in 2008. Adina graduated from Brandeis University, where she was involved in Hillel, intercultural dialogue groups, and peer career counseling. Adina loves themebased hadracha, and ran an egg-themed shavuah hachanah this past kayitz! She can’t wait for a spirited Weinstein to get tzevet members hyped for Kayitz 2023.

Joel is the executive director of Ramah Poconos. Rabbi Seltzer spent many years at Ramah Poconos as a camper and a counselor, rosh edah, and rosh drama. He is a graduate of JTS and served as a rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Providence, RI, for four years before returning to Ramah. Rabbi Seltzer lives in Cherry Hill with his wife, whom he met at camp, and their three daughters.

Anna is camp

Anna fell in love with Ramah working at Ramah Darom in its early years. After a career as an attorney, she returned to her passion of Jewish education, working at NRC and Ramah Nyack. Prior to her current role, Anna served for six years as associate dean of List College.

Jared is a rabbinic intern at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA. He is originally from Cleveland, OH and is a Wexner Graduate Fellow, studying at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, where he will be ordained next year. He has spent the past decade working for Camp Ramah (in Canada, Wisconsin, and California), and most recently as program director of NRC.

Prior to becoming NRC director, Amy served as associate director from 2004-2021 and as director of the Ramah Day Camp in Nyack from 1997-2017. A graduate of Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Amy holds degrees in Jewish history and Jewish education. She received her master’s degree from Brandeis University in Jewish education and communal service and is a recipient of the 2011 Covenant Award for outstanding Jewish educators.

Michelle is the co-director of Camp Ramah New England. Originally from Scranton, PA, she was a longtime camper and staff member at Camp Ramah in the Poconos, spending 26 summers there, including 12 as the assistant and then associate director. She earned her BA in Jewish studies and MSW from Temple University, and has also worked as director of the N.A. Office of Academic Affairs of Hebrew University.

director and head of education at Ramah Darom.

Michelle Sugarman

Amy Skopp Cooper

Anna Serviansky

Jared Skoff

Adina is Program Director at the National Ramah Commission.

Adina Scheinberg

Rabbi Joel Seltzer

Hadassah is a program associate at National Ramah. Starting at the age of four, Hadassah has spent her summers at Ramah Poconos as a camper, counselor, and rosh edah. She graduated from the Joint Program between the Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University this past Spring with a BA in bible and psychology. She is currently in her final year at the William Davidson School of Jewish Education studying for her master’s degree in Jewish education on the educational leadership track. Hadassah once ate eleven and a half pieces of camp french toast in one sitting.

Ayala is the assistant director at Ramah Darom, where she started as a camper in the gan. She is a graduate of JTS’s List College and William Davidson School of Jewish Education. She spent the last three years working at RSA as the assistant director.

Sam is a former chanich and Madrich from Ramah Wisconsin. For his eight summers on tzevet Sam worked closely with the Tikvah program eventually serving as a rosh edah for three summers for the vocational special needs program Atzmayim. Currently he is a staff member for TikvahNet, an online program that functions as a virtual social gathering and vocational training for alumni of Tikvah programs across Ramah.

Sam Weiner

Hadassah turk Tolub Ayala Wasser

When I was born, I inherited a world full of carob trees. Just as my ancestors planted for me, I too am planting for my children and grandchildren.

National Ramah Winter Leadership Training Conference

Ramah Wisconsin, 1950s