Rabbi Joe Menashe
Executive Director
E-mail: rabbijoe@ramah.org
Rabbi Joe hails from Portland ,Oregon, where he grew up attending Congregation Neveh Shalom. He spent his first summer at Ramah in California in 1995 as a Moreh (teacher) and social justice coordinator. He remained part of the Ramah family during the 90’s serving as Rosh Edah, Rosh Kvutzah for Seminar in Israel and Founding Director of the Meytiv Program, a Ramah based social justice program for high school students. Rabbi Joe received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and attended the Pardes Instititute for Jewish Studies from 1993-1994. Rabbi Joe obtained a Master of Hebrew Letters degree from the University of Judaism in Los Angeles in 1996 and received his Rabbinic Ordination and a Master of Arts degree (with a concentration in Jewish Education) in 2000 from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York .
From 2000 - 2006, Rabbi Joe served as the Hillel Director at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , Maryland. During his tenure, Hopkins Hillel opened a home for Jewish life, The Smokler Center for Jewish Life, Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building. He was awarded Hillel’s Richard M. Joel, Exemplar of Excellence Award in 2004. From 2006 until 2010, Rabbi Joe has served as an Associate Rabbi at Congregation Shearith Israel in Dallas, Texas.
During one of those amazing “Ramah Summers,” Joe met Deborah Musher. Deborah and Joe were married in her hometown of Houston in 2002. Deborah is a special educator with a long history at Camp Ramah and focuses her work and research on students with autism. Together Joe and Deborah have three beautiful children, Molly, Gabriel, and Samuel.
Dr. Zachary Lasker
Camp Director
E-mail: zach@ramah.org
Zach is thoroughly enjoying his 16-year career with Camp Ramah in California (21 years if you count summers spent as a camper). Starting as a counselor, Zach quickly assumed the additional responsibilities of Rosh Shira (Head of Singing). Work as the Assistant Program Director, Gesher Director and Winter Weekend Director soon followed, culminating in two wonderful summers as a Rosh Edah. Zach earned his Bachelor's in Sociology and Judaic Studies from UC San Diego, during which time he lived and studied in Israel for his junior year . He holds a Master's in Education from American Jewish University, and a Doctorate in Education from UCLA. Zach has served on faculty at VBS Day School and, currently, at the Fingerhut School of Education at the AJU. Aside from his years at Ramah, Zach's most proud moments have been performing leading roles on stage in such musicals as Les Miserables, Little Shop of Horrors and Guys & Dolls. He is extremely fulfilled by his work at Camp Ramah, and passionately believes in the Jewish community it creates.
Randy Michaels
Business Director
E-mail: randy@ramah.org
Randy joined Camp Ramah in California in the fall of 2008 bringing a wide range of business management skills to the leadership team. Prior to joining Camp Ramah, Randy ran Redwood Kitchen & Bath, a company he founded in Marin County. Prior to his seven years in the design and home improvement industry, Randy spent over ten years in the financial services industry perfecting his skills in management consulting, investment banking and financial analysis with such firms as Charles Schwab, SEI and Investment Counseling Inc.
Randy served on the executive board of the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center for six years. Prior to accepting a professional position with Ramah, Randy served on the camp's Board and also on the committee evaluating the expansion to Northern California. Randy earned his bachelor's degree from Winona State University and a Master's in Psychology, Dominican University of CA.
As an alumni of Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, Randy has always had a special place in his heart for Ramah and he and his wife Marlene are thrilled to be giving thier two son's, Stephen and Alex, the Ramah experience.
Elie Mechaly
Director of Operations
E-mail: elie@ramah.org
Elie Mechaly was appointed Director of Operations for Camp Ramah in California in January of 1991. He is a graduate of the Tamor Hotel School, Herzliyah, Israel and completed the Hotel General Managers program at the Holiday Inn University. Elie brings to Ramah over 20 years of experience in the hospitality and hotel industry. For 10 years he worked for Holiday Inn resort properties as Resident Manager and Food and Beverage Manager in several Latin American communities including: Guadalajara, Mexico; Panama City, Panama; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. For five years, Elie was the General Manager/Partner of the Grand Lake Spa Hotel in Lebanon, Connecticut and just before coming to work for Ramah he was the Food and Beverage Director of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and the Ramada Continental in Tel Aviv. Elie is a native of Morocco and is fluent in several languages including Spanish, French, Hebrew, Arabic, Moroccan and English. At the age of 13 he made Aliyah to Israel and as a member of the Israeli army, took part in the 6-Day War. Elie currently resides in Ojai, California with his wife Nurit.
Carol Abrams
Development Director
E-mail: carol@ramah.org
Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Carol lived in Ramah Wisconsin's catchment area until moving to sunny Southern California fourteen years ago. By then, her two daughters had each spent every summer since age 12 at Ramah-Conover as campers and counselors, except for their Ramah Israel Seminar summers. At Visitor's Day there each year, Carol looked enviously at friends who got to spend weeks as camp doctor, nurse or visiting rabbi. So it's no surprise that she views her job as Camp Ramah in California's Development Director as 'coming home'.
Carol met her husband Chuck at the University of Illinois while earning her Bachelor's in Sociology. She has always worked in the nonprofit sector, earning a Master's degree in nonprofit management at Spertus College in Chicago. She has been a development professional for over twenty-five years, working for such varied organizations as the American Jewish Congress, the American Red Cross, and for the eleven years prior to joining Camp Ramah in California in 1995, as a development officer and also executive director of the Alumni Association for the RAND Corporation.
Carol and Chuck are active members of Kehillat Ma'arav in Santa Monica, and Carol spends her 'spare' time volunteering for LimmudLA and visiting daughter Caryn and future Ramah camper Sasha (born November, 2005) in Denver or daughter Amy (and son-in-law Ronen, also a Ramah alum) and future Ramah campers Ruby (born February, 2006) and Noa (born March, 2008) in Brooklyn, NY.
Elana Naftalin-Kelman
Tikvah Director
E-mail: elana@ramah.org
Elana has been a member of the Ramah family since she was a "staff kid" in the Gan, and was a camper, counselor and Rosh Edah. Her connection to the Tikvah program started when she was a Tikvah buddy as a camper in Machon. She then went on to be a Tikvah counselor for two summers and the Rosh Edah for the, now re-named, Amitzim, for two summers. She is a graduate of UC Santa Cruz and studied in Israel for several years. She holds a Masters Degree in Special Education from Bank Street College of Education and a Masters in Social Work from Columbia University. She has taught in the NYC public schools and in LA Unified and has worked as a supervisor for a behavior intervention agency in Los Angeles. She helped to create and start the Ezra program (it was her masters' thesis for Bank Street) as well as several synagogue special education programs in the Los Angeles area, such as the Koleinu Shabbat minyan at Temple Beth Am. She has taught special education courses at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles as well as many one-day seminars on Special Education for educators in the broader Jewish community. She is currently editing a book on Jewish Special Education. She now resides with her husband Adam and their children in Berkeley, CA, but loves coming back to Ojai each summer! For Elana, being the director of the Tikvah program is like coming home.
Erika Resnick
Program Director
E-mail: erika@ramah.org
Erika is proud to be the Program Director for Camp Ramah in California. She spent her first summer at camp when she was only a baby and has been summering in Ojai ever since. Erika was a camper from Nitzanim thru Machon, participated in the Mador program, continued on to be a senior counselor and most recently served as the 2006 Rosh Gesher. Erika graduated from the University of California in San Diego with a degree in Urban Studies & Planning. While in San Diego Erika not only blended smoothies at Jamba Juice, but also worked at the UCSD Hillel as an integral member of their staff community. Erika loves wearing flip flops year round and spending time at the beach with her sisters. Erika is a strong believer in the benefits of spending summers at Ramah and looks forward to providing great programming opportunities to future Ramah campers!
Wendy Morris
Assistant Business Director
E-mail: wendy@ramah.org
Bio coming soon!
Karmi Monsher
Outreach Coordinator
E-mail: karmi@ramah.org
Bio coming soon!
Rachel Lancaster
Summer Camp Registrar
E-mail: rachel@ramah.org
Bio coming soon!Administrative Assistants
Ellie Haiem
E-mail: ellieh@ramah.org
Bio coming soon!Patricia Straker
E-mail: reception@ramah.org
Bio coming soon!
Latoya Simmons
E-mail: financeassistant.ramah@gmail.com
Bio coming soon!