Tibor Spitz is a 95 year old Holocaust survivor who lives with his wife Noemi (also a survivor) in Kingston NY.

Born and raised in former Czechoslovakia, during the deportations of Jews to close by Auschwitz his family learned about the mass killings of deportees.  Six members of Spitz family decided to resist. Their running & hiding culminated in living in the high snow covered mountains in an underground dugout for seven months.

Despite enduring five years without formal schooling, following World War 11, he escaped to the West where he became an engineer and scientist and earned a Ph.D. After he retired, he dedicated himself to his passion and became a full-time artist and lecturer.

Margot Leverett was the original clarinetist in the Klezmatics in 1985 before leaving the band to launch a solo career. Her first CD "The Art of Klezmer Clarinet" was followed by two more with her band "Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys", which combined klezmer and bluegrass. She has toured and taught workshops all over the world and has recently settled in Kingston.

This will be an overview of klezmer history including some recent amazing discoveries of lost Jewish music in Ukraine and Russia.

Rabbi Adam Cerino-Jones has been the spiritual leader of the Jewish Congregation of New Paltz since 2022. Ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Rabbi Adam previously worked for congregations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and for the Hillels of the University of Delaware and Haverford College

He is a skilled musician and composer of Jewish music, a passionate teacher of Torah, and an approachable pastoral presence dedicated to meeting Jews where they are and accompanying them on the unique path of their lives.

What is Reconstructionist Judaism? An Introduction
If you're a Jew living in the United States, you've likely heard of Reconstructionism, and may even have a general sense of where it falls in relation to other mainstream movements. But what exactly does a Reconstructionist approach to Judaism look like? Where and how did it develop? How does it differ from other movements and approaches? In this session, Rabbi Adam Cerino-Jones will offer a general introduction to Reconstructionist Judaism and the unique place it occupies in the American Jewish milieu.

Jonathan Kligler is rabbi emeritus of the Woodstock Jewish Congregation. Rabbi Jonathan is also a talented vocalist and guitarist, and has performed around the United States and in Europe. Among his recordings are Songs of Love, Hope and Courage; There’s a Place for Us: Jewish Songs and Spirit from the Broadway Stage; Holy Ground: Music of the High Holy Days; and Let My People Go: A Jewish and African American Celebration of Freedom (with Kim and Reggie Harris.)

Bassist Robert Bard began his career playing music on the streets and in the clubs of New York City. He graduated from Columbia University in 1981 and studied at Mannes School of Music shortly thereafter. He worked for 15 years as a composer and music director for CBS-TV, where he was nominated for 8 Emmy Awards. He then moved to New Paltz, NY, where he currently performs with the Bernstein Bard Trio and numerous other ensembles. Robert has recorded countless artists at Skytop Sound, his production and recording company. He also teaches bass privately.

“The American Jewish Songbook”
Over the past century American Jewish composers have played a central role in the development of American popular musical forms, such as Jazz, Broadway and Folk music. In return, the Jewish community has absorbed all of those American influences into our own music, and a distinctly American Jewish music has emerged over time. In this performance we will present a variety of engaging songs, some well-known, others less so, that reflect this dynamic melding of Jewish and American cultures.

Reb Kugel, the Rubadubdubber Rebbe, was a disciple of the great rabbi Baruch Shem Tov (the BORSCHT) and holds a ninth degree borscht belt. (In everyday life, Judy Kerman lives in Woodstock and is a member of Woodstock Jewish Congregation. She is a poet, artist and musician.)

Carol Fox Prescott is a celebrated actor, singer, director, teacher, performance coach and author. She brings over 50 years of experience in professional theater to individuals of all walks of life, enabling breakthroughs in authenticity, personal growth, and creativity. Carol’s clients include professional actors, business leaders, clergy, doctors, artists and educators- anyone for whom presentation and self-discovery are essential to success. Her life long love of Judaism, Torah and Theater come together naturally and easily in her mind and heart as she takes true delight in exploring Biblical stories and characters, especially the women. She is the author of "Breathing Awareness and Joy: An Approach to Acting for the 21st Century", "Some of These Days", a one-woman show, about vaudeville star Sophie Tucker, and "In The Voice of Our Mothers," a 90-minute, five character play taking us deep inside the lives of our biblical matriarchs.

Susan Rosen is the founder and Spiritual Director of Miriam’s Well. Susan has raised 5 extraordinary children (all grown with children of their own) and has always been interested and curious about Judaism, mysticism, transpersonal psychology and humanity in general. She’s certified in Group Projective Dreamwork, Integrated Kabbalistic Healing, and Energy Healing. She is co-producer and now co-editor of “In the Voice of Our Mothers” which started out as a theatrical event performed in various parts of the country and is now a Haggadah entitled, In the Voice of Our Mothers – a new way to tell the story of Passover. To Susan, “it is extremely important for our evolution as human beings to hear the voices of women and restore ourselves to full participants in the whole/holy world.”

Julia Indichova’s day job entails supporting women and couples wishing to birth a child. In her parallel work she aims to deepen the discourse on the roots of violence and support the birth of a more peaceful future. She is the author of Inconceivable & The Fertile Female, Birth Your Next  Creation Audio Program and the founder of @FertileHeart & @FertileHeartedHuman Her work and story have been featured on Good Morning America, NPR’s 51%, the Oprah Winfrey Show, in Tablet Magazine, HuffPo, the Chronogram & more. The second edition of One-Heart Revolution, a collection of essays and poems is due for publication in September of 2025.

R’ Jack Sherratt was ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in the spring of 2024 and thereafter installed as the sole Rabbi at Congregation Emanuel of the Hudson Valley (Kingston, NY). R’ Jack also holds a MA in Religious Studies from Wilfrid Laurier University and a MSW from the University of Toronto. Prior to entering rabbinical school, Jack worked as a trauma therapist for at-risk populations in NYC, including with homeless LGBTQ youth and homeless Jewish seniors. Jack is also a carpenter, a beekeeper, and an aspiring scribe.

Long before humans adopted the belief in and worship of one male god to the exclusion of all others, they worshipped many gods and goddesses. Throughout most of the world, for much of human history, the goddess reigned supreme. Even the early Israelites—the originators of monotheism—worshipped the divine feminine for centuries. In this program, discover how the Hebrew Bible inadvertently serves as a written record of the polytheism and goddess worship of our Jewish forebears.

Sivan Rotholz is the Director of Adult Education and a Rabbi in the Center for Exploring Judaism at Central Synagogue in Manhattan. Sivan comes to the rabbinate as a professor of gynocentric Torah (Torah centered on the stories and experiences of women) and creative writing.