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The Cantor's Voice
April 2007

16 students from our religious school had an incredibly fun weekend at Camp Ramah in March. They laughed, played, davened, hiked and had an all-around Shabbat enhancing experience. Alon Ferency, our religious school ethics teacher, chaperoned the trip, along with his wife Karen.

Kehillat Ma'arav is committed to supporting Camp Ramah. This summer 10 children and teens from our congregation will be attending a four-week session there.

We are blessed to have generous members of our community who contribute to several Camp Ramah dedicated funds, enabling families to help afford the cost of a session at Camp.

I'd personally like to thank the Ballanoff, Rogoway, and Strom families for their continuing support of the children from our community who make the choice to spend a summer session at the Conservative Movement's summer camp.

At Camp Ramah, kashrut is observed and Shabbat is celebrated. Everyone in camp, from the youngest camper to the most senior staff members, study Hebrew and Judaic texts. Hebrew is spoken in the dining room, in the classes, and sometimes! in the bunks and on the playing fields.

Camp Ramah is not only a beautiful physical environment. It is a holy space -- a place where Jewish young people can socialize, play, laugh, cry and learn with other Jews.

Recently, Camp Ramah put a list up on their website (campramah.org) of individuals who have met their spouse at Camp Ramah. There are literally hundreds of couples from all the Ramah camps around North America who have met at Ramah.

Now I'm not saying that sending a child to Camp will in any way guarantee that he/she will meet his/her spouse, but...there is a good chance!

Let's improve the odds and send more of our young people to Camp Ramah.

Keith Miller
Hazzan
Director of Education