Informal Jewish Education

Informal Jewish Education Camps Ramah Shimon Frost In its last issue, AVAR ve'ATID presented the story of Camps Massad — the first part of the late Shimon Frost's essay comparing Massad and Ramah Hebrew summer camps. The Ramah story, translated from the Hebrew by his widow, Peggy, follows. istorians frequently differ regarding the origins and development of human events. Do persons who initiate and promote actions bring them Habout, or are these people and their ideas also the products of certain changes in society? Ramah's appearance on the American camping scene is a classic example of a combination of both causes. The immediate post-World War II years represented a period of transition and consolidation for American Jewry. Among many Jews, the trauma of the Holocaust caused disillusionment and uncertainty about the future of the Jewish people. In demographic terms, the era is characterized by the transformation of the Jewish community from an immigrant society to one comprised primarily of native-born Jews with deep American roots. This phenomenon, combined with the struggle for a Jewish homeland in Eretz Yisrael, and the efforts to ameliorate conditions of Holocaust survivors in Europe's D.R camps, brought about a greater sense of unity within the Jewish collective. Demobilized Jewish soldiers with their young families began a mass exodus from urban centers to suburbia. In the absence of a "Jewish atmosphere" in these towns, the synagogue became the central Jewish institution in communities which sprang up all over the American continent. The first thing synagogues always did, was to establish an afternoon religious school for their children. This was a period of dramatic growth of congregational schools, most of them under the aegis of Conservative synagogues. These schools had fewer teaching hours than community Talmud Torah frameworks that had hitherto served most city children (except for the few who attended Jewish day schools, and for the Reform sector which supported Sunday schools). The Conservative educational 207 system required its schools to have classes three days a week for at least five years before Bar/Bat Mitzvah age. The Conservative leadership saw in the afternoon school a solution to the problems of American-Jewish education. However, it was clear that in order to attain serious, long term goals, there must be supplementary educational bodies. This was especially true if a future generation of Jewish communal leaders was to emerge. In 1948, for example, only seven students reeived degrees as Hebrew teachers from the Teachers Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary; thirteen more students graduated in 1950. Only a small number of these came from congregational schools. This dilemma clearly called for new Conservative educational frameworks. The new strategy was to include nursery-kindergartens (full-day), afternoon schools (six hours per week), a program of secondary education, and summer camps. In addition, there would be programs for university students and adult classes. The notion of summer camps under Conservative aegis was therefore an integral part of an all-encompassing design for widening educational possibilities within the movement, and in order to serve the needs of its congregants. One of the principal architects of these innovations was Dr. Moshe Davis of the Jewish Theological Seminary who had been active in the founding of Camps Massad. He was motivated by the hope that campers would acquire a knowledge of Jewish sources through the Hebrew language. The need to provide spiritual leadership for the growing number of Conservative congregations also weighed on the mind of Professor Mordecai M. Kaplan, Dean of the Teacher's Institute of the J.T.S. He supported the establishment of the Leaders' Training Fellowship (LTF), which was designed for post- Bar/Bat Mitzvah youth who would continue their Hebrew studies and participate in cultural, religious and social activities with the aim of developing an elite to serve the Conservative constituency. The next logical step was a summer camp. The immediate impetus for summer camping came from outside the Seminary — from the community itself. Among the first initiators was Rabbi Ralph Simon of Chicago whose children had attended Camp Massad. His enthusiasm for the idea of Hebrew educational camping sparked the interest of several laymen in the Chicago and Mid-West regional leadership of the United Synagogue of America. A group of such people turned to Davis, Kaplan's successor as Dean of the Teacher's Institute, to support the establishment of a camp in the Mid-West, under J.T.S. supervision. Thus, Camp Ramah in Wisconsin opened in 1947. In 1950, Ramah in the Poconos was organized, and 1953 saw the opening of Ramah in Connecticut (later moved to Palmer, Mass.). An attempt was made to set up a Ramah Camp in Maine (1948), but it closed after a single season. As of summer 1981, the Ramah network consisted of six over-night and one day-camp (Nyack, N.Y.), in addition to Ramah programs in Israel. 108 RAMAH BEGINNINGS The "Ramah Committee", a small group of interested Jews that functioned as the supervisory board of the first camps, became in the course of time, the National Ramah Commission comprised of representatives of the J.T.S., the Rabbinical Assembly, the United Synagogue and the regional bodies of the Conservative movement. The national Ramah director heads the operations; he and the individual camp directors set administrative and educational policy, with each camp director exercising wide authority in implementing and adapting policies to local needs according to their own judgment. This explains the distinct differences among the various camps. In the beginning, educational policy was supervised by the academic staff of the Teachers's Institute. From this precedent, a practice developed of inviting a professor in residence to each camp. He serves as the authority on religious matters and as principal educational personality for both campers and staff. Camp Ramah is a "learning community" in which everyone — campers, staff and administrators — participate. Campers study an hour and a half, five days a week; the staff, including waiters, take courses depending on the educational personnel available; administrators listen to lectures given by the professor in residence. The Ramah network enjoys organizational benefits derived from its being part of a national movement. Every Conservative synagogue — its religious and educational leaders, and active members (Board of Directors, Education Committee, Sisterhood, etc.) — is involved, at least theoretically, in recruiting campers. Many synagogues award scholarships to youngsters needing financial aid, as well as to outstanding pupils. In the golden age of the congregational school, before the recent decline in standards and content, efforts were made to foster a camp atmosphere during the school year among pupils who attended Ramah. This took the form of adapting the school curriculum to materials taught at camp. At times, L.T.F. served as the framework for teenager enrichment programs. The camp season lasted a full two months, except for Ramah in California which had two one-month cycles. In the mid-seventies other Ramah camps began to permit half season attendance. This arrangement helped solve numerous problems, including those arising from changes in the Jewish family structure. Children of divorced parents could spend half of their vacation period with the parent with whom they did not live, and the other half, at a summer camp. Despite steep rises in camp tuition (about $2100 for a full season), 1986 found Ramah camps almost filled. 209 THE IDEA AND ITS REALIZATION Since the founding of its first camp, Ramah has undergone periodic changes in its educational aims. Regardless of local differences, it is possible however, to generalize about several phases of development. 1947-1951 were years of groping. The educational philosophy was cautious and conservative; emphasis was on enriching the synagogue school curriculum. This included improving Hebrew language skills and attempts to make Hebrew a living language as part of the camps' daily life; the learning of texts (Pentateuch, Prophets, Writings, Mishnah); and camper participation in religious rites in accordance with Conservative practice. Coming to terms with traditional literary sources was the focus of the learning process. Teachers of the J.T.S. deemed this encounter with text and interpretation to be the very heart of the Jewish experience. Thus, one goal of textual analysis was to develop attitudes which would enable both campers and teachers to take part in the experience, and thereby belong to the Jewish tradition. Even during those early years of Ramah, there were numerous emphases and priorities that differed from those at Massad. Officially, a moderate Zionist spirit — American style — pervaded Ramah, but "Americanism" was fiercely guarded. In the summer of 1950 (two years after the proclamation of the Jewish state), Ramah's leadership in the Poconos decided not to raise the Israeli flag on the camp's flag-pole. The rationale for that decision was two-fold: a) "American Jews are not entitled to the privilege of raising the Israeli flag because nothing prevents them from making Aliyah and settling in Israel; and b), according to American law, it is forbidden to raise the flag of a foreign state."1 In place of Israel's flag, a special banner was introduced. It was blue and white, but substituted the symbol of the Ten Commandments for the Magen David. (The Ten Commandments were the ensignia of the United States Army Jewish Chaplaincy Corps.) Soon thereafter, a group of Massad counsellors "invaded" Camp Ramah at night (the two camps were located near each other), and took down the special flag, replacing it with the Israeli flag. The Massad Committee apologized for the incident: "We are duty bound to say that what was done by some of our Massad youth to your special flag was perpetrated without our knowledge.

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