Camp Ramah in Wisconsin

Following Nivonim, the eidah for those entering 11th grade, campers are encouraged to participate in Ramah Israel Seminar.

The property was a fishing village on the shores of Upper Lake Buckatabon owned by the Larsen family, dotted with small cabins and wild flowers.

[10] In July 2008, busloads of campers from the camp took part in a rally in support of immigrant workers at the nation's largest kosher meat plant.

Job locations include coffee shops, plant and garden supply stores, supermarkets and hotels.

Campers who do not have these liturgical skills sometimes spend their free time at camp learning how to lead services.

Shabbat is brought in all-camp Friday night services, which features campers dressing up for the evening, taking pictures in groups, and having time to sit and talk with friends and siblings.

After lunch, campers participate in Shabbat discussions, which are usually efforts to connect the weekly parsha with modern Jewish life.

Many campers and staff members are not Kashrut observant at home, so Ramah in Wisconsin may be their first exposure to keeping kosher.

[20] Hebrew classes are mandatory for campers, excluding Machon and Nivonim, who have electives, and for those who participate in the Beit Midrash Program.

Classes are taught exclusively by members of the Mishlachat, Israelis who participate in an emissaries program run by the Jewish Agency.

The Beit Midrash also includes a program called "the Northwoods Kollel", which unlike the traditional Orthodox model, is co-educational, and composed of between four and six college-age students who have usually not participated in the Ramah camping movement.

Near total immersion was once one of the effective techniques used by Ramah Wisconsin, with Hebrew usage being required to fulfill tasks such as getting food in the dining room or acquiring art supplies.

The main "Tarbut" (Hebrew for "culture") activities include: Every day, excluding Wednesdays and Saturdays, has sports periods for campers.

In addition, the camp has a beach volleyball area, and while gaga is not offered as an activity choice, it is played regularly.

At the beginning of the summer, campers are tested and placed into an American Red Cross swimming class based on their skill level.

While all other prayer areas are part of multi-purpose rooms, each eidah spends time praying in Ohel Yitzchak, the only permanent synagogue on the campus.

Named in memory of Rabbi Isaac Bonder, the synagogue has large windows that look out into the forest, and tent-like architecture.

The parochet, or ark curtain, was created by Annabelle Argand, features a tree that has just begun to bloom, reflecting the life cut short of Rabbi Bonder.

The ner tamid is a crown that is actually a ring of people holding hands and created by Israeli artist Gedaliah ben Tzvi, and the Sheviti is a paper cut by Roger Coleson, a former camp teacher who also died at an early age.

Ramah Wisconsin’s three dining rooms serve over 2,100 meals a day when camp is in full swing.

Camp begins commemoration of the day with ma’ariv in the dining halls after a seudah mafseket (a meal to prepare for a fast).

Throughout the day, campers are required to cheer in Hebrew, and often take up Israeli sports teams (Beitar, Hapoel, etc.)

This adaptation of Native American practices, one of the few at Ramah lacking either a Hebrew name or a Jewish cultural reference, replaced the original end of day event, the camp wide tug-of-war.

Elements include both the whimsical, such as of a mummy wrap, tent building, and car washing, as well as physically more demanding events such as long distance swimming and running.

Campers were responsible for their own program, and the musical interlude was a nonsensical jingle based on the doo-wop hit "Sha-boom," inspired by the songs in the dining room.

Jonathan Adam Ross, Jewish theatre artist, who has performed his first solo show, “Walking in Memphis: The Life of a Southern Jew,” Off-Broadway is also a founding company member of the Northwoods Ramah Theatre and Storahtelling, and traces his acting roots to his longtime association with Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, where he serves as long-standing director of the performing arts.

Dressed head to toe in bird fabrics and hopping on one leg, Mr. Ross debuted Bernard Melamud's, "The JewBird" first to audiences in Conover.