Trip to New York
International Convention of Chabad Rabbis – 86 countries represented
An evening of Pure Joy
New York hosted its largest ever sit down dinner this week, with over 5,000 Chabad Rabbis and their key supporters attending the International Convention of Chabad Lubavitch representing over 4,000 Chabad Communities worldwide.
I had the great pleasure to attend this year with our chairman Mitch Zachary. Together, we took great effort to meet some of the most influential Jews alive today as we worked our way around the room. (There was even an in house app created to find the locations of every person in the room!).
One interesting personality was the newly elected head of the Reform Movement, Rabbi Rick Jacobs. He was the guest of Chana's grandfather, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky, Chairman of the Worldwide Chabad Movement. (Interestingly, it was our own Harry Kaufman, executive vice president of Schmooze Radio who serves on the board of the URJ who made the introduction between the two leaders several months ago).
Scanning the magnificent banquet hall at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal (one of the few spaces in new York large enough to fit the crowd), I felt a deep sense of pride for the present and hope for the future.
It was a sea of thousands of rabbis young and old, passionate, deep, intelligent and sensitive. The people who are ensuring a Jewish tomorrow in every corner of the globe. Unable to do it alone, the lay leaders by their side committed to do whatever it takes to protect that dream.
Seeing Rabbi Rick Jacobs amongst the many Chabad Rabbis was quite a moment! I thought, this is precisely what Chabad stands for. It's about accepting each and every single Jew for who they are. Every single Jew should feel comfortable in the crowd!
As the keynote of the evening, Rabbi Dov Greenberg, Chabad rabbi at Stanford University, aptly noted that "you are more likely to find an atheist, secular, or humanist Jew at a Chabad house than you were to find an Orthodox Jew."
Whilst we may disagree on many issues, at the core of each of us is a Divine Soul, a G-dly essence. We sat together Sunday night, overcoming differences with brotherly love and the commitment to tikkun olam.