My wife of nearly 15 years, Ilene Spark-Greenberg, was a camper at Wisconsin and a counselor at New England. I was a staff brat, a camper, a counselor and a rosh edah at New England.
1990s Marriages
Scott Forester & Betsy Brown Forester
Betsy was in graduate school after serving two years as a rosh edah at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin. I was on the Ramah Wisconsin Executive Board.
Jonathan Hersch & Julie Lipson Hersch
Julie and I met in Halutzim in 1979. From the moment I met her, I thought she was the cutest girl at camp, but we didn't "go out" until Machon in 1981 (for almost 6 full days).
Craig Caplan & Harriet Goldner Caplan
We were staff in the same edah in the summer of 1985 at Ramah Poconos. Harriet, who was from Baltimore, was a counselor and I was a junior counselor from Dresher, PA.
Steven Sietz & Ephie Brand Sietz
Ephie and I met by chance at a staff basketball game one summer evening in 1985. We spent the rest of that summer getting to know each other and continued a long distance relationship (letters, phone calls, etc) over the next two years (Ephie in TX, and myself in NJ).
Yoni Charry & Yael Fischman
Yoni Charry and Yael Fischman met at Camp Ramah in New England in 1987 and were married in 1990.
Jeremy Platek & Lisa Resman Platek
Lisa and I actually met in college but learned early on that we had both been Ramah campers the same years
David Ehrenkranz & Ilyse Braun
During staff week I was playing ultimate frisbee and I misthrew the frisbee and it landed near Ilyse...when I went to pick the frisbee up....we fell in love.
Daniel “Dani” Moskowitz & Miriam Wolf
We met outside the staff laundry room... Dani was at camp for the first time following completion of his mandatory Army service in Israel.
Mark Spillman & Leslie Neuman Spillman
We met at Camp Ramah, and had many friends in common. However, our romance did not begin until 18 years later when we met again via jdate.com Jewish dating web site.
Gil Goldberg & Cindy Schonbrun Goldberg
Gil Goldberg and Cindy Schonbrun Goldberg met in 1980 at Camp Ramah in California and were married in 1990.
Guy Alberga & Beverley Moskovic Alberga
Bev and I became good friends while teaching swimming together over 2 wonderful summers.
Josh Barash & Devorah Lissek
Our parents were on staff at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin so we met as "staff brats" at around age 6-7. We were fast friends but there was no "romantic interest" until we were campers several years later.
Elliot Forchheimer & Joan Tanenbaum Forchheimer
We had the pleasure and fun of meeting at Ramah Berkshires while on staff from 1989-1992. We got engaged in camp on the tennis court and then had a rousing hora in the dining hall with the full camp community.
Ira Landman & Ursula Skolnik Landman
We met at USY encampment during tallis making. We both have enjoyed each other's company ever since - and hope that our children will go to a similar camp program at Ramah.
Larry Kroll & Jodi Feldman Kroll
We met in 1978 as campers. We had an amazingly close edah that kept in touch and saw each other often throughout the years.
Stuart Katz & Marni Smith Katz
Stuart Katz and Marni Smith Katz met in 1986 at Camp Ramah in New England and were married in 1991.
David Kalender & Talya Hoffman Kalender
We met in preparation for our work on Israel Seminar.
Michael Landau & Faye Andrea Goldman
We first met unloading luggage from the buses at camp. I missed staff week that summer, and came up with the campers.
Jon Gutstein & Susan Mack Gutstein
We first met in our Shoafim year and were again at camp together the next year in Bogrim. We were friendly but never more than acquaintances.
Jonathan Petuchowksi & Leslie Yenkin
Our Ramah romance story is a "classic" and serves as an example of how several years together at Ramah can help build a foundation for a relationship many years later.
Matt Plofsky & Brooke Morrison Plofsky
We met the summer of 1987 as Sollelim counselors. Matt was a senior counselor and I was a junior counselor.
Jeremy Sacks & Belinda Mason Sacks
Jeremy Sacks and Belinda Mason Sacks met at Camp Ramah Berkshires in 1982 and were married in 1992.
Mark Snowise & Elisa Cook Snowise
Mark Snowise and Elisa Cook Snowise met at Camp Ramah in New England in 1981 and were married in 1992.
Jeffrey Kress & Adena Lebeau
Down by the agam? At a staff Peulah? In a quiet pagoda? Nope.
Sandy Zisser & Ann Lipshie Zisser
I always loved Camp Ramah. I was a camper at Berkshires for four summers. Sandy, too, loved Ramah - he was a camper at Nyack throughout his entire childhood and came there as a counselor as soon as he was old enough to be one.
Aaron Michael Frank & Laura Shaw Frank
Aaron and I met and became good friends on Ulpan Ramah Plus (I think it is now called SEE). He went to CES-JDS in Rockville, MD and I went to Solomon Schechter in NJ.
Larry Schachter & Phyllis Blyweiss Schachter
We met the summer of 1989, and were thrown into a two-and-a-half-year long distance relationship. I (Phyllis) continued working at camp until our wedding in 1992.
Bruce Lipton & Meryl Sussman
We were engaged around Thanksgiving 1991, and married on Hanukkah in 1992. Cheryl Magen, our chadchanit, made our ketubah and was one of our witnesses.
Alan Goldman & Missy Stein-Goldman
Summer of 1983. I was finally in the oldest edah, Gesher. It was Alan's first summer at camp as a counselor. However, it wasn't until 1987 that we truly fell in love.
Brian Boxer Wachler & Selina Boxer Wachler
Brian and Selina met in the summer of 1985 at Camp Ramah in California. They were both counselors at the time but did not start dating until many years later.
Michael Abrams & Tami Kagan-Abrams
I saw Michael and instantly thought, "Wow! I really want to meet that guy!" He was a couple of years ahead of me so I thought we wouldn't get to meet.
Andrew “Coach” Scott Mayer & Marla Weiss Mayer
Andrew "Coach" Scott Mayer and Marla Weiss Mayer met at Camp Ramah in California in 1973 and were married in 1993.
Jonathan Rosenstein & Edith Korin Rosenstein
Jonathan Rosentein and Edith Korin Rosenstein met in 1989 at Camp Ramah in Canada and were married in 1993.
Todd Goodstein & Alisa Rubin Goodstein
Alisa and I met first met at camp when she was in Gesher and I was attending my first year at Ramah working in the kitchen (influenced by Barry Magen thru USY).
Bradley C. Tecktiel & Susan Fay (Mayer) Tecktiel
It was a typical Ramah summer romance that we continued during the year, despite being 1,000 miles apart. Ramah continues to be an important part of our lives. For the past eight summers we have been on staff at Ramah Darom.
Jeffrey Sosland & Mindy Weisenberg Sosland
Jeffrey Sosland and Mindy Weisenberg Sosland met at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin in 1980 and were married in 1993.
Michael Leifman & Sharon Samber
Michael Leifman and Sharon Samber met in 1989 at Camp Ramah Berkshires and were married in 1994.
Daniel Felsen and Beth Glass Felsen
Daniel and I were both Solelim counselors in 1984. We got to know each other well that summer and began dating in the summer of 1985.
Larry Reiter & Laura Fox Reiter
We met as campers when Larry was in Gesher and I was in Machon. We were just friends then and did not begin dating until after we had graduated from college.
Greg Wagner & Ilyse Reiter Wagner
We first met as campers in Machon at age 14 in 1983. While we didn't know each other well that summer we did remember one another when we re-met as Madors in 1986.
Liron Gitig & Diana Goodman Gitig
Liron Gitig and Diana Goodman Gitig met in 1990 at Camp Ramah Berkshires and were married in 1994.
Craig Gittleman & Stacy Cooper Gittleman
Craig Gittleman & Stacy Cooper Gittleman met in 1985 at Camp Ramah Berkshires and were married in 1994.
Ron Less & Elyse Levine Less
We were at camp at different edot in 1981 and basically did not know each other. (She would never talk to a boy in a younger edah!)
Joshua Savitz & Naomi Himmel Savitz
Although we first met one another in Shorashim (11 years old), it wasn't until we both returned to Camp on staff in 1989 (17 years old) that we started to date.
Benjamin Mann & Aliza Mann
We had actually met and dated briefly three years earlier in USY, but had completely lost touch until the summer of 1993.
Yuval Marcus & Liz Horwitz Marcus
We met at a Berkshires alumni reunion. Yuval had been a camper and staff member at Berkshires and Nyack. I attended with a group of friends.
Alan Rebenstock & Laurel Oppenheimer Rebenstock
Berkshires Labor Day Weekend Retreat 1991: I, Laurel, had Ramahnik friends who encouraged me to apply to attend the retreat even though I never officially was a camper.
Eric Weinstein & Sarah Klagsbrun
I’d worked the previous summer as rosh mayim at Camp Ramah in the Berkshires and returned for a day’s visit. I noticed Sarah Klagsbrun—a first-year instructor whom I’d remembered vaguely from when she was a camper—and made a mental note of the wide smile (and yes, the red bathing suit).
Bruce Allen Bromberg Seltzer & Deborah Tamar Bromberg Seltzer
At the start of second session, Bruce was relocated into my edah. We had lots of mutual friends and hung out together.
Shalom (Steven) Bochner & Orli Loewenberg
Shalom Bochner and Orli Loewenberg met at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin in 1989 and were married in 1995.
Joshua Greenstein & Carol Goldklang
Joshua Greenstein and Carol Goldklang met at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin in 1989 and were married in 1995.
Todd Sone & Shawna Goodman Sone
Todd and I met on a canoe trip to Silver Birches on Lake Skeleton the first week at camp.
Jonny Mars & Abby Andiman Mars
Although we were both at camp at the same time as campers for a number of years, we never met because we were in different age groups.
Daniel Spevack & Liz Arnold Spevack
Little did I know that one day, Harriet Spevack, Rosh Mayim, and Harold Spevack, Rosh Teva (see their story), would be my mother and father-in-law!
John Schapiro & Sarah Asekoff Schapiro
We met while I was a JC and John was an AA. We "went out" for three long days and then broke up. We did not speak for the rest of the summer.
Andrew Eisenberger & Jennie Goldress
We sang Rad Hayom at the end of our wedding with all of our camp friends linked arm in arm.
Alex Stern & Sandi Arnowitz Stern
I had been at Ramah since Shorashim, but Solelim was Sandi's first summer.
Geoff Winston & Zip Benjamin Winston
We actually met during a course together but didn't get to know each other until the summer. One day one of the staff members told me that Zip had her eye on me.
Aron Coleite & Tracy Strauss Coleite
We met on Ramah Seminar in Israel in 1990, and had a romantic walk under the stars in the Negev.
Josh Menachem Kulp & Julie Beth Zuckerman
We originally met through our involvement in international USY, but we "re-met" in the summer of 1995, when we were both group leaders for Ramah Seminar.
Pelleg Graupe & Elizabeth (Betsy) Davis Graupe
Technically, we met as campers, but really we met and became friends on Tzevet Solelim. Distractions such as television were not an issue. We had one another's undivided attention.
Eric Lowe & Jennifer Prottas Lowe
We were both working on a Ramah weekend. I had been a camper and staff (including summers) for years, and Eric had worked Hebrew high weekends as staff.
Jeremy N. Sokolic & Sarah Rubin Sokolic
Sarah (Gesher 1988) and her husband Jeremy (Gesher 1986) live in Manhattan with their three children, Isaiah , Coby, and Arianna.
David Englander & Stephanie Levitz Englander
Well, it depends who you ask but it all started on the bridge connecting A-side to B-side. Ramah changed both of our lives forever! After meeting for the second time (the first was when our younger sisters shared a bunk bed in their Machon summer), we had a lot of fun working together as staff members.
Jonathan Baron & Alyse Michele Bender Baron
Jon and I met at Ramah as campers when we were 13 years old and were best of friends. We kept in touch through letters for the year following that summer, but then we lost touch.
Ari Glazer & Stephanie Goldberg Glazer
I am a second-generation Ramah marriage as my parents Rabbi Steven and Andrea Glazer are also a Ramah marriage.
Baruch Weiss & Laura Blumenfeld
I met Laura at the Berkshires in 1975, when she was 11 and I was 18. I was her swimming instructor and made a very, very big mistake – I failed her.
Jeffrey Fox & Beth Lauren Pepper
We officially met in USY, but spent summer of '93 working together at camp.
Saul Fine & Nirit Shalom Fine
Nirit and I first met during the summer of '94 while working as counselors for the Israel Seminar in Jerusalem. Nirit was one of the local Israeli counselors, and I, a native Californian, was finishing up my junior year abroad at the Hebrew University.
Howie Lupovitch & Marni Foster
We first met when Marni was a bratty camper with her bratty friends. We re-met as staff members and friends.
Andrew Feig & Julie Flapan
Julie and I met our Machon year, but did not become friendly until Nivonim and then Ramah Seminar in Israel.
Michael Feinberg & Alison Goldstein Feinberg
We met Gesher pre-camp during the summer of 1993. Michael had just finished his freshman year at Berkeley and I had finished my sophomore year at Tulane.
Moshe Witztum & Elizabeth Komsky Witztum
Micky and I dated the year he went to Israel with Meritz, while I was back at camp. (We were friends a year earlier).
Ted Kesler & Judy Weinberg
We met at the Camp Ramah Berkshires Memorial Day singles weekend, 1998. For me, Ted, it was love at first sight. At Oneg Shabbat, I saw her across the room.
Jeffrey Arnowitz & Tamar Brendzel Arnowitz
We met during our summer as counselors in Cohavim. We immediately hit it off, but only started dating during the last two weeks of camp.
Joshua Rosenblatt & Rachel Mann
We met during a staff week peulat erev, "Win Lose, or Draw." Josh disappointed the team by being an omanut counselor who couldn't draw.
Brian Liss & Judy Wendkos Liss
We met at counselors at Ramah. Brian had never been a camper and his first summer as a counselor, I was in Israel.
Liell Karni & Idit Sonnheim Karni
Liell Karni and Idit Sonnheim Karni met through Ramah Israel Seminar in 1997 and were married in 1999.
Noah Garfinkel & Dina Goldman Garfinkel
We met in the Rikudiah Band, where he played bass and I played drums.
Dan Gottstein & Amy Schein Gottstein
I attended Berkshires, but Dan is actually a Ramah Wisconsin alumni.
Joshua Cohen & Sarah Bierman
Josh and I always joke that we first met when I was in Sollelim and he in Nivonim when he was a CIT for the boys in my edah. Over the years, he was a counselor in my edah and I was on his staff when he was a rosh edah.