Howard Blas's Posts

Original Article Published On Camp Ramah Wisconsin

Thanks to a special partnership with Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, several Eagle River businesses are helping provide meaningful job training and work experiences for members of Atzmayim. Participants in this vocational program, serving young adults ages 18-22, come to breakfast each day dressed for work. They then head out to their jobs in our local community at Eagle River Roasters, Trigs grocery store and Walgreens pharmacy.

In past years, Atzmayim participants have also worked at a local children’s museum, toy store and resort. Some members of the program work at Camp Ramah. Charlie currently works in the kitchen and does dining room set up between breakfast and lunch. Andre, a graduate of Atzmayim, is a full summer salaried employee in the woodworking and arts departments. He proudly points out Adirondack chairs he has helped build, various things he has sewn, and hand washing signs he has made.

At Eagle River Roasters, Praveena works independent of a job coach.  She starts her day by tidying up the outdoor garden dining area. She then sweeps the floor of the roasting room, places labels on coffee bags and organizes shelves in the café gift shop.  Owner Daniel Beihoff, who has a nephew with autism, is pleased with Praveena’s work and with the long-standing relationship with Camp Ramah.  “We and our customers get a lot out of it.”  He and members of his team have come out to camp for meals and to see plays, his coffee is served in the dining hall and a special Ramah coffee blend is available for purchase at camp. “It takes a village. We are one big circle. We are all in this together and we all have something to offer!”

At Walgreen’s, Elijah and Nathan work with their Ramah job coaches as they sweep, stock, and perform the crucial job of “outdating.” They carefully check the expiration date of such products as candy, batteries and medicine and pull from shelves if they are too close to the date.

Four participants—Sasha, Nathaniel, Lily and Molly—work at Trig’s grocery store where they keep the freezer section clean, make sure “facing” of products on shelves is done properly and keep the dining area clean. Several participants assist cashiers with bagging groceries. Several proud participants were excited when they received tips from satisfied customers!

While learning a job skill is important, the “soft skills” of a job are equally important.  At the various job sites, employees learn to interact appropriately and professionally with customers. They learn to greet customers and answer questions, how to stay on task, sign in, use the break room, ask for assistance and dress professionally.   

It is our hope that the experience from these various work settings will help Atzmayim participants be “employment-ready” when they return home!

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Original Article Published On Ramah Boston

As the director of the National Ramah Tikvah Network, I have the privilege of visiting our Ramah camps and helping directors and Tikvah directors support children and young adults with disabilities as they are included in the camp community. I have visited every overnight camp at least once and am visiting three of our day camps this summer. What a treat to see Ramah Day Camp Greater Boston in action last week — during Yom Sport! 

While the quality of programming, variety of activities, great structure and responsible, enthusiastic staff are all worthy of blog posts, I would like to focus on the seamless and intentional inclusion of campers with support needs that was apparent as I walked the grounds and met with Rabbi Silverman and Tzviyah Kusnitz, the Tikvah (inclusion) director. Most camps are committed to including people with disabilities. New camps often make the understandable decision to get established for a year or two before introducing people with disabilities into the community. At the Boston Day Camp, campers and staff with visible and invisible disabilities have been included and supported from the start; they are contributing a great deal to camp.

Rabbi Silverman received a call from the parents of Binny, a young man in the community in search of a vocational training program. She and her staff developed a plan for Binny: he joins campers on the bus to and from camp each day, sets the Chadar Ochel (dining room) for lunch, distributes snacks, and participates in Jewish learning, chugim (electives) and more. 

When I contacted Rabbi Silverman about a 54-year-old former camper of mine from the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah New England who was hoping to work for a week or two at camp while on vacation from his job at a Boston supermarket (yes – we have been in touch all these years!), she reminded me that she did not formally offer a job training or supported employment program, but she would be happy to interview him and see if he might be a good fit for an open position. Matthew had expressed interest in so many areas of camp. He will soon arrive to work as an assistant on the sports staff. 

While the program that supports people with disabilities at the Boston Day Camp is in its infancy, Tzviyah has provided training and tools to enable staff to support their campers with various disabilities and support needs. For example, Tzviyah recognized that some campers need a quieter space for lunch and a quieter space was found. A sensory space has been established for campers who might need a break from their regular routine. In addition to working with the staff, Tzviyah communicates with parents and professionals as well.

The campers with disabilities clearly benefit from the support that camp provides. One thing I have learned in my nearly 40 years connected to the Tikvah Program at Ramah is that everyone benefits by having this at camp. Ramah Boston is on the road to changing attitudes through its inclusion of campers and staff with different abilities. I can’t wait to see how these efforts at Ramah Boston will continue to grow!

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Original Article Published on Camp Ramah New England

What a privilege to return for 24 hours to Camp Ramah in New England, the special place that turned me on to Tikvah, disabilities inclusion and vocational training way back in 1984. I have been connected to Ramah and Tikvah ever since and currently serve as director of our National Ramah Tikvah Network.

During my Palmer visit, I was eager to see the newly expanded vocational training building (“Voc Ed”) and share a little history of the building and the program with the staff. It all came back to me as I looked up from our afternoon voc ed staff meeting in the screened in porch and noticed the dedication plaque for the voc ed building from exactly 30 years ago-July 11, 1993—donated by the uncle of Jennifer Horn, a camper I remember very well.

I shared with the staff memories of the Pre Voc room, precursor to the Voc Ed program, which the visionary Tikvah directors, Herb and Barbara Greenberg, established in an old building near the agam. In the pre voc room, Tikvah campers developed such skills folding, filing, following directions and others potentially needed to secure and succeed at a job. I shared stories of the Voc Ed building itself, where participants learned to do laundry, cook and bake, and interact appropriately at a job site. I noted how I am still in touch with a 54-year-old former camper who has been working at a grocery store in Boston for decades and shared stories of others who have gone on to employment at camp and in their home communities.

What a treat to see the newly expanded building, with built in air conditioning and comfortable living quarters, designed to serve even more Voc Ed participants. And how lucky I was to serve as a job coach for the day, helping participants pack snacks for each bunk in camp. I was proud of former campers who have now progressed to the Voc program. Voc Eders currently perform such vital jobs in camp as chadar ochel (dining hall) set up, food prep, working at Café Roo (Ramah’s fancy coffee bar), sorting and delivering mail and packages and working in childcare at the gan.

Voc Ed is a valued and contributing part of the Ramah community. The expanded building is a welcome addition to the program!

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band just completed the extraordinary, high energy 28 show “first leg” of their 2023 tour which and will travel to many European countries this summer before returning to the US for what is being called “stadium shows” starting with Wrigley field in Chicago on August 8th.

The 73-year-old Springsteen, who along with his similarly aged band mates, have been at it for many decades. Bruce is known for shows which have topped the 4 hour mark many times in the past.  His last tour, the 2016-17 River Tour, featured a full-length sequential performance of The River album.

In his 2023 tour, Bruce manages to touch on songs from nearly every period of his career.  He delivers such expected classics as Born to Run, Rosalita, Kitty’s Back and The E Street Shuffle.  On Opening night in Tampa—and each subsequent night—he played 2020’s “Letter To You” and “House Of A Thousand Guitars.” And he usually covers The Commodores’ “Nightshift,” Patti Smith’s “Because The Night,” and Jimmy Cliff’s “Trapped.  Each night, the crowd goes home with a smile on their faces after Bruce announces: “You have just seen “the heart-stopping, pants-dropping, hard-rocking, booty-shaking, love-making, earth-quaking, Viagra-taking, death-defying, legendary E Street Band.”.

So what is different about the 2023 tour?

First, it is a post-pandemic welcome back concert of sorts for tens of thousands. And in the Jewish tradition, we may say it is blessing worthy.  While crowds this size may not qualify for reciting the Chacham Harazeem blessing the Talmud instructs us to recite upon seeing 600,000 Jews in one place (“Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the Universe, knower of secrets”), we can certainly acknowledge to have so many (mostly maskless fans) assembled together singing and dancing together in one place.  Perhaps we can recite the Shehechanu prayer to express our appreciation.  Thanks, Bruce.   [https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-blessing-recited-upon-seeing-600000-jews-in-one-place-a-lesson-in-perspective/)]

Second, the band is perhaps the biggest, most diverse and inclusive of any previous tour.  The stage is filled with Bruce’s core E. Street Band– the Jewish Might Max Weinberg on drums (71), guitarist Stevie van Zandt (72), guitarist Nils Lofgren (71), bass player Gary Tallent (73), Professor Roy Bittan (73-also Jewish!) and Charlie Giordano (68) on keyboards, violinist Soozie Tyrell (65) and Bruce’s “young” wife, Pati Scialfa (69) who plays many nights but rumor has it that she takes nights off from time to time to check in on her own elderly mother, Patricia and Bruce’s 98-year-old mother, Adele.   The late sax player, Clarence Clemons’ nephew, Jake Clemons, rounds out the core band on sax.  There are also four singers (“The E Street Choir”), four horn players, and a second percussionist,  Anthony Almonte, who has worked with many Latin artists.

Third, Bruce goes above and beyond to model so many important ideas about self-care, self-awareness and human relations.  Bruce looks great physically, he sounds great, and he has the energy level of a 20-something.  How many 70-somethings, much less 40-somethings can run around the stage and arena singing and playing for 2 hours and 45 minutes with no break several nights a week in cities which require considerable travel to reach?

Once on stage, Bruce is tuned in to each band member, personally cueing his horn players and drummers when to play!  Fans often speak of how Bruce tunes in to them as well.  When he makes eye contact with fans in the pit, behind the stage or in the 400s way upstairs, they feel he is connecting with them only.

And, unique for this 2023 tour, Bruce openly shares his painful awareness of his own mortality. Most nights, around song 13, Bruce dismisses all but trumpet player Barry Danielian and tells the story of playing in his first band in high school, the Castiles.  He poignantly notes that in 2018, George Theiss, a band member from that band died.  This left Springsteen as the only remaining member of the band.  Springsteen wrote, “Last Man Standing” to reflect on this painful reality.

Fourth, Bruce seems to have given even more thought than usual in to the design of his setlist.  Many have criticized the static nature of the setlist, which only sees a show premiere on rare occasion (Jungle Land at MSG and TWO in Newark—Local Hero and Jersey Girl are examples).  More than one fan on greasylake.com writes, “Those who are going to multiple shows know the setlist is relatively static. (Or they are morons?”). Some speculate, “I do expect that shows might shift a bit when they go to Europe or when they return for stadium shows. But they may not.”

One insider, guitarist Little Stevie commented on the setlist recently when he was a guest on Kyle Meredith’s podcast, part of the Consequence Podcast Network. “It's an interesting choice Bruce has made. We haven't changed the set from the very first rehearsal. He just hit on what he wanted to do very early in the rehearsal process. The songs are not all from 'Letter to You' but they take on that theme. It's not exactly a linear, literal storyline from beginning to end, but it has that color of the theme that comes from the album. Especially 'Backstreets,' in particular, it takes on an entirely different meaning. Now it's about George Theiss…Yes, it is different. It is more like a Broadway show, more like a typical show of a rock band. Most rock bands don't change any songs. I know rock bands whose sets are laminated…You're telling a story and every song has a purpose.”  (quotes taken from:  https://www.app.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/03/27/bruce-springsteen-tour-2023-steven-van-zandt-consequence-podcast-interview/70052660007/?fbclid=IwAR1vEihxyviRV67tKxMFB5n_VPqTo-dVY6NK_5249Ge9KO-d2hF_66kCmlY

As I walked out of the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC on March 27just two months after I saw Bruce and the E Street opening night February 1st at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, I too reflected on the setlist.  I realized that I had seen the exact same setlist both nights.  And I was fine with that.  As a traditional Jew, I am aware that the prayers we say three times a day, as well as the megillah we read every Purim, the torah we read start to finish every year, and the haggadah we recited just over a week ago has very little or no variation.   Yet, the experience of doing the same thing day after day, year after year has the potential to be special each time.  What changes is the venue and the ambience, the guest list, the person we bring to the experience, and the awareness of our own mortality.

Thanks Bruce for making us better people each tour. Keep doing what you do, wherever you do it, and we will be there to join you!

 

 

Howard Blas

National Ramah Tikvah Network Director

מחנות רמה

National Ramah Commission, Inc.

3080 Broadway | New York, NY 10027

Cell: (413) 374-7210

Howard@campramah.org

www.CampRamah.org



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