The Shalom Y’all Retreat hosted by the Asheville JCC’s Young Adult Jews of Asheville (YAJA) and by the Moishe Houses in the North Carolina Triangle, Atlanta, Charlotte brought together 35 Jewish young adults from all over the Southeast. From November 2015 until April 8th, the planning committee which consisted of representatives from Charlotte, Durham, Atlanta and Asheville spent many hours on this peer lead retreat. The goal of the retreat was to cultivate a sense of community for young Jewish adults in the Southeast and also give attendees a chance to explore Asheville in an inexpensive manner. With grants given by various Moishe houses and accessible lodging facilities at the JCC, the total retreat only cost $25 for those traveling to Asheville. Before the retreat, surveys and questionnaires went out to individuals who expressed interested leading a workshop. From those, the retreat had a diverse set of workshops that ranged from Jewish cooking to Israeli dancing to discussions about being LGBTQ and Jewish. This peer lead planning also created a unique Shabbat experience that, from the post retreat surveys, was said to be one of the best Shabbat experience that attendees have been a part of. During Shabbat retreat goers were able to have song sessions, dancing, yoga and lunch with Congregation Beth Israel’s congregants. After this retreat, Hannah Henschel who is the programmer for YAJA, has heard from the YAJA attendees that they are invested in bettering our programs that reflect our own Jewish journeys just as this retreat did for all of its attendees.
