Yehuda Gubani of Beit Shemesh,Israel was just honored for 25 years of service to Camp Ramah in New England. Yehuda is a gifted teacher who brings his love of Israel, Hebrew language and Yemenite culture to Ramah campers and staff.
Bryce Lavalla is a 20 year old man with Down Syndrome who wears hearing aids and can’t speak with words. Bryce also loves Tikvah davening and works each day as a member of the Ramah boating staff.
Yehuda has a gift for connecting with everyone at camp from students in his Hebrew classes, to the Eastern European kitchen workers (he also teaches them Hebrew!) to campers in the Tikvah Program.
On the last day of camp, I learned that the very modest, Yehuda had written a beautiful tribute in the mishlochot (Israeli delegation) end of year newspaper to Bryce. Yehuda described their very special friendship.
L lo Milim, Without Words is written in very poetic Hebrew. Yehuda captures how Bryce speaks to me all the time, with the language of his body, with his eyes, and in other ways. Yehuda writes

about how Bryce speaks to me all the time, tells me of love, and hugs, and about how Bryce connects with people.  Yehuda describes how Bryce is truly created B’tzelem Elokim, In God’s Image.

I was delighted when Yehuda offered to read his poem to me, translating his sophisticated piece, line by line.  How I wished I could share it with Bryce’s mother!

A few hours later, Bryce’s mom, Terry, came to pick him up Bryce.  Just as I was telling her about Yehuda, his relationship with Bryce and his poem, as if by magic, Yehuda peeked out of his house.  I tried unsuccessfully to shout to Yehuda. I tried again. Finally, he heard me and shyly came over to speak with Terry and me. Yehuda read and translated the poem (see the photo, above).  Terry was truly moved by this very special man, and his love for her son who proves that one can truly communicate without speaking.

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Original Article Published on The Jerusalem Post

With the exception of King David, Samson and members of the Israel Defense Forces, Jews have not historically been viewed as great fighters. Enter Yuri Foreman – a Russian-born, Israeli boxer who is also studying to become an Orthodox rabbi!

The 29-year-old professional Jewish boxer recently spent Shabbat in New York City. As soon as he made havdalah and ended Shabbat, he was quickly driven to the world famous Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, where he was scheduled to take on Miguel Cotto in a 12 round, super welterweight championship fight. The fight was scheduled to start at the unusually late time of 10:15p.m – to accommodate his Sabbath observance.

In an HBO interview, Foreman, dressed casually and sporting one of his trademark cool hats, said, I am the first Jewish world champion to also be connected to religion, and to be studying to be a rabbi. The rabbinical student was thinking of yet another Jewish fighter. On my way to a fight, I always have in mind that Jewish history produced a lot of fighters, perhaps not prize fighters, but throughout the Bible there were a lot of tremendous fighters. For example, Abraham was spiritual, but at the same time was no stranger to the sword.

Foreman was born in the town of Gomel in Belarus. He lived in a very small apartment with his parents, grandmother, uncle, aunt and cousin. He started off as a swimmer, and the thin, not-particularly-muscular Foreman used to get picked on daily.

One day, after getting beaten up badly by bullies, his mother walked in to a boxing gym and demanded that the teacher make a man out of her seven-year-old son. At age nine, Yuri and his family moved to Israel, where the new immigrants were quite poor. At first, Yuri had a hard time fitting in – he was learning a new language, he had an accent, and he was self-conscious about how little his family had in his new country.

Yuri started boxing at a predominantly Arab gym. The facilities weren’t great, and there wasn’t a lot of equipment.

Yuri began to wonder if he would ever make it as a boxer. His life was taking a downward turn; his mother died, and he figured he would end up working with his father doing odd jobs or on a factory line. However, Yuri persevered, and managed to win three national boxing championships in Israel. He then decided that if he ever wanted to have a shot at making it big, he would need to leave Israel and train elsewhere.

Yuri moved to Brooklyn, New York and stayed with one of his former Israeli trainers. By day he worked in the garment district of Manhattan as a delivery boy and store cleaner. He trained each night at Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn, where he eventually met his wife, Leyla Leidecker, a former model and amateur boxer herself! The two were searching for meaning and decided to check out a Kabbalah class. By total coincidence, the rabbi at the class suggested that life is like a boxing match! He went on to explain, As long as you are upright and breathing, there is still a chance to win! Yuri was inspired, and made a strong connection with the rabbi; so strong, in fact, that Foreman decided to embark on the long journey to become an Orthodox rabbi.

How does Foreman reconcile being both a yeshiva student and a boxer? In an interview with a local daily paper, Foreman said, Boxing is sometimes spiritual in its own way. You have physical and mental challenges in boxing, just like you have lots of challenges in exploring the different levels of Judaism. They are different but the same. Many who have seen the 66 kilo, clean shaven, handsome Foreman in person, or on one of the many American TV shows on which he has appeared, find it hard to believe that this slight, soft-spoken gentleman is also a boxer.

Foreman certainly is a champion and quite tough in the ring. He is often described as a perimeter boxer. As an amateur boxer, Foreman had an impressive 75-5 record and in 2001 won the New York Golden Gloves competition. He turned pro in 2002 and, prior to the Cotto fight, was undefeated in 29 matches. Foreman insists all the success and attention has not changed who he is. Listen, everything stays the same. When I come home and my wife tells me to do the chores, I do them. I still have the same friends, I still take out the garbage, and I still ride my bicycle to the gym for my workouts.

In the days and weeks leading up to the fight, Foreman attended a Yankees game, appeared in several TV shows and served as Grand Marshall for New York City’s Salute to Israel Parade.

On the night of the big Miguel Cotto fight, Foreman entered the ring wearing his traditional Star of David boxing trunks. Following Hatikvah, Hava Nagilah and the sounding of the shofar, Foreman entered. He fought hard but sadly, he tripped in the seventh round, injuring his ankle and knee. Foreman wasn’t the same after that. In the ninth round, he went down and the referees stopped the fight and awarded a TKO, a technical knock out, to Cotto.

Foreman may have lost his first professional fight but, keep an eye out, as the 29-1 raging rabbinical student is sure to be back!

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History buffs might be able to recall a few key events from the year 1970. For example, U.S. troops invaded Cambodia, four students were killed at Kent State, the Beatles broke up, both Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin died, Monday Night Football debuted on ABC and a first class stamp was just 6 cents. In the Jewish world, Israel was still excited three years after winning the Six Day War, Golda Meir was the Prime Minister, and Israel was engaged in a War of Attrition. In Long Island, New York, two special education teachers, Herb and Barbara Greenberg, had a vision. They were dreaming of opening a Jewish summer camp program for children with special needs.

As the Greenbergs tell the story, various Jewish camps had already rejected this proposal. In early 1970, their plan was presented to the National Ramah Commission. Ramah camps and directors expressed fears that the presence of a mentally and/or emotionally handicapped group in the camp community would disrupt the structure of the camp. Greenberg further reports, “The leaders of Ramah felt that a program that introduced children with disabilities into the camp would create anxiety, both among the other campers and among the staff They also worried that some parents might be afraid to send their children to camp if THESE children were there
Donald Adelman (zl), the Director of Camp Ramah in Glen Spey, New York, was the lone dissenter, the only Ramah director who really wanted this program. He took an enormous risk, and he staked his whole career on it. He saw it as a moral responsibility toward those with special needs. Adelman had insisted that if there was no room at Ramah for Tikvah, then the whole point of the camp would be lost. This is what Ramah should be, and I insist on having it, said Adelman boldly.

Eight campers participated in the Tikvah Program in 1970. In 2010, fifty campers ages 13-35 participate in the various components of the Tikvah Program at Camp Ramah in New England. And nearly 200 campers participate in Ramah special needs camp programs each summer, from Wisconsin to Canada to California.

This past Sunday, 125 former campers, staff members, parents and friends of Tikvah participated in the Tikvah at 40 Celebration and Reunion at Camp Ramah in Palmer, MA. Dana, now 37, flew alone to spend Shabbat at Ramah, where she was a Tikvah camper, member of the vocational training program, and employee. Matthew, a camper from my 1985 bunk, came with his girlfriend–armed with old yearbooks, newspapers, and enlarged photos of yours truly with much longer, curlier hair! Counselors came to be photographed in front of their old bunks, with their old co-counselors and campers. All in attendance toured the fully accessible Tikvah Village and the Greenberg Tikvah Guest House, built to honor the pioneering efforts of the Greenbergs. They helped make a Tikvah at 40 quilt, played in the 6th Annual Shapell Classic Softball Game (in memory of a camper who died several years ago), and they schmoozed over burgers and dogs.

I have never been much of a reunion guy. But today was different. As the last car pulled out of camp Sunday evening, I looked back on my 16 years with Tikvah, and reflected on just how far we have come. I had a smile on my face and a tear in my eye. Can’t wait for Tikvah at 50, 60 even 70!

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We were pleased to host Stan Goldman, Program Director (Disabilities, and Education, Children, Youth, and Families) and Trustee Barry Schloss of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation. Highlights included a special tour of the Tikvah Village, Voc Ed Building and Tikvah Greenberg Guest House.  Our guests enjoyed a specially prepared lunch by Chef Sean, in our Voc Ed Building, hosted by Tikvah Director, Howard Blas, Director Rabbi Ed Gelb and National Ramah Director of Development, Avi Friedman. The day concluded with an inspiring meeting with third year Amitzim counselor, Elisheva Layman, Inclusion Specialist,  Elizabeth Chipkin, and four very articulate campers who are Bogrim Buddies and long time bunk mates and friends of a camper who is supported by our inclusion program.

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