Camp Ramah in Canada

History

Camp Ramah in Canada was founded in 1960. Murray Shiff was instrumental in founding the camp, and was its first administrator. Michael Wolf was the active camp director between the summers of 2003 and 2011. Ron Polster is the current camp director as of the 2012 summer. Aviva Millstone is the current assistant director as of the 2013 summer.

Judaica

For younger campers, each day includes a "Tarbut Yisrael" 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 lifeguarding skills. Campers who take the Bronze Medallion or Bronze Cross courses take an exam at the end of their session in order to achieve certification, 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 electives in the arts and hobbies field. Choices have included woodworking, ceramics, arts and crafts, beading, photography, hip hop dance, rock climbing, zumba, cooking, 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, handball, and aerobics.

Yom Sport

Yom Sport is the annual Camp Ramah colour war. Campers are divided into four teams, each led by two Alonim "captains". Captains for each team are one boy and one girl who must put their names forward for the role, and are voted on by their edah. There is one male rosh and one female rosh, who serve as "heads" of the colour war, and who also are voted on by their edah. Two male judges and two female 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 an Alonim-lead break out in the dining hall at lunch, designed to get the entire camp's attention. 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 (gymnasium) 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 cycle 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, during which campers are encouraged to run around camp cheering for their team. 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. Each team has several cheers, and throughout all of Yom Sport, everyone cheers as loud as they can. Alonim celebrates 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.

Other

Along with these official activities, there are other "peulot" created by the staff. Whether these peulot are done by cabin, by edah, or even with the whole camp, they vary from the highly educational to the very silly. On Yom Meyuchad, or "special day," each edah experiences a different-themed day, planned out by their staff. Some of these include Yom High School for Nachshonim, or Yom Israel for the whole camp, which is run by mishlachat (staff members from Israel). Other unofficial camp activities include laying on the migrash," chilling in a hammock, or playing freeze with one's cabin at mealtimes.

Walkbacks

A walkback is essentially Camp Ramah's version of a date. After Havdallah - the service separating Shabbat from the rest of the week - a male camper will walk a female camper back to her cabin. This usually takes the couple around the migrash at Camp Ramah, providing a "romantic" situation for both campers. Walkbacks are more common in older edot, usually beginning in K'firim. A male camper usually approaches the female camper to ask her on a "walkback."

Last Night

The last night of camp starts with a banquet, which is a special dinner put together by Alonim with a theme, sets, and higher quality food than usual. Then there is slide show, chronicling the summer in photos, and then the last peulat erev (last wills). There are countless camper traditions on the last night of camp at Camp Ramah, some docile, some frowned upon, but they continue because of the campers' undeniable love and loyalty to the camp. One of the most notable traditions is "Last Wills" on the last night of camp, where the counselors take turns comically roasting their campers. For younger edot, it is rather tame, but for the older kids it can be quite brutal. Another camp tradition along the same lines is Alonim Confessions, which also takes place on the last night of camp. During confessions, Alonimers share their deepest (often humorous) secrets among each other (i.e. Upper-deckering the girls' handicapped washroom in the Beit Am Gadol during Magshimim summer). After these ceremonies, the campers disperse and entertain themselves. Some of the most popular activities are pranks, playing with fire, cooking with hotpots, watching the sunrise, and heart-to-hearts.