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Let My People Sing!
June 26 @ 3:00 pm – June 29 @ 2:00 pm
2025 Summer Retreat
This retreat is now sold out – sign up for the waitlist below!
The Let My People Sing! Summer Retreat is a four-day gathering centered on Jewish communal singing for healing and liberation. This immersive experience is structured around Shabbat and features song-based programming led by our fabulous lead teachers, participant-led workshops, community sings, multiple prayer options, and a participatory concert on Saturday night.
Let My People Sing! is a cultural project expanding the ancient and transformative practice of Jewish communal singing.
We gather in multi-racial, multicultural and genderful Jewish community, uplifting songs and leaders historically and ongoingly pushed to the margins. Together, we transmit and reclaim diasporic Jewish singing traditions, celebrate original music emerging from our communities, and create heart-centered gatherings where we can all be leaders and learners of song.
Registration – SOLD OUT
We have sold out – please add yourself to the waitlist and we will be in touch if space becomes available.
Pricing
- Standard Room (Private bathroom): $905 per adult in double occupancy | $1,420 single occupancy
- Basic Room (Shared full bathroom between two rooms): $710 per adult in double occupancy | $1,100 single occupancy
- Dormitory Style (shared half bathroom between two rooms) multiple occupancy: $585
- Camping: $480
- Commuting: $465
- Child (5-12 years old): $275
- Toddler (2-4 years old): $135
- Infant: (Under 2 years old): $0
Help make this year’s retreat more financially accessible by donating to the Financial Assistance Fund! All donations will go directly towards subsidizing registration costs for Let My People Sing! participants.
Cancellation Policy
There is no refund for arriving late or departing early from any retreat. The refund amount is based on how far in advance we receive the cancelation request prior to the start date. For retreats at Isabella Freedman, the cancellation policy is:
- 31 days or more – fully refundable less a $75 fee
- 15-30 days prior – 50% refundable
- 14 days or less – not refundable
If you are sick with a communicable disease such as Covid-19 and are unable to attend, you may receive a credit (less $75) valid through the end of the of the following calendar year towards a future retreat at either Isabella Freedman or Pearlstone. You must provide medical documentation attesting to your illness in order to receive this credit. We suggest obtaining travel insurance for such situations.
Isabella Freedman reserves the right to cancel any program at any time. This includes cancellations due to inclement weather if, in our judgment, we are unable to operate safely. In the event of such a cancellation, a full refund will be issued. If the retreat proceeds as scheduled, no refund will be offered.
Teaching Team
Aly Halpert, Lead Teacher
Aly Halpert, (she/her) is a queer Jewish musician, educator, and activist living on Lenni Lenape land in Philadelphia, PA, USA. A singer, pianist, drummer, and guitar player, Aly writes songs for building community and visioning different worlds. Aly leads music and prayer for Jewish community, including Let My People Sing, Kol Tzedek Synagogue, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, and Hadar’s Rising Song Institute. Her songs have been sung in national gatherings, song circles, and quiet moments of personal prayer, and have moved people all over the world. Her first full-band album Loosen was released in April 2022 with Rising Song Records. Aly believes deeply in the power of music to awaken us to the loss and hope we carry, expand our sense of possibility, and connect us to each other and our collective strength.
Isaac Montagu, Lead Teacher
Isaac is a musician and educator, currently researching Sephardic liturgical music at SOAS, University of London. In their “spare time” Isaac is editor of Siddure Or, a new series of siddurim, and runs Kolot haKahal, an egalitarian Sephardi minyan. In their “”real job””, you’ll find Isaac playing cello for and teaching traditional folk dancing.
MJ Gilbert, Featured Teacher
MJ Gilbert has been singing, leading, and composing Jewish music her entire life, from the youth choir at her childhood congregation in Milwaukee WI, to her mentorship with Debbie Friedman as a teenager, her work as an educator and song leader for NFTY in the 80’s, and her re-emergence into Jewish song (after a long hiatus) in the last 7 years, leading prayer and song at Shir Tikvah in Minneapolis MN. Jewish music has saved her life repeatedly, and believes in the power of our musical traditions, in all their depth and diversity, help us make shelter, and to move us to action. After a long career as a social worker and educator, she is now in her second year in the Rabbinic program at Hebrew College in Boston.
Rabbi Dr. Koach Baruch Frazier, Program Faculty
Rabbi Dr. Koach Baruch (KB) Frazier, is a transformer, heartbeat of movements, healer, musician, founder of the Black Trans Torah Club, co-founder of the Tzedek Lab, and co-founder of Black Folks Beit Midrash. A collaborative leader, rooted in tradition, curiosity and love, Koach strives to dismantle racism, actualize liberation and transform lives both sonically and spiritually.
Anat Halevy Hochberg, Program Faculty
Anat Halevy Hochberg is a musician, teacher, and ritual leader based in Boston. Her passions include leading song, empowering others to raise their voices, and working to reclaim the Yemeni melodies of her heritage. She has taught and led ritual at Eden Village Camp, Let My People Sing!, Hadar’s Rising Song Intensive, and Linke Fligl. She co-produced Tishrei: the end is the beginning & Elul: Songs for Turning, and her debut album How can I keep (from) singing? was released in 2020. Learn more about her work at anathalevyhochberg.com.
Batya Levine, Program Faculty
Batya uses song as a tool for cultivating healing and resilience in their work as a communal song leader, musician, shaliach tzibur (Jewish prayer leader) and cultural organizer. They believe in the liberatory power of song to untie what is bound within us, and sustain us as we build a more just and beautiful world. Batya is one of the co-founders of Let My People Sing! Batya offers song, ritual, and workshops in a variety of communities, and composes original music made of Ashkenazi yearning, queer heart-medicine, and emunah (faith/trust). Batya released their second album, Yivarechecha, this year with Rising Song Records. They are a lover of the ocean, living room dance parties, and puns. Learn more about their music at www.batyalevine.com
Program Highlights
Song Sessions
Sessions are led by a wide array of song leaders using a variety of formats. Some include histories and stories; others are just about singing the songs themselves. No instruments are used on Shabbat unless otherwise noted.
Shabbat Services & Practice
Shabbat services are offered Friday night and Saturday morning, with multiple prayer options including Traditional Egalitarian and Creative services. Creative services often use instruments and amplification and will be noted as such on the schedule.
To keep this space accessible to people with varying relationships to halachic observance, we ask everyone to refrain from using electronics in public space on shabbat, unless it is for access reasons or in case of emergency. We will not use amplification in full group space on Shabbat, but there will be one session per slot that uses amplification, and it will be noted as such on the schedule. We aim to not have sessions with instruments on shabbat, but if there is one, we will indicate it as such on the schedule. There are always multiple options to choose from.
Community Sing
Let My People Sing!’s format for sharing and learning songs in community. A space for leading, teaching, singing and sharing.
Affinity-Based Mishpacha / Home Groups
This year we’re trying out something new! These groups will come together daily around a shared interest, allowing participants to build connections around their passions and curiosities. Some examples include: emerging song leaders, intergenerational relationships, new to singing, and arts & crafts processing space.
Participatory Havdallah, Concert & Dance Party
Following havdallah on Saturday night, the concert features the teaching team and Let My People Sing! staff sharing songs we’ve sung throughout the weekend. We will sing and then dance into the night!
Jewish Outdoor, Food & Environmental Fun!
Make pickles, explore the woods, and take a tour of the farm alongside our Adamah fellows.
Get a taste of Let My People Sing! with this video about our work.
Accessibility, COVID-19, and Community Guidelines
Accessibility
Please see our Accessibility Document for more information. You may also go to our Guest Information page to learn more about Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center.
COVID-19 Protocols
Please read our COVID-19 Protocols Document carefully as the COVID-19 protocols for Let My People Sing! are different than those for other retreats at Isabella Freedman. Following the protocols will be required for all participants.
Community Guidelines
We’ve created Community Guidelines for this summer’s gathering. We ask that all participants read and agree to the guidelines before registering for this retreat.
LMPS! Team
Margot Seigle, Co-Director & Co-Founder
Margot (they/them) is a community builder, cultural organizer and music maker who believes in the power of song to heal and transform. Margot is a co-founder of Linke Fligl and Let My People Sing! who loves Shabbos, direct communication and slow cooking meat. They come from a lineage of Eastern European Jews who assimilated into whiteness in the Chicago suburbs. After a decade of living in the Hudson Valley on occupied Schagticoke / Mohican land they are now based in Minneapolis, MN. They are thrilled to be ushering in this next chapter of LMPS!
Batya Levine, Co-Director & Co-Founder
Batya (they/she) uses song as a tool for cultivating healing and resilience in their work as a communal song leader, musician, shaliach tzibur (Jewish prayer leader) and cultural organizer. They believe in the liberatory power of song to untie what is bound within us, and sustain us as we build a more just and beautiful world. Batya is one of the co-founders of Let My People Sing! Batya offers song, ritual, and workshops in a variety of communities, and composes original music made of Ashkenazi yearning, queer heart-medicine, and emunah (faith/trust). They are a recording artist, teacher, and alumni of Rising Song Institute’s programs. Batya released their second album, Yivarechecha, this year with Rising Song Records. They are a lover of the ocean, living room dance parties, and puns. Batya is honored to be doing the cultural organizing work of their dreams with LMPS! Learn more about their music at www.batyalevine.com
Serena Adlerstein, Development Director
Serena (they/them) is a deep lover of Jewish communal singing and a regular attendee of local backyard song circles. Prior to Let My People Sing! Serena was a co-founder and Co-Director of Never Again Action, a Jewish-led solidarity group fighting to end the persecution, detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. They live on Tiwa territory, also called Albuquerque, NM where they spend as much time as possible outside in the mountains, along the river and in hot springs.
