Music City Hosts Shabbaton

This past Shabbas was most memorable for 200 Southern Jews who took part in a Shabbaton Retreat at the luxurious Loews Vanderbilt Hotel, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Hosted by the local Shluchim Rabbi Yitzchok and Esther Tiechtel, the guest of honor and Scholar in Residence was Rabbi Manis Friedman.

The participants arrived in groups with their Shluchim: Rabbi Levi and Rivky Klein of Chabad of Memphis, Tennessee; Rabbi and Mrs. Tiechtel of Chabad of Nashville; and Chabad of Birmingham, Alabama, led by Rabbi Yossi and Frumie Posner, and Rabbi Yossi and Miriam Friedman.

The weekend was attended by professionals from all walks of life, including doctors, lawyers, judges, businessmen, pilots, educators, engineers, professors, and even songwriters. On Friday evening, following a gourmet dinner, campus students from Vanderbilt University, together with the Vanderbilt Shliach, Rabbi Shlomo Rothstein, joined the retreat for Rabbi Friedman’s lecture on “Warning! Religion Can Be Hazardous To Your Health.”

Rabbi Friedman sat until the early hours of the morning with the college students and many others, answering questions that have been lingering on their minds, and taking the opportunity to farbreng in a very unique way.

On Shabbat morning, Rabbi Friedman gave a most powerful sermon on the Chassidic interpretation to Yezias Mitzraim. It was followed by a buffet Shabbat lunch in the Loews Ballroom, and a lecture on “Getting To Like The People You Love.”

On Motzei Shabbos, everyone gathered to join in a beautiful Havdalah ceremony and a moving musical rendition by guest cantor Yehuda Friedman. The game that followed brought much laughter and cameraderie. All were then treated to a mesmerising talk on “Gratitude: The Secret To Happiness.”

The retreat ended on Sunday morning with a video presentation on the Rebbe, as many walked away inspired to live a more fulfilled Jewish life.

The weekend has changed people’s lives in a way that could not have happened in any one particular Chabad House. Having five couples of Shluchim celebrating Shabbos in this unique setting, was an opportunity to strengthen one another in Shlichus, and to bond with many of the members in their communities.

Discussions for next year’s retreat are already underway, and will hopefully include even more of the surrounding Shluchim.