Reflections on a Weekend of Unity

This past Wednesday, I traveled to New York to the annual International Conference of Shluchim. I was joined by eldest son Levik as well as my three sons who joined us for a parallel junior conference.

As I registered at The Chabad-Lubavitch International Shluchim Convention in Brooklyn, NY on Wednesday, November 19th, the battery of 50 convention officials working their individual computer and printer stations with high speed efficiency to register the stream of Rabbis arriving, certainly outdid JetBlue in their effective service.

I received my personally inscribed leather handbag. In it I found a 88 page program booklet, describing the venue and times for 5 days packed with hundreds of different workshops and general sessions, covering every facet of a Shliach's communal and personal life.

Arriving the morning of Thursday, I was greeting and being greeted by friends, coleagues, mentors, classmates from every imaginable corner of the world. I joined my three sons at a

parent-teacher-student program for onLine students from 35 states at 15 countries.

Well into the freezing cold NY evening hours, the thousands who had now started to convene, came together for dinner and a roster of inspirational speakers. I went to bed at 2:00 AM, very, very tired.

Friday is a very short day in NYC. 4:16 Shabbat begins. From the early morning study sessions until candle-lighting, I must have hugged and shook hands with an additional 300 plus friends and acquaintances of past decades as we wove our way through a jam packed day of brain storming sessions.

As I settled into the Shabbos spirit of tranquility, I arrived at “770” the main Shul at 770 Eastern Parkway, the Shluchim were joined with the Lubavitch community members of Crown Heights for Shabbat services. The 12,000 people who were in attendance, some frankly, had to have their service outdoors, as the Rebbe's main Shul just could not facilitate the crowd. To no one's surprise the crowd at 7:30 Shabbat Morning grew by 50% as we gathered to recite the entire book of psalms. It is amazing how many Jews you can cram into a Shul.

Saturday Night, even more Shluchim began to arrive and the traditional post Shabbat meal; "Melave Malka" was moved 3 miles south to The Win-gate Public School on Kingston Avenue, where the facility was large enough to seat all. Interspersed

between speeches by various leaders of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement; Argentina, Russia, Israel, and The United States, was the introduction of 15 brand new initiatives, which were put up on the screens, in state-of-the art fashion. The global Chabad-Lubavitch empire will be implementing all of these innovative programs this year.

That evening, each one of these respective world region's leaders, promised, with their hearts and soul, that the economic meltdown will not diminish any Shliach or his institutions' growth in any country. On the contrary, only continued expansion will be the future of Chabad this year.

Sunday morning, 8:30 AM sharp, a sea of black, covered a football field wide swath in front of 770 with a height of eight stories of stadium benches. This image comprised the annual photograph of all the emissaries. A picture might be worth a thousand words, but 4000 Shluchim make up a very distinctive picture.