News 4
The Rampage
February 2023/Shevat 5783
Service Trip to New Orleans
Students Went to New Orleans to Help the Community Rebuild After Hurricane Katrina, A Storm That Happend Before Most of Them Were Born. GRACE KOLLANDER ’25
their Friday night at Beth Israel synagogue. It was a special and unique experience going to a During the January intersession, Ramaz shul in an area where there is far less Jewish life took a group of 22 students who volunteered than the students were used to. Ms. Wilner noto go on a chesed mission to New Orleans, tably remarked how it was “really beautiful that Louisiana. Just a few short hours after the last we were able to contribute in such a powerful final exam, the volunteer group gathered in the way by helping to create a minyan.” Without Upper School lobby with great anticipation to the Ramaz students in attendance, the synahead to the airport and tackle the challenges gogue would not have had enough people for a ahead of them. The trip was a balance of mean- minyan for the Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat ingful chesed activities and action-packed Maariv services. events that intended to educate the group On the second day of the trip, the group about life and culture in New Orleans. walked to the Chabad synagogue for Shabbat Following an unexpected flight delay, morning services followed by lunch. Rabbi the group arrived in New Orleans after 1 a.m., Segal remarked, “Some students leined, and bleary-eyed, but in good spirits and ready to it was great to see the students take a role” in begin the mission. On the first day of the trip, leading services. On Saturday night, the group the group volunteered with SBP, an organizawent to the Preservation Hall - Jazz Club. After tion that rebuilds homes that were destroyed as watching an outstanding and entertaining pera result of natural disasters impacting New Or- formance, the students ate the famous beignets leans. The group participated in various tasks at Cafe Du Monde while watching an exciting around the homes, including painting, carpen- parade for Mardi Gras in the French Quarter. try, sanding, and more. The group then got to The final full day of the trip kicked meet Ms. Louise, the woman who lived at the off early in the morning with farming with home the group was renovating. Soon after, the the W.o.o.F. organization. Each person was students made a pre-Shabbat food run to the assigned a different task around the farm. local Trader Joe’s before heading back to their The W.o.o.F. organization helps people learn hotel to prepare for Shabbat. The group spent how to be self-sustaining by teaching them
how to farm. Soon after, the students heard a gut-wrenching story from a mother whose son was sadly murdered when he was just a young adult, and how the experience inspired her to create pop-up restaurants to feed homeless people. The group was moved by her story, and then set up a pop-up restaurant that fed “over 150 people” according to Ms. Wilner. This act of chesed was incredibly meaningful for the group and the beneficiaries. For the night activity, the group took a horse and buggy ride on a city tour where they learned all about the mysterious history of New Orleans. To end the night, the group took a walk to a Holocaust memorial statue where everyone reflected on the trip and how it impacted them. The teachers and students were asked to sum up the entire trip in one word. Rabbi Segal said “togetherness” while Alex Sultan said, “meaningful”. For Ms. Wilner it was “reigniting”, explaining that “we are here for a reason; us as educators, and as people here at Ramaz, are here to do chesed and be an ‘Or Lagoyim,’ the light unto the nations.” Pairing chesed with exploring Jewish life, and New Orleans fun, made the mission fulfilling and ultimately amazing.
Cross Country in California KEREN TEICHNER ’25
Three Members From Track Team Went to California and Ran to Raise Money For Friendship Circle.
This year, I was fortunate enough to go with the Ramaz track team to run in the Surf City Marathon with Friendship Circle. The Ramaz team consisted of Sarah Kalimi ’25 running the 10K and Emanuel Khodorkovsky ’24 and me, Keren Teichner ’25, running the half marathon. Additionally, Rabbi Sommer, the cross-country (XC) coach joined us as a chaperone. Friendship Circle is an organization that helps over 3000 individuals with special needs and their families. Additionally, it promotes an inclusive community for everyone, regardless of the challenges they may face. All of the money fundraised was dedicated to the memory of Daniella Moffson, a former Ramaz student, who tragically died in a bus crash in Honduras on a service mission. The team as a whole raised over 8,500 dollars. The team left on Friday and arrived in California in the early afternoon. We went straight from the airport to the hotel where we met many of the other participants in this event for lunch. Then we got the opportunity to explore the city and returned to the hotel for Shabbat. We participated in a meaningful Maariv and Kabbalat Shabbat experience
with many different types of Jewish people from around the world. All the runners came together for Shabbat dinner where we heard stories of people’s personal experiences with Friendship Circle. It was amazing to hear about the impact that Friendship Circle had on people’s lives and it excited us to know that we were helping make that a reality. On Shabbat day we heard even more meaningful stories of friends and family with special needs. We ushered Shabbat out with a musical Havdalah and a pre-race pasta party. Everyone was singing and dancing their hearts out to the music and we even heard from the Friendship Circle band. This was by far the most lively Havdalah I have ever been to! All of the energy built up from Shabbat was carried over to the race itself. Even though wake-up was at five in the morning, we had more energy than ever before. Everyone joined together to take some pre-race photos, and wish each other good luck. We were loaded onto the party bus which was blasting Israeli music. CONTINUED ON PAGE 5