The Chai Lifeline Annual LH Financial Winter Retreat held this year on December 27-29 at the beautiful Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in Asbury Park, NJ, brought together 500 family members, rabbinic figures, mental health experts, volunteers, and staff for an extended weekend of professional and peer support, educational programming, respite and relaxation, and inspiration.
A Motzei Shabbos carnival, complete with indoor inflatables, took place shortly after Shabbos ended, much to the children’s delight. Benny Friedman, Yitz Henkin and the Mezamrim Choir took the stage for an incredible concert during the Retreat’s Melava Malka.
Mrs, Baila Brackman, a Chai Lifeline parent from Chicago, was thankful for the opportunity to be part of the Retreat. “I have learned that illness doesn’t discriminate,” she said. “We were Jews from every walk of life. There were so many incredible families, so strong and so positive, with smiles and tremendous bitachon in Hashem. I know that we all share something universal, and that’s simcha. The happiness that was felt by both the children and parents was so beautiful. There was a feeling of simcha poretz geder, the joy of the children will break all boundaries.”
