The Fall Shabbaton is an annual event that brings together the Maine Jewish community and friends from farther afield for a weekend of Torah study, soulful music, Shabbat meals, and invigorating connection. What started out as a Friday-night dinner and concert has evolved into a full Shabbat of learning and singing, with intergenerational programs for college students, children and teens, synagogue members from across the state. Past guests have included Nefesh Mountain, Deborah Sacks Mintz, Neshama Carlebach and the Glory to God gospel singers, and Joey Weisenberg, as well as Talmud scholar Ruth Calderon. The Shabbaton has grown into a partner program to the Maine Conference for Jewish Life, sustaining our community with Jewish learning and music as we enter the winter months.
SHABBATON SCHEDULE (tentative)
Friday, November 8
Cantor Shayna De Lowe (she/her) serves as the Senior Cantor of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Manhattan and has worked at CRS since being ordained from the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music in 2007. Having grown up in a very small, tight-knit Jewish community in the Midwest, Shayna is the direct product of small-town Jewish life. Shayna has spent her years at CRS helping others find connection and fulfillment, always looking for ways to deepen spirituality in herself and others.
Shayna helped develop a special needs B’nai Mitzvah program with Senior Rabbi Ben Spratt, opening Jewish tradition to families with all kinds of needs. She created an American Sign Language choir, combining ASL and singing to offer prayer in a medium accessible to those in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. In 2016, she and Rabbi Spratt co-created Minyan,a small-group initiative focused on making deep connections between members of the CRS community.
Called to the cantorate by the desire to use music to guide people as they navigate their own spiritual path, Cantor De Lowe uses her soulful voice to bring people together, to deepen connections, and to enrich the community she serves.
Ben Spratt serves as Senior Rabbi of Congregation Rodeph Sholom. Since 2001, he has filled various positions within the organization.
Rabbi Spratt’s Jewish journey moved through the Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Reform movements of Judaism before becoming ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary. He centers his rabbinate on the values of connection, collaboration, and belonging. Continuing the long legacy of innovation at Rodeph Sholom, Ben helps spark new initiatives to center on the needs of people, including:
Shireinu, an inclusion platform for Jewish families with special needs that now serves as a spiritual model for synagogues and churches around the world;
Tribe, a joint endeavor with Rabbi Josh Stanton to engage Jewish Millennials through grassroots leadership and a community of empowerment;
Minyan, a Jewish small-group-based approach to human flourishing through connection sparked with Senior Cantor Shayna De Lowe.
Ben is a regular presence in written publications and podcasts, often with his co-author and colleague Rabbi Josh Stanton. Together they wrote Awakenings: American Jewish Transformations in Identity, Leadership, and Belonging and hold a regular column for Religion News Service.
Accommodations
Other hotels in the area include:
Additionally, there are Air BnBs in the area.
