Kishroniyah 2019

Camp Ramah in New England is thrilled to announce the return of Kishroniyah for all 2019 Tzad Bet (B-Side) hanichim (campers)! Kishroniyah comes from the Hebrew word Kisharon, or “talent.” We have invited specialists in a wide variety of fields to join us at camp to run intensive multi-day programs for our Tzad Bet campers. These programs will be high-level offerings, giving our hanichim a chance to engage in an intensive way with the option that best fits their personal interests and skills. In order to allow each hanich/ah (camper) to receive as much personal attention and instruction from their group’s specialist as possible, we will be keeping the group sizes small, averaging ten kids in each Kishroniyah group. As you scroll down, you will find descriptions of the incredible array of programs being offered this year.

For Magshimim and Bogrim, Kishroniyah 2019 will run from July 31-August 2. For Machon and Nivonim, Kishroniyah 2019 will run from July 28-31. All 2019 second-session campers and parents, please be sure to click on the link in the e-mail you received from us, in order to submit your choices to us before June 1st, 2019! Todah! Please contact Simon Luxemburg, Senior Program Staff-Member, at SimonL@campramahne.org with any questions.

I. A CAPPELLA WORKSHOP

Instructor: Amichai Margolis
Making music without instruments provides a fantastic way to express one’s love for communal singing. Our performance-oriented goals are to learn a small (3-5 songs) repertoire that can be performed in multi-part harmonies. As a culmination of the program, we will perform in front of all of Tzad Bet (B-Side) and record an album of our music that each participant can have to keep!

Amichai Margolis is currently the Musical Director of the Solomon Schechter Lower School of White Plains, NY. He is also the Musical Director of the The Orangetown Jewish Center. Amichai founded and directed the Jewish a cappella group Kol B’yachad at Brown University. He also arranged and sang with Pizmon from Columbia University & JTS. Ami is the Rosh Shira at Camp Ramah in Nyack, NY, and he was the Rosh Shira at Camp Ramah in New England from 1998-2005, where he broadened the musical repertoire of the camp as well as directed the staff a cappella group. He currently lives in Orangeburg, NY with his wife, Kari (whom he met at Camp Ramah) and their two children, and he owns and operates “Joyful Studios” on the side. Ami is the leader of the “Amichai Margolis Band,” and his debut album is called “Orah V’Simcha — Light and Joy.” His music can be heard at: http://tinyurl.com/Amichaim.

II. BASKETBALL CLINIC

Instructor: Dave Brown and the Basketball Stars of New York
Learn how to play from the pros during an intensive “Camp Within A Camp” Basketball Clinic run by coaches from the acclaimed Basketball Stars of New York program! With coaches who played at universities such as Harvard, Colgate, Seton Hall, UMASS, Drake, Princeton and others, you are sure to leave the program a more confident and capable player! The program will teach the fundamentals of the game, and the coaches will work individually with participants on any skills they would like to improve upon.

Dave Brown began his college playing career at Division 1’s Colgate University. After two years, he spent a few weeks in Mexico City playing for Team USA in the Maccabi Games where he earned a Gold Medal in the Open Division for Men’s Basketball. Following the Summer, he moved on to Division III powerhouse Connecticut College in the NESCAC’s. Upon graduation, David returned to the Maccabi’s, this time in Chile where he was part of a Silver Medal team effort. Shortly thereafter he began his coaching career at Collegiate High School followed by a jump to the college ranks at John Jay College and then Susquehanna University before joining the New Jersey Nets. His summers have been spent at Basketball Stars of NY Camps. Coach Brown is excited to bring the Basketball Stars of NY experience back to Camp Ramah!

III. CIRCUS WORKSHOP (offered to MACHON & NIVONIM only)

Instructor: Lauren Breunig
Circus isn’t just about tents, elephants, clowns and parades anymore and you certainly don’t have to run away to join it! Come learn the basics of juggling, tumbling and partner acrobatics as we explore the modern circus aesthetic and use these skills to create a circus show of our very own. An emphasis will be placed not only on proper technique in these circus disciplines, but also on working together to dissect and abstract stories in order to express them athletically through the circus arts. You will learn how to juggle three balls, how to flip and roll like an acrobat, and how to climb up, over, and around your fellow campers to build human pyramids. It takes a lot of work to make it to the center ring, but now is your chance to see what real circus training is like and walk away from camp with tricks that will really impress all your friends and family!

Lauren Breunig fell in love with circus while working as a counselor at Circus Smirkus camp during college. After graduating she began taking classes at the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA), first as a recreational student, then as part of the ProTrack Program. She is the pioneer of an original apparatus, the Sliding Trapeze, and has been featured as an innovative aerialist in festivals across the United States including the Aerial Acrobatics Arts Festival of Denver, the US Aerial Championships, and VivaFest. Now working as a freelance artist, she has performed with companies including the Christopher Reeve Foundation, the Boston Circus Guild, and Nimble Arts, delighting audiences large and small with performances on the Sliding Trapeze as well as aerial sling, static trapeze, fabric, and partner acrobatics. A versatile and engaging instructor, she teaches circus arts to students of all ages at studios, schools, camps, and festivals around the US and abroad, and she also leads Nimble Arts Teacher Training courses.  A veteran of the stage as a singer, Lauren has toured and recorded in the US and around the world with a variety of folk music groups, including her band, Windborne. Check out her work on Instagram @laurenbreunig or at her website laurenbreunig.com.

IV. COOKING WORKSHOP

Instructor: Paula Shoyer
This program is an introduction to cooking and baking, with an emphasis on healthy Jewish and American food. The participants will learn how to make specific dishes as well as learn the skills that will enable them to read recipes, plan meals and then prepare them. There are discussions about nutrition and manners as well. Everyone will take home a cookbook containing all the recipes they are taught. Participants will learn to cook dishes they already recognize and like, plus some things they may not have tasted, to expand their experiences with food. On each day of the program, the campers will learn main courses, side dishes and desserts, as well as several soups and salads. The cupcake-decorating session is particularly popular, as is the annual cooking and baking competition where participants are divided into teams and get to show off their unique skills.

Paula Shoyer, known as “the kosher baker,” is the author of Healthy Jewish Kitchen, The Holiday Kosher Baker, The Kosher Baker, and The New Passover Menu. Paula has appeared on TV over 36 times, including Food Network’s Sweet Genius.  She is a freelance writer for The Washington Post, Bnai Brith Magazine, Fleishigs Magazine, and more.  Paula has a video series of her food travels around Israel and Paris on youtube.  She graduated from the Ritz Escoffier in Paris and teaches classes across the United States and around the world for Jewish organizations, synagogues, and food and book festivals.  Paula is also a professional cookbook editor and helps families create family cookbooks.  She received the “Woman to Watch” award from Jewish Women International.  Paula lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her husband and four hungry children.  You can find her at www.thekosherbaker.com; Instagram: kosherbaker; Facebook: Paula Shoyer; The Kosher Baker; Twitter: Paula Shoyer, and her youtube channel.

V. DANCE WORKSHOP (offered to MACHON & NIVONIM only)

Instructor: Keren Sinai
Campers will be challenged to step out of their comfort zone and express themselves through various dance styles including but not limited to Jazz, Hip Hop, and Contemporary. The focus will be on expression, intention, and most of all- having fun! We will explore improvisation, technique, choreography, and performance skills. This program encourages campers to be themselves while learning new approaches of exploring movement.

Keren Sinai has been dancing since the age of three. Training at The Dancing Art’s Center in Holliston, Keren had the opportunity to dance under Ballet masters such as Wayne Stewarte and Sylvia Silverman. Keren has trained in varied dance genres including Ballet, Pointe, Modern, Jazz, and Hip Hop. Keren continued her dance education at Dean College in Franklin where she received a B.A. in Dance in May 2012. In the summer of 2009, Keren had the privilege to study at Alvin Ailey in NYC. During her 4 years at Dean she was a member of the Modern and Hip Hop Company. Keren had the honor of performing a piece choreographed by Gregory King at the Kennedy Center post graduating. She then pursued her dance career in New York City as well as attended a professional semester at Broadway Dance Center. She trained under choreographers such as Kelly Peters, Jared Jenkins, Justin Conte, and more. She now resides in Los Angeles, where she continues to dance and has also embarked on a new journey of directing. Keren loves to perform and also has an immense passion to teach, choreograph, paint, and direct. Keren lives to feel, and she hopes to inspire her students to do so as well.

VI. FILMMAKING WORKSHOP (offered to MACHON & NIVONIM only)

Instructor: Eli Katzoff
Movies are one of the most powerful ways of telling stories, influencing change and expressing ideas. Movies can excite us, inspire us, scare us. They make us cry, make us laugh and can even make us angry. Best of all, with video creation tools all around us in modern society, there has never been a better time to get involved and learn this art. And that is exactly what we are going to do. Bring your creativity, bring your ideas and bring your excitement to this truly hands on approach to film making during Kishroniyah. From running the camera, to writing, producing, collaborating and editing, we will be creating professional video production content and telling awesome stories! Whether you’ve grown up with a passion for movies and film making or never picked up a camera in your life, this is your chance to walk through the door of this exciting new world and be part of something incredible.

Eli Katzoff has spent his career working on everything from multi million dollar Hollywood productions with A-list celebrities to smaller reality TV shows, local documentary work and other various productions in the film, video and TV industries. After spending years in Los Angeles working at various major studios, Eli moved back to New England where he started his own video production company serving the needs of organizations and institutions in the New England area. On the side Eli has a real passion for teaching and continues to find opportunities to help the next generation of film makers and artists to tell the stories that inspire and excite the world.

VII. JEWELRY WORKSHOP

Instructor: Sandra Ostroff
In this program, participants will have an opportunity to create their own jewelry with Sandra! The focus of this program will be on beading. This year we will feature the Ndebele and Peyote stitches. We will make bracelets and rings. The possibility of color combinations is endless and undoubtedly will produce many wonderful pieces!

Sandra Ostroff has always enjoyed crafts, starting with pot-holders on a frame when she was very young! She began knitting in high school and needlepointing when her children were young. Many years later she still enjoys knitting and needlepointing. Several years ago she discovered beading. Sandra was born and raised in the Seattle WA area. After graduating from the University of Washington, she taught elementary school. Since retiring, she has enjoyed pursuing her passions: beading, golf, yoga, and hiking. She is very excited to share her love of beading with our Kishroniyah participants!

VIII. LIFEGUARD TRAINING (offered to MACHON & NIVONIM only)

Instructor: Joseph Lodge
We are excited to announce the return of a lifeguard training course to our Kishroniyah offerings!  This course will provides entry-level participants the knowledge and skills to prevent, recognize and respond to aquatic emergencies and to provide care for breathing and cardiac emergencies, injuries and sudden illnesses until EMS personnel take over. Prerequisites: Minimum age: 15 years. Swim 300 yards continuously. Tread water for 2 minutes using only the legs. Complete a timed event within 1 minute, 40 seconds. Starting in the water, swim 20 yards. Surface dive to a depth of 7 to 10 feet to retrieve a 10-pound object. Return to the surface and swim 20 yards on the back to return to the starting point. Exit the water without using a ladder or steps.

Joseph Lodge has been an instructor in American Red Cross aquatic programs for over 17 years and has worked directly for the Red Cross in Asheville, NC, San Diego, CA and Farmington, CT. He is the proud owner of his private company, Health & Safety Training of Connecticut, which is a licensed provider of Red Cross programs and continues to bring their certification programs to companies and organizations throughout New England. In his free time, Joseph enjoys spending time with his wife and 3 young children, exercising and playing sports.

IX. OUTDOOR MURAL WORKSHOP

Instructor: Tova Speter
Do you love to paint? Would you like to help leave your mark on camp? The Ramahniks who sign up for this workshop will have an opportunity to design and create a colorful outdoor mural that will help beautify camp for years to come! Participants will experience the entire mural process from design conceptualization to priming to painting. This specialized arts workshop will engage you in creating collaborative community art as you explore and develop your artistic talents, skills, and interests. Note: no prior art experience is necessary to participate in this session, just come ready to create, have fun, and get messy!

Tova Speter is an artist, art therapist, art educator, and arts consultant based in Newton, MA. She specializes in working with adolescents, and has more than fifteen years of experience leading community mural projects in the greater Boston area and internationally in Argentina, China, Panama, and Israel. Find out more about Tova’s work (and see pics from past Ramah collaborations) at: www.tovaspeter.com. Tova also has a private practice offering art therapy and mental health counseling services; works as a consultant with congregations interested in exploring innovative ways to infuse more arts-based experiences into their programming; and is the founder and director of The MEM Project, a Boston-based venture that engages individuals through the artistic process as a means to explore Jewish identity and encourage connection with under-served communities through collaborative mural projects. Find out more about The MEM Project at www.thememproject.org.

X. ROBOTICS WORKSHOP

Instructor: Phil Glick
Robots are in the news everyday. Companies and universities around the world are inventing and designing so many different robots to do so many things, including working in factories, searching for earthquake victims in collapsed buildings, performing surgery, cooking dinner and cleaning your carpets and gutters. This workshop will use Lego Mindstorm robot kits to explore robotics and software. Designed for students and hobbyists, the Lego kits can be assembled, disassembled and re-assembled into five different robot styles — a car, a puppy, a crane, a machine to sort objects by color and GyroBoy/GyroGirl (who drives around while balancing on two wheels). As described by Lego, “Create and command robots that do what you want. Unlease the creative powers of the new LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 set to create and command robots that walk, talk, think and do anything that you can imagine.” We’re going to build the different robot styles, learn to control them, and then see what we can make them do as we challenge each other in obstacle courses and other competitions.

Phil Glick is an engineer at Stanley Black & Decker. Educated as a mechanical engineer and a manufacturing engineer, Phil has spent most of his 35-year career writing software for industrial robot systems to be used in factories around the world. His work can be found in automotive, electronics, medical and pharmaceutical, aerospace and food businesses. Phil’s projects are in locations throughout the US, and also in Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Among his cool projects are robots to paint the Stealth Bomber, robots to build cell phones and Bose music systems, robots to make cosmetics and package the cookies for ice cream sandwiches and robots to build parts for Ford and Chrysler cars. If you have ever had an injury that required stitches, there is a good chance that Phil programmed the robots and cameras to make the needle. As a parent of a Ramah graduate, he is excited to be part of the camp experience.

XI. STEAMPUNKINETICS WORKSHOP

Instructor: Bruce Rosenbaum
Steampunk art and design is the fusion of history + art + technology, repurposing and infusing modern technology into period antiques and salvage objects – creating inspiring, authentic, relevant, functional, fantastical and personal one-of-kind objects and spaces. Participants in this workshop will work in groups to design and create a Rube Goldberg-like, vintage “milk crate room” repurposing salvaged items, designing and fabricating  a kinetic track and ball system, integrating electronics and programming lights and sound.  Each groups’ stacked or connected milk crate ‘room’ becomes part of a greater Steampunk ‘house’ where the ball rolls through each groups’ crate or room. Our assembled Steampunk ‘house’ will be permanently displayed at camp! This Steampunkinetics workshop will teach creative problem solving, collaboration, adaptive reuse and resilience through teamwork and hands-on making.

Bruce Rosenbaum has been dubbed the Steampunk Guru by the Wall Street Journal and Steampunk Evangelist by Wired Magazine. Bruce’s functional Steampunk artwork and design has been featured in the Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Architectural Digest, CNN, NPR and featured on MTV, A&E, HGTV and Netflix. Bruce and his wife Melanie recently purchased an 1876 Victorian Church in Palmer MA to convert it into their home, gallery and workshop space. The Rosenbaum’s church conversion project – Steampunk Wonderland (episode 8) – is featured in the Netflix Original docuseries – Amazing Interiors. Currently, Bruce’s ‘Discover Steampunk’ Museum Exhibition is on a worldwide 5 year tour premiering at the Museum of Idaho.  Bruce’s company, ModVic, works with clients all across the world to take period, repurposed, personal and meaningful objects, and creatively infuse them with modern technology to transform the ordinary into incredible Steampunk functional art. The Steampunk art and design process celebrates history, while setting a path for a reimagined better future — telling the personal stories of individuals, organizations and places along the way. Learn more at www.modvic.com.

XII. ULTIMATE FRISBEE CLINIC

Instructor: Rick Atkins
Hone your skills with our Ultimate Frisbee clinic! Ultimate Frisbee was started at Columbia High School in New Jersey in 1968 and is now played in countless schools, colleges and clubs around the country and the world. Even at the highest levels of the game, Ultimate is played without referees, instead relying on the honor of each player to abide by the rules (a concept known as The Spirit of the Game). Because of the free-flowing nature of the sport, Ultimate encourages all players to be involved in the action. Each player has the opportunity to be a thrower, receiver and defender in every game. During the sessions at Camp Ramah, players will be instructed in the rules, skills and strategies of the game. Each day will include scrimmages where the campers get a chance to practice what they have learned. For more information about the sport of Ultimate, go to the website of USAUltimate at www.usaultimate.org.

Rick Atkins has been playing Ultimate Frisbee since 1979 when he joined the team at the University of Pennsylvania. During his many years in the game, he has participated in numerous World and National championships, winning several titles over the years. His team placed second in the Masters division at the 2006 World Championships in Perth, Australia. He has been a captain in the Philadelphia co-ed summer league since its start in 1985 and has organized many leagues and tournaments in the Philadelphia area. Since its inception in 2005, Rick has been a lead instructor at the Philadelphia Ultimate Camp of Philadelphia, and he runs several youth Ultimate Frisbee camps in the Philadelphia area. In the spring of 2011, Rick started the first middle school Frisbee team in Philadelphia. Rick lives in Wayne, PA with his wife and two children.

The Ultimate Frisbee Clinic has been generously subsidized by the Guitelman family in memory of Josh, z”l.

To sign up for Kishroniyah, please be sure to click on the link in the e-mail you received from us, in order to submit your choices to us before June 1st, 2019!

Please contact Simon Luxemburg, Senior Program Staff-Member, at SimonL@campramahne.org with any questions.