Original Article Published On The New York Jewish Week

When the Tikvah Program for campers with disabilities was started in 1970 at Camp Ramah in New England, no one imagined a day when people with disabilities would be meaningfully included in Jewish camping. Now, 45 years later, every Ramah camp in the United States and Canada serves people with disabilities. The National Ramah Tikvah Network includes overnight camp programs, day camp programs, vocational educational programs, family camps and retreats and Israel programs. At Ramah, inclusion is natural, seamless and expected.

Tikvah began as a camping program, in one Ramah location, for campers aged 13 to 18. From the start, Tikva’s visionary founders, Herb and Barbara Greenberg, envisioned a day when the campers would grow up and desire opportunities to become productive citizens. Years before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law, the Greenbergs taught campers pre-vocational training skills such as following directions, appropriate dress, interacting with supervisors and co-workers and performing various jobs around camp. In 1993, Tochnit Avodah, the newly expanded vocational education program, moved into a newly designed vocational training building: an apartment-like complex with a full kitchen, washer and dryer and living area. Participants ages 18-22 spent a few hours each morning at job sites throughout camp.

Twenty-five years after ADA and after many years of running vocational training programs for people with disabilities at four of our Ramah camps (California, Canada, New England and Wisconsin), we have learned a lot about the realities of job training and employment for people with disabilities. Guiding our work is the Americans with Disabilities Act, which makes it unlawful to discriminate in employment against a qualified individual with a disability, and a staggering 2014 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that only 17.1 percent of persons with a disability were employed. And this number may be high. At Camp Ramah in New England, parents worry their adult children will fall off the cliff after high school ends. In response, we have extended the graduation age for our voc ed program. We continue to partner with foundations and individuals like the Ruderman Family Foundation, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Poses Family Foundation, and the Ramah Israel Bike Ride and Hiking Trip, who share our mission. We recently hired outside consultants to help identify job clusters within camp that may help our participants obtain employment in the outside world, and we have hired outside job coaches to assist. We expanded our job offerings in camp to include food services (through our dining room, bakery and Café Ramah), hospitality (through our six-room Tikvah Guest House), machsan (supply room), mercaz (mail, package and fax room) and more.

Our network of Tikvah Programs will continue to innovate in order to provide vocational training opportunities for people with disabilities. We hope and pray for the day where hiring people with disabilities will be as natural and commonplace as including campers with disabilities at Ramah camps. Click to read more about the vocational education programs at Ramah camps and about the voc ed program at Ramah New England.

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The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, New York, home of the US Open, where more than 700,000 tennis fans will watch the top men’s and women’s players from around the world compete for a staggering $42,253,400 in prize money seems a very unlikely place for High Holiday inspiration. Yet, a non-Jewish player with a very Jewish neshama, has a lot to teach us about introspection and spiritual preparation-important lessons as the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe approach. While other players are giving post-match press conferences which focus on the match itself, Mardy Fish is speaking about the difficult road he has traveled these past three years.

Mardy Fish, 33, is an unlikely Elul inspiration though he happens to be married to Stacey Gardner, a Jewish lawyer, model and former host of Deal or No Deal. The two were married in 2008 under a chuppah with close friend, tennis player, James Blake serving as groomsman

Fish is best known for a successful tennis career where he won six tournaments on the main ATP Tour, he reached the finals in the 2004 Olympics, and was in the quarterfinals in the 2007 Australian Open, the 2008 US Open, and the 2011 Wimbledon Championships. In April 2011, Fish overtook fellow American and close friend, Andy Roddick to become the American No. 1 in the ATP rankings. Fish earned more than $7.3 million in prize money as a professional tennis player, and he reached a career high of 7th in the world.

Then, in 2012, everything began to change. Fish began to experience some health problems which impacted his tennis career. At first, Fish reported fatigue as the reason for not playing during the European clay court season. He also withdrew from the 2012 French Open. During the year, he was treated for sever cardiac arrhythmia and had cardiac catheter ablation to correct cardiac arrhythmia. Fish used a heart monitor regularly and experienced sleep difficulties.

Ranked 23rd for the US Open, Fish withdrew in the 4th round before his match with Roger Federer. As Fish and his wife were about to leave the gate to return to Los Angeles, his wife saw how Fish had panicked and his heart was racing. Gardner insisted they got off the plane, and they chartered a private jet five days later. Fish was afraid to leave the house for three months.

Fish continued to experience crippling anxiety and panic attack for thirty minutes each day. He was eventually diagnosed with anxiety disorder and panic attacks.

Fish hasn’t played much tennis since 2012. In 2013, he competed in 9 matches, took up golf, and spent a lot of time with his young son, Beckett. Fish recently decided to return to Queens to play in one last US Open; he will retire when he is no longer in the tournament.

In preparation for his retirement, Fish has played in some recent tournaments. He lost in the first round of a tournament this summer in Atlanta to Israeli Dudi Sela, and lost in the second round in Cincinnati to Andy Murray. He has also had some success in doubles this summer.

But most importantly, Fish has come a long way in these three years and is an inspiration to all who hear his story. Fish has become a spokesperson for anxiety and panic disorder and for mental illness. And Fish is an inspiration to sportswriters.

After US Open matches, players are required to speak to members of the media, if requested. Some players, especially in the early rounds, don’t attract much attention. And questions tend to focus on the match just played, on the upcoming opponent, etc. The Fish post-match conference was attended by 40 or 50 reporters and photographers. The transcript of the Mardy Fish press conference filled four typed pages, with most questions focusing on his anxiety disorder. The transcript could not adequately capture Fish’s calm, thoughtful demeanor.

Fish entered the interview room, freshly showered after his first round US Open match (Monday) on the Grandstand court. He had just defeated 102nd ranked Marco Cecchniato of Italy 6-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-3. The crowd was clearly behind Fish “We love you Mardy Fish!” “All these years, we’ll appreciate you!”

One reporter asked what exactly anxiety disorder is. “Well, anxiety disorder is when your mind takes over and usually goes into the future and sort of predicts what you think is going to happen, and usually it’s bad stuff.”  Another reporter asked about other athletes with anxiety issues. Fish noted that several tennis players — men and women — have approached him confidentially, to speak about anxiety. He noted that he sought out roles models in the sports world with the same issue who had “beaten it” or who had success with it and were able to come back again.” But he wasn’t able to find those people.”

So HE has become that person. “It helps me personally to be open and talk about it.” When asked what he would want his legacy to be as a player and as a role model, he said, “I just hope to help people — it helps me to talk about it. Maybe it helps other people to talk about it.”

Fish’s introspection and honesty struck me as very appropriate and inspiring for the pre-Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur season. During Elul, the month before Rosh HaShanah, we examine how we have behaved during the past year, and we think about how we can improve our behavior in the coming year. We consider atonement, ask forgiveness, reconcile, and to seek closeness with God. Fish has clearly accepted who he is and he has made an action plan to heal — both himself, and the world. He helps others by speaking openly about mental illness, and he has been working with Athlete Ally, an organization which combats homophobia in sports.

As I watched Fish playing on the same courts where his difficulties started three short years ago, I thought of the Rambam, Moses Maimonides, in Hilchot Teshuva, Laws of Repentance. What is complete teshuva? When a person has the opportunity to commit the same sin and he possesses the ability to do it, but he separates and does not do it because of teshuva — and not out of fear or lack of strength. Fish did nothing wrong. He does not need to “do teshuva.” But I think he is taking Rambam’s advice — he is going back to the place where his troubles started, and he is gaining mastery. “I desperately wanted to come back and change that narrative,” Fish told reporters. “I feel really good.”

May we all work to achieve a level of honesty and comfort with ourselves and our lives and to write new narratives. And may we all get home safely (and in time) from the men’s finals on Erev Rosh Hashana. Shana Tova

(Source: http://blogs.timesofisrael.com)

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The Original Article

Everyone at Camp Ramah in New England calls the elderly Israeli man in charge of our nagarut (woodworking) department “Ron Im HaZakan,” Ron with the Beard.  Ron has a long gray beard and has been coming to camp for many years. “Where is David this year?” Ron asks me in Hebrew when he arrives at camp.  This requires a long answer so we sit down. I explain that David and his family made Aliyah (emigrated to Israel) on December 29th.  Ron chokes back tears and uses the Hebrew word “miragesh”—emotional, overwhelming. “David has been talking of Aliyah for so many years,” recalls Ron. “I am so happy and proud!”

With David’s Aliyah comes the end of a distinguished career at Camp Ramah. While David is a man of few words, he made a great impact on hundreds of campers and staff members over his 28 year tenure in the Ramah New England community.  David Dalnekoff started at camp as a 13 year old camper in the Tikvah Program for campers with disabilities, and continued on to Tochnit Avodah, our vocational training program.  In recent years, he has been a full time member of our summer camp staff, working in our mercaz, the mail, package and fax center.  David is perhaps best known for pulling a red wagon enroute to delivering mail and packages to all buildings in camp—always cheerful and with a smile on his face.

During David’s free time, he always carried a history book under his arm and made time to learn Hebrew with a member of our Israeli delegation. And he always spoke about Aliyah. Most people smiled. Few thought this would ever become a reality.

In early January, I received a photo of a smiling David on the streets of Jerusalem- a selfie sent by Devora, a former guide of several Ramah Israel Tikvah Program trips.  David was a participant on the program and both were happy to see each other. Avi, a current counselor in the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England, where David “got his start,” was recently staying with his Birthright group at the Ramada hotel, and spotted David there.  David is a dedicated worker in the kitchen, often asked to work overtime- beyond his already long 3 to 11 shift.  David’s parents, Stanley and Donna, who also made aliya to Jerusalem and have many friends and family members in Israel, laugh as they note how many people in Israel David knows.  They include fellow Ramah staff members, tour guides and more.

Julie Zuckerman, a former counselor of David’s in the 1980s and longtime resident of Modiin Israel, observes, “One of David’s jobs at camp is delivering the mail, which may be one of the reasons the campers are always happy to see him headed their way. But I suspect it goes deeper than that: with David’s presence, generations of campers and counselors have learned what it means to be an inclusive community. They know that camp is a place that actively works to find a place for graduates of its special needs program, and by doing so it enriches the lives of everyone in the community.”

David may hold the distinction of being the longest term member of the Camp Ramah in New England camper and staff community.  But it is his kindness which makes him truly wonderful. He is gentle, he remembers each person’s name, and he has shown the extraordinary abilities that often go hand in hand with disabilities. 

When I spoke with David upon his arrival in Israel he reported, “I am enjoying being in Israel. Unpacked, walked around Jerusalem, tomorrow will learn about the bus and train…”  When I visited with David and his family in their Jerusalem apartment four months later, David was comfortable with his new homeland and neighborhood—he knew all the local synagogues, stores and the train line which gets him to and from work each day.

I pray that David can continue to show the world- now in his new homeland of Israel- the true meaning of the word “mensch” and just what a person with disabilities is capable of accomplishing.

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Original Article Published On The Camp Ramah In New England

We have been blessed with many visitors to our Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England. Many visitors are educators and professionals in the field of disabilities and inclusion. They came from various communities and represented many denominations. Many came to observe Tikvah in action and to see people seamlessly and meaningfully included in Jewish life. And they came in search of ways to apply what we do at Ramah to their own settings. Below is a roundup of special visitors to Ramah New England this summer.

Daniel Olson is a long time staff member of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, and he has served as Rosh Atzmayim, Ramah Wisconsin’s vocational and independent living skills training program. Daniel is currently a PhD student at NYU in Education and Jewish Studies.

Daniel is interested in exploring questions of how Jewish institutions of all stripes can be more inclusive spaces for learners of all backgrounds and experiences. Daniel spent the summer visiting several Jewish summer camps, mainly observing their vocational training programs.

We at CRNE were privileged to have Daniel with us for a week. He spent his time observing, voc ed, our vocational training program for young adults with disabilities. Daniel asked lots of great questions of participants and staff members, and took copious notes! His insights are valuable as we are continuously reflecting on our work and always seeking to be the best we can be!

Seth Young, Associate Head of School for Institutional Advancement at Carmel Academy in Greenwich, CT, spent the day observing and asking many questions about our work with Amitzim and Inclusion, our camping programs for children and adolescents with disabilities. Carmel is a Jewish day school known for many things, including its very unique PALS program, Providing Alternative Learning Strategies. It is always refreshing to speak with colleagues, share stories and consider new ideas.

Several months ago, Shelley Richman Cohen, the founder and program director of the Jewish Inclusion Project, and a member of the Board of Directors of RepectAbility USA, approached me with an idea. Shelley serves as a mentor and trainer for a number of synagogues in the New York area as they seek to become more inclusive. A Manhattan rabbi asked Shelley to suggest a program which is “the best vision of what an inclusive community might look like.” Shelley immediately suggested visiting Camp Ramah in New England as it offers several models of inclusive camping in one place, as well as vocational training, and it is always evolving and adapting. As Shelley wrote to her “fellow travelers,” “We will be seeing a Jewish institutional model that integrates people with disabilities into the fabric of the community.”

We are so grateful to Shelley for organizing a day-long trip to Palmer. Thank you to Aileen Heiman (Park Slope Jewish Center), Mindy Sherry (Union Temple), Bryna Bilanow (Beth Emeth), Rabbi Heidi Hoover (Beth Emeth), Rabbi Charlie Savenor (Park Avenue Synagogue), Meagan Buren (RespectAbility) and Shelley Cohen.

Our most recent visitors included twelve educators from Gateways: Access to Jewish Education in Boston, and Francine Shron, our program officer at the Ruderman Family Foundation. Arlene Remz, the Executive Director of Gateways, is a former camper and Tikvah staff member and a huge supporter of our program. Arlene has been a great partner and always shares information about Tikvah with Gateways families. Other visitors from Gateways included: Rachel Sommer, Sharon Goldstein (former CRNE camper), Sally Wittaker, Natanya Auerbach, Deirdre Munley, Rachel Fadlon, Nancy Mager (former CRNE camper), Rebecca Redner, and Mia Hyman.

We are especially pleased to welcome Francine Shron. The Ruderman Family Foundation has been a longtime supporter of such Ramah initiatives as Shabbat is Calling, vocational training (at four Ramah camps) and of our two newest Tikvah Programs at Ramah Darom and Ramah in the Poconos. What a treat to have Francine see Tikvah in action! I suspect that a highlight for Francine and the Gateways group was seeing our Voc Ed Bakery in action—and sampling some of our wonderful baked goods.

We always enjoy welcoming visitors to Ramah New England and to Tikvah, and we look forward to offering a day-long Yom Iyyun for educators and other Jewish community professionals next summer at Camp Ramah in New England. Stay tuned for details!

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