Excitement is in the air as the registration for the 21st annual SimXa Shabbaton is well under way.
This year’s Shabbaton is scheduled to take place at the Marina Del Rey Hotel in California on December 22nd – 25th, during Chanukah. As every year, the event will bring Russian-speaking and English-speaking Jews together to learn Torah.
The heads of SimXa Company, Moshe and Esther Davidoff, are hard at work on the final touches.
Esther says, “We are looking forward to a fantastic and spiritually enriching program this year with some of our long-time favorite world renowned speakers, lecturers and entertainers, including Rabbi Aryeh Katzin, Director of RAJE (Russian American Jewish Experience), Rabbi Reuven Wolf of Maayon Yisrael Chassidic Center, Katya Kapelnikova, a poet, songwriter and popular inspirational performer for women, and Miriam Yerushalmi, the author of many children’s and adult books, speaker, counselor, and family therapist. The popular SimXa Kids’ Club children’s program has been brewing with plans for a fantastic Chanukah event program for youngsters of all ages, not to mention the outings to the beautiful Marina Del Rey playgrounds and beaches with water activities for kids and parents alike.”
This year’s major challenge was finding a location for the Shabbaton. Since the beginning of COVID, hotels have become stricter with renting out their kitchen space, which is a necessity for kosher events. Esther says, “With Hashem’s help, we finally found a hotel, using the expertise of an experienced corporate events planner, Abigail Goldberg, who quickly understood our group’s needs and our community’s requirements and among many hotels found us one that was willing to work with us. Marina Del Rey Hotel, aka Hotel MDR, is one of the most beautiful venues we have ever held our events at. It is located right on the water in the bay of Marina Del Rey overlooking the most spectacular boat harbor featuring breathtaking majestic sunsets reflecting in the ripples of the harbor ocean water.”
As usual, this year’s Shabbaton will feature gourmet kosher catering with a delectable menu full of traditional Chanukah holiday goodies to satisfy and please the most sophisticated of palates and taste buds.
