Bereaved Israeli kids go to Camp Ramah

By · July 11, 2007

Camp Ramah is welcoming bereaved Israeli children for the second year in a row.More than 90 Israeli children who have lost parents or siblings in wars or terrorist attacks will spend 10 days in the Conservative movement’s summer camps in late July and early August. Forty-three will be hosted at Ramah’s California branch in Ojai. It is the second year this camp has participated in the respite initiative, sponsored by Friends of the Israel Defense Forces. The group has been sending Israeli children touched by war to Jewish camps in the United States since 2003. This year, organizers say, there were so many applicants that an additional group of 50 youngsters and counselors will go to Camp Ramah in the Berkshires, in Massachusetts. The California delegation is being funded by a variety of donors. The group going to the Berkshires is sponsored by Cheryl and Haim Saban.