“We’re all Jews here. They just do Jewish different, but we’re all Jews.”
It was a simple observation, shared by one child with another during the inaugural Tidewater Community Shabbaton. But those words captured the spirit of a weekend when differences took a back seat to shared traditions, new friendships, and the joy of being together.”
Held October 16–18, the Shabbaton brought more than 100 participants from across Jewish Tidewater together for three days of worship, learning, laughter, and connection. Hosted by United Jewish Federation of Tidewater, the gathering welcomed people from different congregations, generations, and levels of Jewish observance.
Children raced through games, adults competed in Minute to Win It challenges, and a participant in his 90s joined children for balloon soccer. There were discussions with rabbis, shared Shabbat meals, and conversations that stretched well beyond the scheduled activities.
Some of the most memorable moments weren’t planned. “Friday evening after dinner some of us randomly met on the bridge over the dunes and just lay on our backs looking up at the stars. We chatted about the stars being cracks in the floorboards of heaven and how vast the universe felt. It was so dark most of us couldn’t tell who was who and who came from which community. We were all just fellow Jews in a sea of stars,” recalls Ben McCormick.
Baila Zharnest’s description of the experience was equally memorable. “…It didn’t matter how you daven or what level you keep or what’s on your head. It was just Jewish people having fun together. I also really loved motzei shabbos. I found myself in a big circle of women with mixed levels of observance. As an Orthodox Jew, getting to spend time and have conversations with other women I don’t know or don’t get to see often was just SO nice. I had the best time. That circle that night was a core memory for me.”
“My favorite part was bringing together people from several Tidewater synagogues, people we don’t always get to see in our day-to-day lives,” says Pati Oliszewski. “We prayed together, celebrated Shabbat together, played games, laughed, and enjoyed the kind of unhurried conversations that don’t always happen in the middle of a busy week.”
Sierra Lautman, UJFT’s senior director of Jewish Innovation and organizer of the Shabbaton, says bringing together people from across the Jewish community was at the heart of the gathering.
“As with so many communities around the world, Jewish or otherwise, we tend to gravitate towards the people and situations that are familiar,” says Lautman. “Our Jewish community can become a collection of smaller communities. During the Shabbaton, people could spend time with others they might never have met or may have only known in passing. We planned the programming, created an opportunity for people to come together, and hoped that connections would follow, but we couldn’t plan for the friendships that would develop or the small moments of connection. That was the real gift of the weekend: watching our community become something bigger than the sum of its parts.”
Tidewater Jewish Foundation helped make the Shabbaton possible through a Community Impact Grant. “The Shabbaton was a beautiful example of what becomes possible when we bring congregations, organizations, and families together across traditions and generations,” says Naomi Limor Sedek, TJF president and CEO. “We are doing more than creating meaningful experiences. We are building relationships, strengthening our collective identity and laying the foundation for a Jewish legacy that will endure. This is the kind of collaboration and community investment that TJF is proud to support.”
To learn more about TJF Community Impact Grants, contact Ann Swindell at aswindell@tjfva.org.
