Save the date for the weekend of March 7-9 2014 for the Regional Chabad on Campus Upstate NY/Northeast Regional Shabbaton – to be hosted this year at Shabbos House UAlbany!
There’s lots being planned for this special weekend. We’ve invited Rabbi Simcha Weinstein as our featured speaker. He’s been named one of NY’s hippest Rabbis, he authored books titled “Up, Up and Oy Vey!” and “Shtick Shift” on Jewish humor, and a new book on parenting, too. He’s fun, sweet, meaningful, humorous and friendly, to the point and easy to listen to. There will be some options for great workshops on Sat afternoon, Farbrengens and mixers on Friday Night. We look forward to bringing up a Hebrew airbrush artist, a Drum Circle professional, and perhaps a Photo-Booth for the Sat Night event. And it will be nice to host and meet new faces!
Here are 3 things UAlbany students can do leading up to this event:
1) Do you live on campus – whether dorm room or campus apartment? Assess your living situation. Can you host a student or two (think couch, extra bed or floor space for sleeping bag)? If yes, please let us know by using the housing form sign up at: www.tinyurl.com/AlbanyShabbatonHousingForm Thanks a lot!
2) Do you have friends at Binghamton, Oswego, Onenota, New Paltz, Buffalo etc? Do you think they might be interested in joining for this weekend? Please reach out to them personally and ask them to register (its’ $18 for students at most campuses) at www.UpstateNYShabbaton.com or www.NortheastShabbaton.com (same website, different name) that fee helps defray some of the costs of this special weekend. They can also contact their Chabad Rabbi on campus for information about this weekend or registering etc. There may be a group coming from that campus. If your friends campus is not listed have them choose UAlbany from the dropdown list and then choose “Jewish Student from Unlisted Campus” to register.
3) We will get substantial Shabbaton funding from Chabad on Campus for all students who register at www.UpstateNYShabbaton.com (or www.NortheastShabbaton.com – same site). So we are also asking UAlbany students to please sign up as well. We’re asking UAlbany students to register and pay $5 for the Sat Night Program (which will feature a grand Havdalah, food, firepit, drum circle, t-shirt and Hebrew airbrush, maybe a photo booth and more – all included).
Thanks for seeing if you can host, reaching out to friends at other campuses and signing up with $5 as a UAlbany student.
Oh yes, and one more thing. But it’s not on the list, because we take this almost for granted. As the host school, let’s do our utmost to be as welcoming and friendly as possible to our guests from the various schools. It goes without saying, and thank G-d, we do have a wonderfully friendly, welcoming, inclusive and warm group of friends here at UAlbany!