Reunion in Israel

The following message is posted on behalf of George Lipp, a Ramahnik from the late 60s:

My name is George Lipp, I was a camper at Ramah in the Berskshires and Palmer, Mass. around 1966-68. I can't believe it has been over forty years since those funfilled summers in my teens. I was going to be a rabbi but alas, it was not to be. I have often wondered what became of my bunkmates and other friends I played softball with and snuck out to Rondeau's ice cream parlor with and skipped services to play Risk in the woods with.

Actually, I have kept up with one or two. David Goldblum's father officiated at my wedding and Larry Browdy was the DJ at my high school 40th reunion. I saw in the news that Dore Gold was an ambassador to Israel and that Joey Wouk's father was a famous author (Joey always got THE BEST care packages).

One day a few weeks ago, all of a sudden a name popped into my head, Bob Sasportas. I was probably reading about the Red Sox. With the use of Facebook, I was able to track Bob down and reconnect after all these years and he gave me Joel Androphy's e-mail. With a little more research, I got in touch with a couple more bunkmates who have scattered around the world.

For the past 30 years, I have been organizing annual golf outings at work and also for my college fraternity Pi Lambda Phi which we use as a reunion/fund raising effort. It is very rewarding to enable friends who haven't seen each other for 10, 20, 30 years to reconnect and tell stories and have a great day.

So, where is this going? I suggested to Bob that we try to have a Ramah reunion and how cool would that be to do it in Israel and coincide with our 60th birthdays! To be honest, that venue is a little out of the way for some (not for Bob, he lives there), and a little selfish, I have never been there and would love to go. I got your e-mail address from a data base Ramah sent me and we are going to see what kind of response is out there to pull this off. Because of my work in the elections department (and we have a presidential year coming up), 2012 is a very busy year for me, I am shooting for a May 2013 Ramah reunion in Jerusalem. That gives me two years to set it up and find as many people as possible.

May 2013 is two years away, I don't expect you to make a decision now. What I do need you to do is let me know I got through to you AND you might be interested AND to pass this along to any other Ramahniks you have kept in touch with AND send me their e-mail address so I can add to my database. I am getting chills just thinking about it. Like the time I led the Grace After Meals in the big cafeteria and said "Rubber Ties Never Break." I think Elliot Scott bet me I wouldn't do it. I wonder where he is? Maybe one of you knows. You can respond to me at moelipp@aol.com, put Camp Ramah in the subject line.

I hope this e-mail finds you in good health and that in two years I can finally do what we say every Passover, Leshana Haba Berushalayim. Shalom Ya'll.

If you'd like assistance planning a reunion or reaching out to alumni, please contact Jacob Brier, director of annual campaign and alumni relations, at jacobb@campramahne.org.