The luxurious JW Marriott Resort and Spa’s sprawling 450 acres of desert amenities in Palm Desert, California, will burst into activity as over twelve hundred Jews of all backgrounds arrive for JLI’s National Jewish Retreat on Av 12, August 8, 2023.
Billed as six days of purpose, connection, and community, this year’s bigger-than-ever retreat features a rich faculty of Jewish thought leaders, authors, mentors, and artists who aim to host a diverse array of talks, workshops, and conversations that tug the heartstrings, fascinate the mind, and inspire the soul. Alongside authentic Jewish enrichment, retreat-goers will fuel up with wholesome, nutritious, and gourmet meals and enjoy luxurious amenities amidst lush lakes, green grounds, and pristine mountain views.
The retreat’s schedule is as diverse as the community it attracts, featuring everything from Halacha sessions by Rabbi Yosef Shusterman, a class on the inner workings of the Kesubah with Rabbi Mordechai Farkash to a conversation with a 101-year-old Holocaust survivor and a moot trial judging the events at Masada, with a sitting federal judge presiding.
Retreat-goers will choose from a rich roster of Jewish learning opportunities. Famed educators and mentors, including Raizi Chechik and Rabbis Moshe Kotlarsky, Manis Friedman, YY Schochet, Moshe Bryski, Avraham Zajac, and Moshe Krasnanski, will host engaging sessions on Halacha, Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and applied lessons for all areas of daily life. Historian Dr. Henry Abramson will open fascinating windows into the Jewish past, while Rabbi Dr. Edward Reichman offers riveting accounts of Jewish medical history and sober discussions of Jewish medical ethics. Rabbi Yakov Fellig will also provide one-on-one Rabbinic mentoring sessions.
The retreat also features numerous authors and their works, including Michal Oshman’s What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid, Rabbi Pinchas Taylor’s A Jewish Guide to the Mysterious, Rabbi Gershon Schusterman’s Why G-d Why, anti-hate advocate Frank Meeink’s Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead, and Rabbi Dovid Elezerie’s upcoming biography of the Previous Rebbe, Undaunted: The Life of Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak Schneersohn.
Rounding out the experience, participants will experience Jewish art, ancient and modern, with the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Jewish researcher Abigail H. Meyer. They’ll enjoy a mouthwatering barbeque masterclass with pit boss Dani Goldblatt, wine tasting hosted by Baron Herzog’s Alicia Wilbur, and a masterful musical performance from Benny Friedman. Plus, they’ll unleash their creativity in a songwriting session with musician Peter Himmelman, a painting workshop with fine-artist Aliza Marton, and a Challah-bake with chef Sara Briman.
In all, the National Jewish Retreat’s program offers 120 workshops of all sorts hosted by over 50 presenters over six days. “The retreat gives participants a window into just how exhilarating Judaism can be,” says retreat chairman Rabbi Hesh Epstein, “Jews from all walks of life are coming here looking for Jewish wisdom, community, meaning, and, of course, lots of good laughter.”
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