WHEN 12-year-old Josh Eakman entered camp at Ramah Outdoor Adventure at Ramah in the Rockies last month, he expected to be immersed in outdoor and wilderness exploration and skills building that is the new camp’s signature.
Little did the Las Vegas youth know that his four-week camp session would end with a crash course of study for his Bar Mitzvah.
It took place just after dawn Monday, July 12, on a rustic outdoor pavilion with a service that led him along the path of Jewish observance and identity. And it rooted this brand new camp firmly in its devotion to Jewish and personal growth amid the Rocky Mountains.
“I was very nervous,” he said hours after the ceremony, a day after he turned 13. “I only had two weeks to prepare and it was difficult, but I studied every day during free time and I made it.”
Not that there’s plenty of free time at Ramah Outdoor Adventure, which opened in June, combining outdoor and wilderness exploration and environmental learning, and applying Jewish tenets to and within the camp community.
In fact, Josh and his fellow campers returned from a days-long wilderness excursion shortly before he was to become a Bar Mitzvah.
The entire episode opened when a camp official discovered that Josh’s 13th birthday was approaching. The Eakman family recently moved from Utah to Nevada, and the date slipped in the process.
“I was studying for my Bar Mitzvah back home and we were going to have it next winter, which is a long time from now,” he said. “So I thought it might be a good idea to have it here and now.”
THE ceremony itself was steeped in connections to Josh’s real family and his newfound camping family. Making the trip were his mother, father, brother, sister and grandmother.
“He has had a good experience at this camp and when we see him now we see a boy who has grown into a leader,” said Josh’s father, Michael. “The fact that he is even calling the shots for his own Bar Mitzvah is good for him.”
He wore his grandfather’s tallit, presented to him by his mother and grandmother, and for the first time wore tefilin, donated by Camp Ramah in the Poconos, in Pennsylvania.
“The Bar Mitzvah boy was nervous,” said Tammy Dollin, project director for Ramah in the Rockies. “He found the cleanest shirt he had, and a nice pair of pants. In his honor, his tent mates dressed up as well.”
About 30 fellow campers attended, watching Josh deliver the Ashrei prayer and read from the Torah in an outdoor area surrounded by mountains, trees, birds and squirrels.
Afterwards, they showered him with candy, as counselors and friends lifted him on a chair and carried him around joyously before a special pancake breakfast.
Josh’s campmates, aware of his love for geology and the earth, presented him with a raw topaz stone they had found while hiking.
“One of the best indicators of a solid community is seeing members come together and celebrate and mark lifecycle events with each other,” said Rabbi Eliav Bock, camp director.
“Just weeks after our camp opened for the first time, this is exactly what happened, and it solidified our sense of community and family.”
“The creation of Ramah Outdoor Adventure symbolizes Ramah’s growth and innovation,” said Rabbi Mitch Cohen, director of the National Ramah Commission.
“Having a Bar Mitzvah of a camper under these special circumstances, surrounded by mountains, trees, family and friends is inspirational to all of us in the camp and Ramah community and to all of us involved in Ramah leadership.”
For his part, Josh readied to return home to Las Vegas after his Bar Mitzvah, after a short side trip to the Grand Canyon with his family.
“I feel it was a very special opportunity,” Josh said, “being at this camp and having my Bar Mitzvah here. I will never forget it.”