Camp Ramah in Canada
Encyclopedia
Camp Ramah in Canada, is a Jewish summer camp located in the community of Utterson in the town of Huntsville
, Ontario
, Canada.
The Max and Beatrice Wolfe Campus is located on Skeleton Lake
, a two and a half hour drive from Toronto. Part of the National Ramah Commission, Ramah camps in the United States, Canada, and Israel
are all religious camps governed by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
.
In 2009, Camp Ramah in Canada was attended by 450 Jewish youngsters, many of them from the United States.
ing skills. Campers who take the Bronze Medallion or Bronze Cross courses take an exam at the end of their session in order to achieve the designation, which can be used to apply for many lifeguarding positions. The other part of the agam perek is boating, where campers sail, canoe, kayak, and water-ski or wake-board on Skeleton Lake. There are levels to achieve in each area by completing skill and knowledge tasks. On Shabbat, campers can partake in the free swim. Other agam activities include point swims, water trampolining, a sailing trip, and excursions to a waterfall.
. Each team consists of 2 Alonim captains (1 boy and 1 girl) who must try out and are voted on by their edah. There is 1 boy rosh and 1 girl rosh who also make speeches, and 2 boy judges and 2 girls judges who must write an essay to be chosen by the edah staff. The judges are the only ones who know how Yom Sport is judged, and they are sworn to secrecy. Yom Sport opens with the Alonimers announcing that Yom Sport is occurring that evening with a breakout, designed to get the entire camp's attention. This is usually carried out at mealtime, as everyone is together in the chadar ochel. Later in the day, the campers aside from Alonim are given the two colors of their team, which is the only information they will receive until opening ceremonies. When everyone is dressed in layers of their respective two colors, everyone gathers in front of the Beit Am Gadol for a first show of ruach, or spirit. Soon everyone enters the lavishly decorated Beit Am Gadol, and witnesses opening ceremonies, created by the Alonimers. This introduces the storyline, the villains, the roshes, the judges, and the captains. After this, everyone separates into team meetings led by the captains, and the judges and roshes wander from meeting to meeting to explain the rules of Yom Sport. On the actual day of Yom Sport, edot circle around to each of the stations where they compete to score points for their team. The stations are sport, track and field, crazy games, agam, and special project (or Peulat-X), with one free perek during the day. The competition part of the day concludes with marathon, a grueling race which includes almost the entire team performing tasks such as canoe portaging, eating, hair-braiding, human-pyramid-building and running. Alonim celebrate their success of the day by showing off their ruach while the rest of the camp must endure silent dinner, where losing points is a penalty for talking. Finally, at closing ceremonies, a dramatic battle between the captains and the villains ends in the implication (but never an explicit announcement) of the winner.
Huntsville, Ontario
Huntsville is a town in the Muskoka Region of Ontario, Canada. It is located north of Toronto and south of North Bay....
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada.
The Max and Beatrice Wolfe Campus is located on Skeleton Lake
Skeleton Lake (Ontario)
Skeleton Lake is a lake in the municipalities of Huntsville and Muskoka Lakes in the District Municipality of Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, about west of the town centre of Huntsville. Up until 1991, the Ministry of Natural Resources operated a fish hatchery on the lake.-Geography:The lake is about ...
, a two and a half hour drive from Toronto. Part of the National Ramah Commission, Ramah camps in the United States, Canada, and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
are all religious camps governed by the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism
The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism is the primary organization of synagogues practicing Conservative Judaism in North America...
.
In 2009, Camp Ramah in Canada was attended by 450 Jewish youngsters, many of them from the United States.
List of edot
- Shorashim (entering 3rd grade; 1 or 2 weeks long)
- Nitzanim (entering 4th and 5th grade; 4 or 8 weeks long)
- Arazim (entering 6th grade; 4 or 8 weeks long)
- K'firim (entering 7th grade; 4 or 8 weeks long)
- Tzirim (entering 8th grade; 4 or 8 weeks long)
- Nachshonim (entering 9th grade; 4 or 8 weeks long)
- Magshimim (entering 10th grade; 8 weeks long)
- Tikvah (Program for campers with learning and social disabilities; 6-week sessions)
- Alonim (entering 11th grade; 8 weeks long)
Judaica
For younger campers, each day includes an Ivrit perek with staff members from Israel ("mishlachat"). Also important is yahadut, where campers explore Judaism from different angles, in many "courses" offered by the camp. Israeli culture is also learned in shira (song) and rikud (dance).Agam
Waterfront activities take place at the agam, Ramah's section of Skeleton Lake. Daily, campers take swimming lessons designed to meet the requirements for swimming and lifeguardLifeguard
A lifeguard supervises the safety and rescue of swimmers, surfers, and other water sports participants such as in a swimming pool, water park, or beach. Lifeguards are strong swimmers and trained in first aid, certified in water rescue using a variety of aids and equipment depending on...
ing skills. Campers who take the Bronze Medallion or Bronze Cross courses take an exam at the end of their session in order to achieve the designation, which can be used to apply for many lifeguarding positions. The other part of the agam perek is boating, where campers sail, canoe, kayak, and water-ski or wake-board on Skeleton Lake. There are levels to achieve in each area by completing skill and knowledge tasks. On Shabbat, campers can partake in the free swim. Other agam activities include point swims, water trampolining, a sailing trip, and excursions to a waterfall.
Chug
A perek of every day is devoted to chugim, which are 2-week options in the arts and hobbies field. Choices include woodworking, ceramics, arts and crafts, beading, photography, hip hop dance, rock climbing, newspaper, and radio, but the choices change every year, and even during camp depending on what talents the staff bring to the table. More eccentric choices of the past have been cartooning, mad science, nature survival, and rhythmic gymnastics.Sports
Campers play sports during this perek, but any time is game time, whether with one's cabin, the edah, or the more intense staff leagues. Some of the main sports played are basketball, volleyball, tennis, soccer, ultimate frisbee, floor hockey, and baseball. Some other games that have popped up over the years include dodgeball, ga-ga, cricket, croquet, golf, and aerobics.Yom Sport
Yom sport is the Camp Ramah in Canada version of color warColor war
Color war is a meta-game played in summer camps, schools and some social organizations . Participants are divided into teams, each of which is assigned a color. The teams compete against each other in challenges and events to earn points...
. Each team consists of 2 Alonim captains (1 boy and 1 girl) who must try out and are voted on by their edah. There is 1 boy rosh and 1 girl rosh who also make speeches, and 2 boy judges and 2 girls judges who must write an essay to be chosen by the edah staff. The judges are the only ones who know how Yom Sport is judged, and they are sworn to secrecy. Yom Sport opens with the Alonimers announcing that Yom Sport is occurring that evening with a breakout, designed to get the entire camp's attention. This is usually carried out at mealtime, as everyone is together in the chadar ochel. Later in the day, the campers aside from Alonim are given the two colors of their team, which is the only information they will receive until opening ceremonies. When everyone is dressed in layers of their respective two colors, everyone gathers in front of the Beit Am Gadol for a first show of ruach, or spirit. Soon everyone enters the lavishly decorated Beit Am Gadol, and witnesses opening ceremonies, created by the Alonimers. This introduces the storyline, the villains, the roshes, the judges, and the captains. After this, everyone separates into team meetings led by the captains, and the judges and roshes wander from meeting to meeting to explain the rules of Yom Sport. On the actual day of Yom Sport, edot circle around to each of the stations where they compete to score points for their team. The stations are sport, track and field, crazy games, agam, and special project (or Peulat-X), with one free perek during the day. The competition part of the day concludes with marathon, a grueling race which includes almost the entire team performing tasks such as canoe portaging, eating, hair-braiding, human-pyramid-building and running. Alonim celebrate their success of the day by showing off their ruach while the rest of the camp must endure silent dinner, where losing points is a penalty for talking. Finally, at closing ceremonies, a dramatic battle between the captains and the villains ends in the implication (but never an explicit announcement) of the winner.
| Year | Theme | Teams | Captains | Judges | Roshes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Biomes | Mountain, forest, desert, sea | Avi Steindel, Talia Leszcz, Jordan Frisch, Pamela Wiznitzer, Maya Tobias, Noah Michael Wikas | Ira Goldstein | ??? |
| 2002 | Music genres | Jazz, hip-hop, country, rock | Talia Sukol, Josh Diskin, Casey Weiss, Jonathan Beitner, Ashley Minuk, David Kurzman, Katie Feldman, Jordan Sherman | Jeremy Pappas | ??? |
| 2003 | Playing cards | Diamonds, hearts, spades, clubs | Jacob Batist, Rachel Jacobson, Jory Stern, Lauren Goodman, Aaron Abramson, Adam Weiner | Daniel Ennis | Ariel Lefkowitz, Bailey Gallinger |
| 2004 | Directions | South, east, west, north | Kayla Pappas, Noah Leszcz, Josh Borodin, Daina Zweing, Hannah Malvin, Katy Tile, Jacob Gallinger, Leslie Rosenberg | ??? | Josh Kramer, Carly Minuk |
| 2005 | Super powers | Elasticity, speed, flight, invisibility | Susan Schwartz, Shayna Rootman, Arielle Strub, Arlee Stern, Shale Farber, Matt Kurzmann, Micah Timen, Menachem Weiss | ??? | Willie Balk, Yael Disenhouse |
| 2006 | Ancient civilizations | China, Egypt, Aztec, Rome | Dalia Kimmel, Noah Simmons, Adin Lenchner, Leah Silverman, Sari Tile, Aaron Goss, Rayna Boyarsky, Josh Benchimol | Melody Mostow, Michael Chaikof, Naomi Reimer, Robbie Nelson | Ayla Lefkowitz, Noah Leibtag |
| 2007 | Movie genres | Horror, action, romance, comedy | Darrien Sherman, Max Farkas, Alix Gropper, Ari Kurzmann, Kendall Maxbauer, Eli Greenspan, Tara Wakter, Jeremy Shapero Comedy | Eric Silver, Gabe Weinstien, Adina Goldberg, Samara Zaifman | Emma Nadjgoldberg, Ray Abramson |
| 2008 | Monsters | Mummy, Frankenstein, ware-wolf, vampire | Judah Batist, Aliza Zigler, Jacob Diskin, Tamar Kodish, Ben Welkovics, Sophie Mortner, Jacob Cohen, Nava Rosen | Josh Jaffe, Elie Farkas, Leah Friedlander, Tali Moed | Ben Green, Yael Spiegel |
| 2009 | Board game warriors | Pirate, knight, viking, ninja | Ari Eisen, Ari Crane, Becky Wasser, Oren Lefkowitz, Erica Mindel, Adam Strub, Ava Fagin, Stephen Shapero | Noah Schoen, Micah Sukol, Elie Laskin, Leora Mietkiewitz | Ari Hubert, Emily Mostow |
| 2010 | (see 2006) | Maori, Rajput, Navajo, Zulu | Sari Klaczkowski, Jordana Herblum, Isaac Kurzmann, Daniel Welkovics, Corey Kamen, Eden Shapiro, Zac Kaufman, Michelle Zive | Jonah Weinstein, Ilan Levy, Jacqueline Craig, Orli Bogler | Ilana Kramer, Jacob Green |
| 2011 | Natural disasters | Tornado, tsunami, earthquake, volcano | Matt Fidel, Vanessa Farkas, Suzy Weiss, Noah Gropper, Jonah Baron, Erika Streisfeld, Tamar Eisen, Josh Eisen | Talya Nevins, Josh F. Goldberg, Hillary Weiner, Justin Wakter | Alissa Abrahami, Max Sherman |