Camp Ramah Wisconsin, the Conservative Judaism movement’s summer camp located in Conover, is “not just a Jewish education camp for kids, but for the staff” as well, said Hillel Prombaum of La Crosse.
Prombaum, 19, should know. As son of Keren and Rabbi Saul (Simcha) Prombaum, he started at the camp as a “staff brat” when his father worked there, became a camper and this year, served as counselor for 12-year-old campers.
And Talia Goldblatt, 21, also should know. Originally from Minneapolis, she is a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in psychology and Hebrew, who returned last spring from a year abroad at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She began at Ramah as a camper in 1995 and is now the camp’s assistant programming director.
Both said they enjoy the training they receive as much as the work with the campers. Goldblatt said she plans to return to camp after graduation, though she’s not sure in what capacity she will be working.
“There are things to do even after college graduation, especially if you want to study Jewish education and be involved in the Jewish community in the future,” she said.
As for Prombaum, not only does he “recognize how important it is for kids to live in a strong Jewish community” that they may not have at home, but also,“This is my Jewish community every year.”
And as the Web site for employment at all the Ramah camps (www.ramahjobs.org) states: “Because Ramah is committed to study, everyone from the camp director to the youngest camper engages in Talmud Torah — the ongoing study of Jewish text and Judaica — and everyone is encouraged to spend time with the many rabbis and Jewish educators to increase his/her knowledge in specific areas of Judaism that he/she finds appealing.”
According to the camp’s director, Rabbi David Soloff, who has held that position since 1975, Camp Ramah Wisconsin has some 450 campers in grades six through 11. Working with them are more than 200 staff members, bunk counselors, specialists and educators.
Staff training takes place in three blocs: An introductory two-day period around Memorial Day; then an intensive week before the campers arrive; then ongoing training throughout the eight-week camping session.
During camp sessions, counselors engage in “formal training” in one-hour sessions held three times a week, in such matters as communication skills and programming skills; plus “two separate hours a week of Judaica, studying classical Jewish texts,” said Soloff.
Staff members also participate in two all-staff seminars “dealing with issues of modern Israel and Jewish belief and practice, or Jewish history,” said Soloff.
For these, noted scholars come to the camp, like historian Jonathan D. Sarna of Brandeis University, author of “American Judaism: A History,” or Joel Roth, professor of Talmud and Jewish law at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
In an e-mail from Israel, Sarna told The Chronicle that he is “deeply impressed by the program. The high level of Hebrew use at the camp, the seriousness of the staff and the existence of a beit midrash all help to create a real culture of learning at the camp…. The camp is a model of what Jewish educational camping can achieve.”
Such education both “greatly enriches the staff members’ ability to work here” and is “one reason they are attracted” to doing so, said Soloff.
Goldblatt said she and other staff members found it enjoyable to hear “quality people speak to us” about “what is changing in the Jewish world” and about “different perspectives of Conservative Judaism.”
And Prombaum said this is certainly one of the reasons that “I love this place” and keep coming back. “I don’t even know what I would do if I were not here for the summer,” he said. “It’s something I’m proud to be a part of.”
