If you happen to be in the Laurentians one Friday afternoon this summer, near Saint-Agathe, an area north of Montreal that’s popular with Jewish families, you might hear clapping, singing and loud Jewish music blasting from a flotilla of boats tied together in the middle of a lake. The gatherings represent two concurrent pre-Shabbat get-togethers, where Jewish cottagers motor out, tie up in a circle and welcome in the Sabbath.
Attendees have raved about the trend, praising it for bringing badly needed Jewish resilience and inspiration that lasts long after the boat owners set their feet on dry land.
In fact, the idea has been such a success that it’s multiplied. There are, in fact, two different spiritual celebrations each Friday, organized and operated by separate people. Both groups of boats listen to Jewish music alongside challah, a rabbi and seafaring shmoozing, but don’t mix them up—each organizer is quick to point out key differences in flavour and religious observance.
On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner speaks with Howard Stotland, who runs his “Shabbat on the Lake” events from Ivry-sur-le-Lac, and Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach, who runs a different Pre-“Shabb’o’at” program out of the Congregation House of Israel in nearby Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts.
Transcript
Ellin Bessner: That’s what it sounded like on a Friday afternoon in the Laurentian Mountains north of Montreal, onboard Howard Stotland’s pleasure boat as his special guest passenger, Cantor Daniel Benlolo held the mic and led a pre-Shabbat sing-along for dozens of other Jewish boaters. They were tied up alongside in their own boats in the middle of Lake Manitou in an impromptu flotilla with 90 minutes of uplifting Jewish music, some schmoozing, and, of course, preparations for the coming of Shabbat. Stotland calls it Shabbat on the Lake or Shabbat sur le lac, and guests bring their own food for potluck. There’s freshly baked challah, Stotland’s carefully-curated Jewish music playlist on rotation and prayers. Often, a visiting rabbi, Dini Lewittes, who’s summering in the resort area, will deliver some teaching.
Rabbi Adina Lewittes: Turn up the mic. Welcome to this incredible, amazing community that Howard has inspired and motivated us to.
Ellin Bessner: A high-profile Jewish community leader or two might attend. In fact, recently Israel’s outgoing Consul General Paul Hirschson was a guest, complete with his police security detail. Howard Stotland organized it during the pandemic when he craved community and Kabbalat Shabbat. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing since 2021 when it started. At first, Stotland had to find a spot to anchor that wouldn’t annoy other cottagers who didn’t appreciate the noise. And there were regulations and permits to be had from local authorities, too. But the weekly gathering, which began just with a few people using Stotland’s personal boat, has now grown into its fourth summer and with well over 150 people on 15 boats who attend.
Howard Stotland: Like last week, there was a lady, mother of a girl who’s on the lake and she was here last year from Amsterdam and she attended the service last year. I met her during the week. She says, “I can’t wait to be at the service again. It was my highlight for the year.”
Ellin Bessner: I’m Ellin Bessner and this is what Jewish Canada sounds like for Friday, July 25, 2025. Welcome to North Star, a podcast of The Canadian Jewish News and made possible in part thanks to the generous support of the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation.
Howard Stotland’s Shabbat on the Lake events aren’t advertised anywhere except through word of mouth. But he’s not the only nautical Shabbat event in the same area of the Laurentians each week. Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach and his family from the Chabad House of Israel congregation in Saint-Agathe, which is about 15 minutes closer to Montreal, runs what he calls a pre-Shabb’o’at on a Lake Near You. Carlebach doesn’t host it at his shul, though. He’s invited onto different lakes each week and hosted on someone else’s boat. He brings the tefillin to wrap on the spot and a carload of challahs for people, not to eat on the lake–but to take home and carry out the mitzvah later, at the right time. We’ll chat with Rabbi Carlebach shortly, but first, here’s Howard Stotland in Ivry about why the Shabbat on the Lake concept is something cottagers around Canada might want to emulate.
Do you want to tell us how you got the idea to get this started and when?
Howard Stotland: Yeah. So, first of all, it goes back to March of the Living, and that was a programme that I participated in so many times, and I love that programme so much, mainly because of what it taught all the kids about what’s happened to the Jewish people in the Holocaust. When I came back here, I had enjoyed the Friday so much, our Kabbalat Shabbat with the March of the Living kids, I said, I can’t live without that. I gotta be able to find a way to do it. And I started it very small. I don’t remember if it was 2020 or 2021. It started off with just my boat and I took a couple of people and I love music and I love putting together playlists. Then it just grew. I invited some other people and suddenly we could be 15, 16 boats on a Friday night with ten people on a boat or eight people. And it’s amazing, and you just feel so good about it.
Ellin Bessner: So, Howard, when you say Kabbalat Shabbat, this is an actual religious service with prayers and brachas and the whole wine and kiddush and everything. Or do you not go that far because it’s earlier in the day?
Howard Stotland: It’s not a true religious service. I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a mixture of everything. We try to do for an hour and a half to two hours, and the first 45 minutes, I play music that people can sing along with, dance to. I keep working and improving the playlist. You know, there’s a lot of modern stuff that’s on the playlist, as well as old songs that many people have known for many years. All Jewish songs, all Hebrew, Israeli songs. Like Omar Adam, a very new guy who’s out there, who’s terrific. They like his music. It depends on the age group that’s on the boat that night because I get all different ages.
Ellin Bessner: (singing) Tel Aviv. la la la la Tel Aviv..
Howard Stotland: I know that I might start off with Tel Aviv to get people going.
Ellin Bessner: And you have loudspeakers on your boat, is that okay? Not on your dock. It’s on the boat.
Howard Stotland: On the boat; we’re in the middle of the lake.
Ellin Bessner: Okay. And what about the religious stuff and the challah and the juice? How does that work?
Howard Stotland: So then we get to, after about 45 minutes, we do our entrance into Shabbat and we start with Lecha Dodi, and we have a great version of Lecha Dodi. We all sing, welcoming in the Shabbat. We follow that with Shalom Aleichem. Then we’ll have somebody come up and do the prayers on the wine, and then we do the challah, the blessing. There’s somebody on the boat; either there’s a rabbi on our lake called Rabbi Dini Lewittes, or there’s other people that are very capable of delivering a D’var Torah. And I limit it to about five minutes. Nobody wants to sit and listen to a 30-minute speech.
Ellin Bessner: Not especially if you’re getting seasick too. Rocking.
Howard Stotland: Yeah, I don’t think too many people are getting seasick. Sometimes right after that, we’ll do Kaddish because there’s often somebody who’s in the middle of mourning and they want to do Kaddish. Then we’ll go back to music and end with Hatikvah, and everybody will stand nicely and that’s the end. Then the boats all just drift off and go home.
Ellin Bessner: Are these all people that are visiting or staying on the lake where you live, or are these people from all over the Laurentians that come or both?
Howard Stotland: I’d say 80 per cent are Ivry residents, but they all have visitors for the weekend, so they bring their visitors onto the boat. I get that every week because there’s always guests from out of town. They have never seen this before. With all the boats getting together and with people singing so much, it just makes a big impact.
Ellin Bessner: How far into the middle do you go on the lake?
Howard Stotland: Oh, now I picked a new spot that’s only, you know, several hundred yards from my house. We used to move it around every week and I tell people where I’m going to be. I found it easier by putting one buoy and all that. The only funny thing that happened last week was where my dock is, about a couple hundred yards. So my dog is sitting on the dock and he hears all the music. He jumps into the water and swims out to the boat.
Ellin Bessner: What kind of dog, you say? What’s his name?
Howard Stotland: His name is Cooper James, and it’s a Labrador Retriever.
Ellin Bessner: So he’s got a Yiddish kop, too. Oh, my God. Now, I want to ask you; you mentioned buoys. What legal or permission challenges did you have to get in order to have this event on a lake? It must be, like, some association that has to approve it and maybe the police? Transport Canada?
Howard Stotland: In the beginning, we moved it around so much. Every once in a while, somebody on the lake would complain that we made too much noise, you know, so the week after, we’d move it somewhere else. We didn’t have too many complaints, but there would be maybe one a year. Then the mayor took it upon himself to get some approval from the city council and all that. So now we just go to the same spot, and nobody bothers us. And it’s so impactful.
Ellin Bessner: You don’t have to have, like, lifeguards and whatever, and patrolling people.
Howard Stotland: Everybody has to have life jackets on their boat.
Ellin Bessner: Isn’t the mayor Jewish?
Howard Stotland: Yes.
Ellin Bessner: Yeah, I thought he was. I remember my family told me that. And so this service is not an Orthodox service. It’s…
Howard Stotland: Yeah, a little bit like. I mean, it’s less because we get guest performers. Every couple of weeks. I get Cantor Adam Stotland from Montreal, Cantor Benlolo. Not only that…
Ellin Bessner: And he’s Orthodox!
Howard Stotland: I know. And they’re renting a place. The only thing I have to do is he can’t stay on the boat and do the blessing of the wine, because that’s the real beginning of Shabbat. So when we get to that point, somebody puts him in their boat, brings him to his car, which will be right near the water, and he drives to where he’s staying.
Ellin Bessner: What do you think? Other people, let’s say in Manitoba that have cottages, in Winnipeg Beach, or even, cottage country in Ontario, Muskoka, where Jewish people might hear about this. Have other people copied your idea, do you know, have they shown interest, or do you think they should?
Howard Stotland: Well, now, I think almost every lake up in the Laurentians does it. They’ve all come here and they’ve seen what we’ve done, and some of them have much bigger Jewish communities than even us. But, you know, it’s good to be the guy who started it and they copy you. It’s all the better because we’re affecting so many Jewish people. And I’ve got many non-Jewish people on the lake who want to be at Shabbat on the Lake. Somebody told me today, she said, ‘Make sure I’m on your WhatsApp”. She’s not Jewish. I put her on, and they come sometimes and they don’t know the music, but they participate a little bit. And people tell me, “Invite me, I want to be there!”
Ellin Bessner: What does that mean to you when that happens?
Howard Stotland: First of all, everything about this program gives me goosebumps and a good feeling, because even though I’m doing it for four or five years, it’s so meaningful for me now.
Ellin Bessner: This must cost money, isn’t it? You have to get the challahs. You have to get… do you get challah for everybody or do they all bring their own, or how does it work?
Howard Stotland: Lately, I’d say there’s several people who make fresh challahs and bring them on the boat. And there’s almost a competition between two or three people who make the most beautiful challahs.
Ellin Bessner: So the local synagogue, Chabad synagogue, is doing it, their Shabb’o’at on the Lake and they go around. I wonder, I know it’s different, but do you feel at all that it should be together or you’re in competition? I just wonder how you guys get along?
Howard Stotland: You know, Chabad has come two or three times to our program, and he comes early because he has to leave. He brings challahs for everybody, and he has a lot of people do things, put on tefillin, and he does a longer Dvar Torah than we would do, and then he leaves. So he doesn’t stay for the music, but I know him well, and, you know, he calls me, he wants to come. We would try to work out a date when he could come. He missed last year, but hopefully, we’ll get them.
Ellin Bessner: You think there’s room for all of this in the Laurentians? I’m wondering is there room for both of you guys?
Howard Stotland: It’s a great program. It’s a great look. Jewish people have an opportunity to celebrate on Shabbat, to do something on Shabbat. Now there are people that won’t come on the boat and they have Shabbat dinner, and they invite people, but we get a great turnout. Those that want. Nothing’s for everybody. So there are certain people that I cannot get; they won’t come. But when they do come and they bring their children, the children make a big impact because many of them have gone to Jewish school and they know the songs even better than me. And, you know, and then the parents come back again because they’re bringing their children.
Ellin Bessner: I mean, they all come and it’s like this ruach, or, you know, spiritual feeling, for our non-Jewish listeners or people who don’t speak Hebrew. You said that on the lake, you got a little pushback, earlier, when we were talking earlier about this. Have you at all experienced any antisemitism or things that people are like, you know, Les Juifs, whatever, they’re making noise. I’m just asking because I have to ask, especially after October 7th.
Howard Stotland: I know, but not really. I have not seen anything. I mean, we do not feel it on this lake. There’s multiple communities. There’s a very Anglo community and there’s the Jewish community, and we get along very well.
Ellin Bessner: Was this a lake that has always been a sort of Jewish summer resort?
Howard Stotland: It was a totally non-Jewish lake for a long, long time. And then the Jews came and more and more they’re growing on this lake.
Ellin Bessner: I ask because it struck me that of all the lakes in the Laurentians, Lac Quenouilles, and, you know, all the French names, and Ivry means Hebrew.
Howard Stotland: Ivrit. Yeah, I know Hebrew.
Ellin Bessner: And I wonder if you figured that out, because for me, that’s so symbolic. I’m sure that’s not what the name was. It was probably some saint or something, right?
Howard Stotland: Oh, it’s a count, a Count from France, Count Ivry. So he came here, I don’t remember, 200 years ago or something.
Ellin Bessner: Well, I like to see it the other way, as it’s davka, It’s even more meaningful because you’re making Shabbat on a lake that has this Jewish-sounding name.
What do you do when it’s terrible weather or bad weather or windy or dangerous? Do you cancel it?
Howard Stotland: No, I do it on my screened-in porch. Everybody’s invited to my house and we set out food there and all that. So you didn’t talk about the food on the boat.
Ellin Bessner: You didn’t tell me there’s food! You said somebody makes challah. I didn’t know there was a whole spread and like eggplant and herring. What do you have?
Howard Stotland: Everything. Every boat brings something for their boat. And then they walk around and share it. Egg rolls, little hot dogs in blankets, smoked salmon on black bread, all kinds of good appetizers.
And my goal is to have young… I don’t want just people my age or I want all ages there all the time. Last weekend, I had three young kids, 19 years old, and they knew all the songs, probably from Hebrew school, and they helped me. And that’s why I love all ages.
Ellin Bessner: It’s some really wonderful thing. And I hope Canadians across the country copy what you’re doing because it sounds great.
Howard Stotland: I hope so. And I’m, you know, I… if I could help, I would certainly help everyone. I mean, we do it in October, we’re still doing it. And there’s Shabbat Shuva, which is between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We do a weekend.
Ellin Bessner: I’m sure there’s so many things that have happened at the boat. Marriages, Shidduchs, I don’t know.
Howard Stotland: Oh, the best was last year. One of the ladies was, she was in the water and she threw her phone to somebody else, but of course, it went into the lake. Bye-bye phone! But it was near the buoy. She came back a week later, nothing. Two weeks later, they were diving down, they found her iPhone, and by Monday morning it was working.
Ellin Bessner: It’s a Shabbat miracle!
Howard Stotland: Yeah, that’s it.
Ellin Bessner: Thank you for telling us about this, and thank you, and good luck.
Howard Stotland: I want you to come one weekend.
Ellin Bessner: Deal!
Howard Stotland: Very meaningful.
Ellin Bessner: And joining me from Saint Agathe Des Monts is Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach. Well, thank you so much for coming. On Fridays, you have a very busy afternoon, going to various lakes and doing your pre-Shabbat services. Could you start, Rabbi, by telling our listeners a little bit about how the idea for these, is it called the “Shabb’a’t on the lake, how it got started?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: Sure. So we’ve always tried to find programmes that attract people outside of the synagogue, and what a greater way—we have lakes, so many, so many lakes in this region, in this area. And so one of the programmes that we started was to bring all the boats together, give out challah, speak of the importance of Shabbos, speak about the importance of unity, of bringing communities together. The idea of preparing for the Shabbat. Shabbat, of how Shabbat has kept us so special, the same way we have kept Shabbat so special. And Shabbat Shalom is, of course, something that everybody is familiar with. We coined the programme called Shabb’o’at Shalom, which became very popular.
Ellin Bessner: Was this something that happened before the pandemic, during—like, how many years back did you start this?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: Well, we actually brought the boats and doing the challahs together after the pandemic, but we’ve been having other programmes on the water throughout, I would say, close to 40 years. We used to do something called not flotilla but Floatefillah, which means we would pick a day of the week when we would bring all the boats together and daven Mincha on the water. I would always do things to try to encourage people in a fun way to realize how our traditions are just so rich and could be so family-oriented, and using the abilities of recreation where we are, to only enhance the traditions that we have as Jews.
Ellin Bessner: It’s on the water, on a boat. Is there anything halachically that you can or cannot do because you’re on a boat as opposed to like in a shul?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: So when it comes to this programme, I really go with my tefillin, and I have to tell you that I don’t have enough time because the energy on the boats is so strong and the people are just so, so happy to be there that they keep on asking me, “Rabbi, come on my boat, let’s put on tefillin.” So I jump from boat to boat and I actually try to bring help with me. We give out Shabbat candles, we give out a challah to each family. Sometimes we can have over 200 people participating, 30 boats all together. People sometimes come with their drones, and we get some beautiful shots. It all depends on the lake itself. It’s a beautiful, beautiful event. We look forward to it every Friday.
Ellin Bessner: So do you have any seasickness issues when you’re trying to wrap tefillin when the boat is rocking?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: It’s funny you say that. I’m actually a very good swimmer. So when it comes to that, absolutely not. And you know, when you pray, you’re supposed to shuckle, you’re supposed to shake actually, so it goes very well with the water when you’re doing some prayer.
Ellin Bessner: Do you need a permit from like the lake associations or even the local authorities to do this because of boater safety at all?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: Actually, we try to notify the security on the lake. And tell you the truth, they actually come there to help us to make sure that everything is okay and we’re well-anchored, boats don’t drift, that we should be able to spend that hour of time, usually between 5 and 6. And it should be done in a safe and fun way. Because we’re celebrating our 40th year as being here as rabbi and Rebbetzin, we decided to do a first and to have an actual concert, which means a floating stage. We did it two weeks ago, we brought a musician, we brought a singer. I must tell you, it was so well received. People are still talking about it. And it was, again, a tribute to Jewish families together. It’s really over. Here is such a beautiful scene to see all Jewish families coming together from all backgrounds to celebrate one thing, to celebrate the Shabbat and to celebrate it as one people.
Ellin Bessner: Congratulations. That’s quite a milestone. You guys have your own boat to take you out there. How does that work?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: We used to have a boat, but now we prefer always to join other families on their boats. It’s much more fun.
Ellin Bessner: Yeah, let them worry about it. And you just get the, get the lift.
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: That’s one way. That’s one way of saying it.
Ellin Bessner: Well, you have how many? 200. You have 200 challahs you have to carry, right? Or you put—do they all come and get them later? Like, how does that work?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: No, no, no. We bring them on the boat, we give them out sometimes in middle. And we don’t tell them what to do. A lot of people just open their challah. Everyone loves challah on a Friday. The idea is, go home to your families and go home with your family and celebrate the Shabbat. And if this challah can do something to enhance your table, that’s why we’re giving it.
Ellin Bessner: Okay, so let’s talk about what you can and cannot do. Because you said between five and six, yours is specifically not a Kabbalat Shabbat.
Howard Stotland: Correct.
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: And I know that it would be very spiritual to be able to, let’s say, recite the Kiddush and to bring in the Shabbat on the boat and to have, let’s say, a Friday, a Shabbat celebration on the boat. It’s problematic because Shabbat, with all of its beauty, has a sense of holiness. And that holiness requires us to refrain from principles of work. And being on that boat and getting off the boat after, with all the details of it, definitely complicates it. And in many ways, it may even desecrate the Shabbat itself. So for that reason, we are very clear and extremely careful to assure that we go ahead and do everything that is a preparation for the Shabbat, which means that it’s just like going to a store and buying everything. We are not bringing in the Shabbat until we are in synagogue and in our community till 7:30 pm. We will be very careful not to violate it. And also, in a way, to give anyone the perception of it having a Shabbat, and by the way, it’s a big mitzvah to prepare for the Shabbat. So this itself has its own merit in doing something to prepare for the Shabbat.
Ellin Bessner: People go out on the boat, they water ski. But after October 7th, I think there’s this hunger for being together. I’ve seen maybe you noticed it too. Are more people coming out than you had before?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: Yes. As much as we’re hungry on Friday for challah, I say the same thing. We’re hungry for the traditions and the aspects of Torah and mitzvah which really define us as Jews.
Ellin Bessner: Okay. Lastly, what are the any obstacles or challenges that you might have to carrying this out?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: Weather is one big problem. So, we always pray to make sure we have nice, nice weather. Like everything else, we want to expand and go into other lakes, and sometimes it takes a little more work and encouragement to see families of other lakes to be part and see this happening as well in their area. So, we have a lot of lakes to cover still ahead of us.
Ellin Bessner: How many do you have in your roster now?
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: We have five different lakes, so we double up with some of them. So, we have over here, we call it the flagship lake, which is Lac Des Sables. We have Petit Lac Long, and we have Sainte-Adèle. We’re trying to get ourselves into St. Donat, if anyone knows over there as well. And there are others that we have been initiating further up north.
Ellin Bessner: It’s been a real honour to speak to you.
Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach: Thank you, and we appreciate it.
Ellin Bessner: And that’s what Jewish Canada sounds like for this episode of North Star, brought to you by the Ira Gluskin and Maxine Granovsky Gluskin Charitable Foundation. Now you can find out more about both meetups through the links in our show notes and go to the YouTube channel of The CJN and watch highlights from both.
If you know of similar Friday evening events on the water in your neck of the woods, let us know. We’re at [email protected].
North Star is produced by Zachary Judah Kauffman and Andrea Varsany. The executive producer is Michael Fraiman and the music is by Bret Higgins. Thanks for listening and Shabbat shalom.
Show Notes
Related links
- Learn more about Rabbi Emanuel Carlebach and his Congregation House of Israel’s “Pre-Shabb’o’at on a Lake Near You” program.
- Send a note to The CJN to register for the weekly Shabbat on the Lake/Shabbat sur le lac, which Howard Stotland runs in Ivry.
- Watch videos of “Shabbat On the Lake” and “Pre Shabb’o’at on A Lake Near” you on The CJN’s YouTube Channel.
Credits
- Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
- Production team: Zachary Kauffman (senior producer), Andrea Varsany (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
- Music: Bret Higgins
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