Shabbaton 2012

Stay Tuned for Details on the 2013 National Shabbaton!

 

 

Eshel welcomes LGBT  traditional Jews to join us for our next shabbaton, being held January 20-22, 2012 at the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center, two hours from New York City.   The Shabbaton will bring together Orthodox gay Jews of all kinds (including the ex-Orthodox and ‘Ortho-curious’) to an event aimed to create a community of support, learning, growth and leadership.

The shabbaton will include shiurim, zmiros, sessions on relevant to our lives as LGBT  frum (or formerly frum) Jews, wonderful spirited davening, delicious healthy kosher food, and plenty of time scheduled to just hang out, sit by the fireplace on Saturday night, and get to know all the members of this growing community.  This will be an informative, fun, and spiritually inspiring weekend. The program for the shabbaton is being created by the Eshel board, which includes many leaders from the gay Orthodox world, including Rabbi Steve Greenberg, Mordechai Levovitz (JQYouth), Chasiah Haberman (Tirtzah), Miryam Kabakov (Keep Your Wives Away from Them), Erez Harari (JQYouth) and others. All food will be strictly kosher, the retreat will be shomer shabbos, and the davening will include traditional davening.  (On the registration form, you’ll be asked what kind of davening you’d like to participate in during the weekend.)  We will offer a variety of learning options, from traditional text study to workshops on a wide variety of subjects.    See below for last year’s schedule.

Registration and Pricing

All prices include full room and board, transportation to and from the shabbaton is at your expense.

Dorm                                                                $250
Economy Double (shared bath)            $300
Economy Single  (shared bath)             $375
Standard Triple                                            $325
Standard Double                                          $375
Standard Single                                            $450
Premium Double (Weinberg or May)  $425
Premium Single  (Weinberg or May)   $525
Children (5-15, in room with adult)     $150
Children under 5 are free

Financial Aid

There is a limited amount of need based financial aid available from some of our generous donors to assist those who cannot afford the shabbaton the opportunity to attend this life changing event.  The financial aid deadline has past on December 5, 2011.   You may still submit a form and if we still have available funds after the first round has been completely you will be considered on a first come first serve basis.  To be considered for financial aid please fill out the financial aid form.   If you are able to donate funds to enable people to come to the retreat, please donate here.

Halachic Information

The shabbaton program will be fully shomer shabbos, however no practice will be coerced upon anybody.  The eruv is checked weekly.  All food will be supervised glatt kosher under the Hartford Kashrus Commission – cholov yisrael and pas yisrael is available upon request at an extra cost.

Program Features:

We will be focusing on the theme of Identity and exploring the factors that make up our identity and how it effects our lives.

Children’s programming!

The Eshel Shabbaton will have programming for kids of all ages.  Sign them up and you will be contacted by a member of the Eshel board.

Transportation

For directions and transportation information, please visit the Isabella Freedman website. To offer or request a ride to the retreat, we will be adding a ride board and you will be sent the information when it is live.   The retreat center is available by train, and a shuttle is available for $15 from the Wassaic train station, for the MetroNorth train leaving Grand Central Station at 11:48am.  For other pickup times or locations, Lakeville Taxi, (860) 435-8000, is available. Lakeville Taxi is a reservation service. Voicemails for the purpose of reserving rides must be left before 5pm and at least 24 hours in advance.

Confidentiality Policy

We take confidentiality VERY seriously.   We come together this weekend in the spirit of trust and confidentiality. Some of us may know each other in multiple roles as friend, colleague, rabbi,  or other relationships. Some of us may still be in the ‘closet’ in parts of our outside lives. Please do not repeat what you hear someone share or who you see, here or after the weekend. Please adhere to this extra-strictly in this case. Ask yourself: “What would the Chofetz Chaim say?” If the answer you get isn’t “nothing,” you probably need to learn more Shmirat Halashon.

Questions?  Please email us at info@eshelonline.org. Please help us spread the word about the shabbaton