The Rabbinic Kallah at Wildacres
August 4-10, 2022*

The Rabbinic Kallah at Wildacres has been occurring for over 60 years! The Kallah features an outstanding Jewish scholar for a six-day rabbinic seminar attended by Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Reform, and Traditional rabbis and their families. We join together for study, prayer, discussion, debate, relaxation, and camaraderie. Rabbis and family members come from all over the country to enjoy the learning, kosher cuisine, egalitarian minyanim, and joyously observe Shabbat together. Participants are able to lead the davening, give divrei-Torah, and offer workshops. The program includes evening entertainment, arts and crafts for family members, and children’s activities. Included in the schedule is free time for touring, relaxing, and schmoozing with family and friends.

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We are thrilled to welcome our Scholar

Rabbi Shoshana Cohen,

Senior Faculty and Director of Campus Engagement for Hevruta at Shalom Hartman Institute

Click here for her biography

Register here!

Draft of this year’s schedule, 2022

For more information about Wildacres

The Wildacres Interfaith Institute
August 1-4, 2022**

The Wildacres Interfaith Institute has been meeting at Wildacres for over 25 years. The Institute brings together clergy and lay people of all faiths to gain understanding towards the Wildacres goal of “betterment of human relations.” Our annual Interfaith Institute at Wildacres Retreat Center off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Little Switzerland, North Carolina, is open to clergy and interested lay people from all religious traditions.  Come and join us for fellowship, discussion, and fun on the mountaintop. Wildacres provides a magnificent vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains, including stately Mt. Mitchell across the way. Our study sessions are supplemented by plenty of good food (strictly kosher), a daily happy hour, evening entertainment, morning prayer services, and opportunities to explore the area.

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This retreat, held for over forty years, took a two year breather due to the Covid Pandemic, but now we can once again meet together in person.  

We can breathe at last. Our 2022 theme: Breath of the Soul

Three distinguished professors from Duke University (Dr. Laura Suzanne Lieber; Dr. Mona Hassan; Dr. Anathea Portier-Young) will lead us in thought and discussion. Each comes from a different religious tradition, and we have asked them to reflect upon and discuss breath, spirit, soul, wind, these various interrelated terms in the light of their respective traditions and our current experiences during the past few years. We are aware of the breath-robbing pandemic and also the cries in our communities of “I can’t breathe.” We note concern for people seeking refuge, people who cause us to recall Emma Lazarus’s poetic inscription on the Statue of Liberty (“the huddled masses yearning to breathe free”).

This gathering is open to clergy and lay-people of all faiths.  We invite seminarians and students of religion, as well as other people of faith who are interested in learning and sharing on a mountaintop in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  (Check out Wildacres website for details: https://wildacres.org/)

Once again we will offer a writing workshop during the retreat for those interested.  We will hear some local entertainment one evening as well as the creations of our writers presented another evening. We will be staying in Wildacres lodges and enjoying meals in their dining hall under Kosher supervision.  There will be opportunities to gather informally on the patio and in the canteen as well as time to explore the hiking paths and many local attractions.

We are grateful to the Blumenthal Foundation for subsidizing this program and making it more affordable for participants.  The cost for adults for the three-day event is $375/person if paid before June 15. After June 15 the cost increases to $400/person. If you choose to bring your children, there is a reduced fee, but you are responsible for providing adequate supervision for them. 

To register, click the link to fill out the registration form. 

Interfaith Institute Registration

Registration payment is by check or Zelle (224-234-4221), Please make checks payable to Marilyn Katz, 208 S Western Ave, Aurora, IL 60506

See you on the mountain,

Rev. Dr. Amy Laura Hall, program coordinator,

Rabbi Edward Friedman, chair,

Marilyn Katz, registrar