• 3:30 – 5 pm: Arrival and check in 

• 5:30 – 7:15 pm:

  • Shabbat Kiddush, followed by dinner
    

  •    Art Opening for the Maine Artists’ Chavurah  (6:30 pm)
• 7:15 – 7:45 pm: Introductory remarks
• 7:45 – 8:45 pm: Kabbalat Shabbat                                                         
• 9 pm: Tisch  

8-9 am: Breakfast

9 am:

• Reform and Conservative Shabbat Services
• Shabbat Hike
• Art Show (9 am-6 pm)

11:30 am:

• Lunch
• MCJL B’Ivrit — Meet-up for Hebrew 101 and 201 participants

1:15 pm: 

• So No One Grieves Alone: Showing Up for Shiva, Part I with Rebecca Missel
• Torah, Mah t’hei Aleha? What Will Become of the Words of Torah? with Rabbi Carolyn Braun
• An Introduction to Makom, with Bill Robinson and a panel of current Makom fellows
• How Do You Spell “Resilience” in Bosnian? Unexpected Stories of Jewish Resilience in Europe with Edward Serotta
• Tikkun Olam: Whose World Are We Repairing? with Rabbi Marc Hersch
• Kids’ Program: Jewish Origami

2:30 pm:

• Mizrachi Poetry: Navigating, Reclaiming, and Rejecting Arab Identity in Israel, with Lauren Cohen Fisher
• Sabor Judío: Jewish‑Mexican Flavors, with Margaret Boyle
• Jewish in the Public Square: How Out Should We Be? with Rabbi Rachel Isaacs
• Good God, Bad God, No God, with Alexina Haefner
• One Teen, One Survey: A Small-Town Jewish Story, with Dawn LaRochelle and Willow Halpin
• An Adventure with Perek Shirah: Maine Roots Programming with Rabbi Carolyn Braun
• Kids’ Program: Hebrew Games

3:30 – 5 pm:

• Se’udah Shlishit Cocktail Hour
• Maine Roots meet-up
• Teen Program: The Torah of Mocktails

5 -6 pm: 

• Dinner

6:30 pm:

• From the Ash Tree, From the Earth We Come: Wabanaki and Jewish Perspectives on Creation, Environment, and Human Responsibilities, with Joey LeBlanc
• On The Edge — Economic Vulnerability in Jewish Communities, with Ilana Horwitz
• Storytelling as a Jewish Superpower, with Rabbi Erica Asch
• Shaina, Bamba, and Ruth Betta Finsberg: Jewish Names of Pets Today, with Sarah Bunin Benor
• Yet All This Means Nothing to Me: The Conflict between Haman and Mordechai, with Yael Marans
• Kids’ Program

7:45 pm:

• Bodies on Trial: The Soṭah Ritual and the Dynamics of Power in Numbers 5, with Kerry Sonia
• Loving the Jews: Philosemitism in History and Today, with Rabbi David Sandmel
• Hafrashat Challah: An Old Mitzvah, A New Moment, with Aviva Herr-Welber
• What Makes Something A Prayer, Anyways? with Lauren Cohen Fisher
• On Belonging & Home: A Conversation with Lilith magazine, with Rebecca Katz

9:15 pm:

• Singing Circle and Havdalah

9:45 pm:

• The MCJL B’nei Mitzvah Party with Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and Rebbetzin Lisa Mayer!

7 am

• Renewal Shacharit with Rabbi Lorin Troderman

8-9 am: Breakfast

9:15 – 10:15 am

• Why Israel’s Nature Matters: 73 Years of Conservation and What Comes Next, with Rachel Canar
• In Search of Memory: Four Decades of Interviewing Jews in Central and Eastern Europe, with Edward Serotta
• Jewish Studio Process Workshop, with Rabbi Leah Berkowitz
• Jewish Languages, Endangered and Thriving, with Sarah Bunin Benor
• So No One Grieves Alone: Showing Up for Shiva, Part II, with Rebecca Missel
• Shlichei Tzibur Retreat
• Meet the Artists: Creative Process and the Themes of Purim, with Maine Artists’ Chavurah
• Kids’ Program: Crafting Time
  

10:30 – 11:30 am

• 25044: A Musical Story of Resilience, with Russel Kaback
• From Awareness to Action: Advancing Jewish Inclusion in K‑12 Schools, with Mandy Levine
• Matzo Balls? We Have Gondi: Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews in America,”with Ilana Horwitz
• Are You There, God? It’s Me, Grandma: Interfaith Grandparenting in Children’s Literature, with Rabbi Leah Berkowitz
• Today’s Maine Jewish Community in Historical and Comparative Perspective, with Rabbi David Freidenreich
• Is Jewish Humor Loshen Hara? with Elcha Buckman
• Shlichei Tzibur Retreat
• Kids’ Program: Children’s Discovery Museum

11:30 am:

• Lunch

12:45-1:30 pm:

• Closing Ceremony

Saturday

1:15 – 2:15 p.m.

How do you spell resilience in Bosnian? Unexpected Stories of Jewish Resilience in Europe with Edward Serrota

Edward Serotta has spent decades working across Europe. Come hear two stories of resilience from unexpected corners of recent European history. 

 

Torah, Mah t’hei Aleha? What Will Become of the Words of Torah? With Rabbi Carolyn Braun

Whether you are a teacher, a parent, a rabbi or any kind of leader, you choose what you will pass on to others. I believe that there is always tension between what you want to pass on, what will be heard, and what will be utterly rejected. So what do you do? Retirement has given me the opportunity to reflect on my “Torah.” Did I consider enough opinions? Did I dismiss or accept opinions and practices based on the right criteria? As community and as individuals, whose Torah do we refuse to listen to and whose will we consider? If we censor some and only consider others, the Talmud asks, (Kiddushin 52b) ?דִּבְרֵי תוֹרָה מָה תְּהֵא עָלֶיהָ “What will become of the words of Torah?” In this shiur, we will look at texts and begin to ask ourselves these crucial questions.

 

So No One Grieves Alone: Showing Up for Shiva, Part I with Rebecca Missel

Have you comforted someone after a death, but wished you could do more? Grounded in Jewish wisdom, Shiva Circle equips you with a community-based framework for grief care. On Saturday, this workshop will dive into the rituals of Jewish mourning and use storytelling to understand the value of showing up for shiva. We invite participants to attend both sessions to have an understanding of Jewish mourning rituals, but everyone is welcome to attend either session.

 

2:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Mizrachi Poetry: Navigating, Reclaiming, and Rejecting Arab Identity in Israel with Lauren Cohen Fisher

In this session, we will examine themes of Jewish and Arab identities in Mizrachi (Jews with recent ancestry in the Muslim and Arab world) poetry. Jumping into the works of poetic greats like Erez Bitton, as well as those innovating new and bold cultural spaces, like Adi Keissar and Yossi Tsabari. No existing knowledge of Israel, Mizrachim, or poetry needed to participate. 

 

Jewish in the Public Square: How Out Should We Be? with Rabbi Rachel Isaacs

Joseph. Esther. All of us. Throughout Jewish history, members of our community have been faced with a dilemma: how public should we be in our Jewish identity and practice? Especially during times of notable privilege and crushing persecution, Jewish communities have struggled with how much attention we should draw to ourselves, especially in regard to public ritual and political advocacy. In this session, we will explore rabbinic and contemporary texts on how Jews have navigated the tensions inherent in public displays of Jewishness, and in particular, how to represent our particular identities and interests in pluralistic societies.

 

One Teen, One Survey: A Small-Town Jewish Story with Dawn LaRochelle

Teen researcher Willow Halpin and her mentor, Maine Jewish Museum Executive Director Dawn LaRochelle, share the story and findings of a youth-led survey exploring Jewish life, identity, and belonging in Southern Maine through the Museum’s Delet Mentorship & Leadership Program. This interactive session goes beyond the PowerPoint with live conversation, audience polling, and creative activities that bring real survey voices into the room. Participants will leave with fresh ideas for engaging youth as partners in community research, mentorship, and small-town Jewish life.

 

Good God, Bad God, No God with Alexina Haefner 

Why do bad things happen to good people? And moreover, how should it affect the way we think about God? In this session we will explore how Jewish thinkers past and present have wrestled with the idea of God in the wake of human suffering.

 

Sabor Judío: Jewish‑Mexican Flavors with Margaret Boyle

Explore the rich intersection of Jewish and Mexican culinary traditions through the lens of Sabor Judío’s community recipe archive. We’ll share methods for gathering and preserving family recipes, discuss the stories they carry, and finish with a live demo of a bright, herbed lentil salad you can recreate at home.

 

An Adventure with Perek Shirah: Maine Roots Programming with Rabbi Carolyn Braun

What does the Egyptian Vulture (or some say, the Magpie or the Bee-Eater) have in common with the Cow and the Elephant? Together, we’ll figure it out.

 

6:30 – 7:30 p.m.

 

From the Ash Tree, From the Earth We Come: Wabanaki and Jewish Perspectives on Creation, Environment, and Human Responsibilities with Joey LeBlanc

In this session, we will engage with creation stories from Jewish, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Wolastoquy (Maliseet), and Mi’kmaq traditions, focusing on the origins of humanity. What do these stories have in common, and how can they help us understand being human in relation to our worlds, our connections to place, and our responsibilities to our environments and to each other?

 

On The Edge—Economic Vulnerability In Jewish Communities with Ilana Horwitz

About one quarter of American Jews struggle financially, yet their voices often go unheard. Drawing from groundbreaking research with nearly 2,000 Jews nationwide, discover the hidden reality of economic vulnerability in our communities. Through a life course lens, explore how job loss, divorce, health crises, and other unexpected events trigger financial hardship and disconnection from Jewish life. Learn what barriers prevent participation and which interventions, from emergency aid to community support, help vulnerable Jews thrive.

 

Storytelling as Jewish Superpower with Rabbi Erica Asch 

We are a people who retell stories. We recall the Exodus from Egypt at Passover each year, tell family stories at baby namings and funerals, and engage with our story when we study Torah. In this interactive session we’ll tap into the Jewish power of storytelling to craft our own story. In a time of a divided and fractured society telling our stories and listening to others is one way to bridge our divides.

 

Shaina, Bamba, and Ruth Betta Finsberg: Jewish Names of Pets Today with Sarah Bunin Benor

While most American Jews give their pets unremarkable names like Daisy and Pepper, a growing percentage of Jews select pet names that are identifiably Jewish. In addition to human names like Abby and Max, pet names are also inspired by Jewish observance (Akiva, Afikomen), characteristics (Gingy, Shmutzik), foods (Bamba, Farfel), names of animals (Ketzel, Tuki), and historical figures (Bar-Kochba, Bernie). What may seem like a fluff topic sheds light on the identities, communities, and values of American Jews today.

Yet All This Means Nothing to Me: The Conflict between Haman and Mordechai with Yael Marans

Over the past six months, I have been studying the Book of Esther with the Maine Art Chavurah, which has inspired me to keep thinking about this amazing book as we head into the summer. In this session, we will discuss the characters of Mordechai and Haman and the conflict that erupts between them.

 

7:45 – 8:45 p.m.

 

Bodies on Trial: The Soṭah Ritual and the Dynamics of Power in Numbers 5 with Kerry Sonia

This interactive workshop examines the Sotah Ritual, otherwise known as the Ritual of the Suspected Adulteress (Numbers 5:11–31), with attention to the intersection of gender, power, and ritual. Participants will also explore this difficult text’s history of interpretation, including recent efforts to read it in light of women’s reproductive rights.

 

Loving the Jews: Philosemitism in History and Today with Rabbi David Sandmel 

Antisemitic violence and rhetoric are an increasing reality of Jewish life. However, philosemitism (“love of Jews”) is also real. While most closely identified with Evangelical Christians, it is much broader than that. But is it genuine, or simply another form of stereotyping that has little to do with real Jews and may in fact be simply another form of antisemitism? In this session, we will explore the different expressions of philosemitism.

 

Hafrashat Challah: An Old Mitzvah, A New Moment with Aviva Herr-Welber

What does it mean to ‘separate’ challah today? This ancient Jewish baking ritual, rooted in Temple times, lives on in kitchens and bakeries across the world. Together, we’ll explore its rich and layered history from the Torah to our day—and imagine how this mitzvah could evolve in our own time.

 

What makes something a prayer, anyways?! with Lauren Cohen Fisher

Can you accidentally pray? Can you pray “wrong”? What even counts as a prayer? In this session we’ll dig into a diversity of texts within and beyond the Jewish tradition to think about one of the spiritual cornerstones of Jewish life. Whether you love prayer or have a prayer allergy — this session is for you.

On Belonging & Home: A Conversation with Lilith magazine with Rebecca Katz

Belonging is at the core of what so many of us are trying to create. But all too often, our experience is of being on the outside looking in, whether in a community gathering, at a holiday dinner, in a service or a meeting. Join Rebecca Katz and Lilith magazine for an intimate and frankly feminist conversation about belonging and home, both when we feel in the mainstream and, sometimes, on the margins. To spark our discussion, we’ll read “Appalachian Homecoming” by G. Samantha Rosenthal (Fall 2025 issue) about how a new generation of Jews is making home—and making trouble—in the Mountain South. In this moment, we need independent, intimate, and intergenerational conversation more than ever before, where we can show up simply as we are, in all of our contradictions and complexities.

 

9:30 – 10:30 p.m.

B’nei Mitzvah Party for the Conference! with Rabbi Sruli Dresdner and Rebbitzen Lisa Meyer

 

Sunday

9:15 – 10:15 a.m.

Why Israel’s Nature Matters: 73 Years of Conservation and What Comes Next with Rachel Canar

SPNI has spent more than seven decades safeguarding Israel’s most precious ecosystems — work that strengthens the wellbeing of all species in the region. In a time of profound challenge, this presentation explores what makes Israel’s ecology unique, why its protection matters now more than ever, and the essential truth that caring for nature is not separate from human resilience but foundational to it.

 

In Search of Memory: Four decades of interviewing Jews in Central and Eastern Europe with Edward Serotta

In 2000, American-born, Vienna-based Edward Serotta founded www.centropa.org, an oral history project that sought out 1,230 elderly Jews still living in Central Europe. Rather than use video in their interviews, Centropa digitized 25,150 old family photographs. Instead of focusing primarily on the Holocaust, they asked their respondents to share their stories of an entire century, just as they lived it. Edward will share stories and images and insights of what it’s been like to work in 15 countries between the Baltic and the Black Sea.

 

Jewish Studio Process Workshop with Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

Join Rabbi Leah Berkowitz, Jewish Studio Process (JSP) Facilitator, for a workshop designed to break the heart open and unlock our creative capacity. The Jewish Studio Process methodology weaves together Jewish text study, art-making, and reflection to spark creativity and ignite the imagination! No previous experience with art making or text study is expected or required.

 

Jewish Languages, Endangered and Thriving with Sarah Bunin Benor

Most longstanding Jewish language varieties have become endangered, including Ladino, Judeo-Arabic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic (Iraq-Iran), and Jewish Malayalam (Southern India). At the same time, Jews are engaging with these languages in post-vernacular ways, such as through song and food, and new Jewish language varieties are developing, including Jewish English, Jewish Latin American Spanish, and Jewish Russian. This talk explains these developments and makes the case for the urgent need for documentation and reclamation.

So No One Grieves Alone: Showing Up for Shiva, Part II with Rebecca Missel

Have you comforted someone after a death, but wished you could do more? Grounded in Jewish wisdom, Shiva Circle equips you with a community-based framework for grief care. On Sunday, we’ll get more practical, where you will learn how to utilize Shiva Circle’s website and tools to create supportive shiva experiences. We invite participants to attend both sessions to have an understanding of Jewish mourning rituals, but everyone is welcome to attend either session.

Meet the Artists: Creative Process and the Themes of Purim with Maine Artists’ Chavurah

Join the Maine Artists’ Chavurah in exploring often overlooked themes of Purim. This is an invaluable opportunity to learn about the challenges and joys of blending Jewish texts with artistic process. Attendees will gain access to insight about works in progress and sources of inspiration on themes such as reversals, violence, theatricality, feminist lens, and the hidden face of G-d. The exhibition of works will be available for viewing, in the same location, throughout the Conference.

 

10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

25044: A Musical Story of Resilience with Russel Kaback

25044: A Musical Story of Resilience is a deeply moving solo theatrical storytelling performance recounting the true story of Russell Kaback’s grandfather, Szyjek Magier, a Jewish Polish teenager who survived four years in Nazi labor and concentration camps during World War II. Blending original songs, live guitar, expressive physicality, and vivid character work, the performance immerses audiences in one young man’s experience of loss, endurance, and survival. Developed through extensive personal interviews, survivor testimony, and historical research, 25044 balances emotional immediacy with historical clarity.

Matzo Balls? We Have Gondi: Sephardic and Mizrachi Jews in America with Ilana Horwitz

Drawing on interviews with Persian Jews in Los Angeles, Syrian Jews in Brooklyn, Bukharian Jews in Queens, and Latin Sephardic Jews in Miami, this session explores what happens when we look beyond the Ashkenazi mainstream to understand American Jewish life. What do these diverse journeys reveal about tradition, family, politics, and racial identity? And what might Sephardic/Mizrachi Jews have to teach each other about being Jewish on the margins of the American Jewish mainstream?

Are You There, God? It’s Me, Grandma: Interfaith Grandparenting in Children’s Literature with Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

In 1970, Judy Blume published her well-known coming-of-age novel Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. While best known for its descriptions of puberty and early adolescence, this book also portrays Margaret’s experience as the child of an interfaith couple, including the spiritual tug-of-war between her Jewish and Christian grandparents. Come explore how Margaret’s grandparents and other fictional characters – in picture books, young adult novels, and on screen – navigate the promise and the pitfalls of building multifaith and multicultural families.

Today’s Maine Jewish Community in Historical and Comparative Perspective with Rabbi David Freidenreich

Learn about the rich diversity of Jewish life in Maine, the ways in which this community has evolved over time, and how Jews in Maine compare to those in other parts of the country. This presentation will draw on last year’s community study, photos from a recent Maine Jewish Museum exhibition, and cutting-edge research by Colby students.

 

From Awareness to Action: Advancing Jewish Inclusion in K‑12 Schools with Mandy Levine

A lay leader for the Jewish Community Relation Council (JCRC), Mandy will present the work that the parent‑volunteer group has undertaken over the past several years to champion the inclusion of Jewish students in K‑12 schools in Southern Maine, whether by proactively educating school administration about upcoming Jewish holidays or by responding swiftly to hate incidents. She will share the positive lessons gleaned from navigating a particularly challenging episode, highlighting strategies that turned adversity into growth for the school community. Mandy will also share the resources that the group created over the years.

Is Jewish Humor Loshen Hara? with Elcha Buckman

Never thought about it? You’re not alone. Come join Elcha Buckman to have some fun and find out the answer, enjoy some top comedians’ shticks, and learn why Jewish humor prevails no matter where or what’s going on in the world. Bring your sense of humor, curiosity, jokes and funny stories and learn what they say and why we laugh at them.

 

 

The conference will be held June 12-14, 2026, in Waterville.

Melanie Weiss: [email protected]

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Dorm rooms at Thomas College are available for the entire weekend. If you would prefer to stay off campus, please make a reservation at one of Waterville’s hotels or B&Bs.

Discounted Maine Conference for Jewish Life block rates will be available for reservations in early spring 2026.

See below for booking information.