Rich Moline, director of Reshet Ramah, wrote the inaugural blog post for Reshet Ramah.

I have a high school reunion coming up.  While it would be nice to see what people look like after all these years, I really don’t have to go out of my way, since all I have to do is Google or look them up on Facebook (“google” wasn’t even a word, let alone a verb, when I was in high school).  But given the opportunity to connect with the people I went to Ramah with so many years ago?  I’d be there in a flash!

We have so many formative moments growing up that most people may be hard pressed to pick one or two seminal experiences.  So why is it that so many of us would place summers at Camp Ramah toward the top of our list?

There are so many intangibles, that it is difficult to even try to fully answer this question.  For me, Ramah was a place to simply be myself – to be accepted by peers, to explore all of those things kids explore, surrounded by a supportive and loving community.  Not much different than most summer camps, I imagine, but Ramah was more.  It was a chance to forge life-long friendships and explore my own Jewish self and my place in the Jewish community, even as an adolescent.  It gave me more than a taste of what it means to be an educated Jew; it provided me with role models and taught me what it is like to think critically and openly and Jewishly.  Camp Ramah created an environment where it was totally normal to be a crazy baseball fan who also goes to shul on Shabbat.  Ramah’s influences are part of my fabric, and I know I’m not alone.

Reshet Ramah was established thanks to generous grants from the AVI CHAI Foundation and the Maimonides Fund.  Our mission is to increase adult Jewish engagement by using the power and passion of the Ramah alumni network to create stronger, more vibrant Jewish communities across North America.  Reshet Ramah’s innovative, collaborative programming is aimed at galvanizing alumni to participate in a growing network of committed Jews who actively promote and support Jewish life and foster meaningful connections to Israel, while reaching out to create a broad-based, inclusive, involved Jewish community.

Our Reshet Ramah blog is intended to give voice to the thousands of Ramah alumni who have felt the excitement and influence of Ramah.  We will be inviting alumni from a broad spectrum of the Jewish world to comment and contribute, to cajole and create.  Welcome to Reshet Ramah.