Dear Friends,                            

This past December, I was fortunate enough to attend my first URJ Biennial in Washington DC.  For those of you who may not know, the Biennial is a conference held in a different city every other year where Reform Jews from across North America come together to learn, pray, share ideas and make decisions about the policies of the Reform Movement.  Even more exciting for me was the fact that several months after I registered, the URJ announced that President Barack Obama would be addressing the assembly. Shortly after that announcement, the registration shot up and reached record breaking numbers of 6,700 attendees. I am proud to say there were 13 of us representing Temple Chai.

Rabbi Hart asked me if I would like to share some thoughts about my experience. I thought, "where do I begin"? "How can I describe the energy and enthusiasm, the emotionally charged atmosphere and the spirit of community that prevailed throughout the entire conference"?

From the moment I arrived at the conference, until the moment I left, I was on the go 24/7. My days and nights were filled with learning sessions, plenaries with amazing speakers, Shabbat worship, Shabbat dinner, Torah study and late night musical entertainment events.  With nearly 175 learning sessions offered over the 4 days it was a difficult task to decide which to attend. Those that I did go to were all wonderful, engaging and offered much to learn. I had the opportunity to meet people from all over the country, to brainstorm and to share new ideas and concepts relating to life at temple.

I heard Nancy Brinker passionately speak about her sister Susan G. Koman, as well as about her continued fight against breast cancer. She stated that her Jewish upbringing formed the basis of much of her work as an advocate for change. Having raised over $2 billion dollars for Breast Cancer research, advocacy and education, Brinker recently expanded her “Race for the Cure” to Jerusalem, where 7,000 people participated.

The highlight of the Biennial was hearing President Barack Obama speak. He began by telling us that there is a resident expert on Judaism in the White House now. His daughter Malia has reached the age of 13 and it seems she is attending mitzvahs nearly every weekend.  As a consequence, she has become the family expert on Jewish tradition. President Obama then moved on by giving us his own D’var Torah on Vayeishev revolving around the word “Hineine,” “Here I am” saying like Joseph, that he’s ready to take on the challenges even if he can’t predict them all. He applauded and recognized the fact that many of our Youth were in attendance, saying these young people are going to lead the way. They are the future of America. He congratulated the Religious Action Center on their golden anniversary and thanked them on a personal level for their commitment to the Civil rights Movement.  He ended his speech by promising to continue the fight and answer the promise of “Hineine”. When he was finished I stood in awe with 6,000 other Jews.

I also attended Friday night Shabbat worship with 5,000 people.  During the service, I closed my eyes and recited the Sh’ma as I listened to everyone else chanting it with me. I had goose bumps. What a wonderfully moving moment. We danced in the aisles and clapped and sang new melodies to our prayers. The feeling was truly indescribable and I enjoyed the dancing in the aisles. I mused about how things might look if our clergy encouraged similar "aisle dancing" here.  I know Cantor Simon would certainly be on board with that!

Another component to this Biennial was that Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President of the URJ for the past 16 years is stepping down and Rabbi Rick Jacobs will be taking the helm. Both spoke extensively and eloquently and shared their visions and hopes for the future of the Reform movement. What amazing, dedicated and brilliant men they are.

The concluding plenary session on Sunday morning left me with a sense of hope and gratitude for all the hard work that the URJ commits to sustaining the reform movement. The support it offers to its 900 member congregations is beyond comprehension. I left Biennial feeling proud to be a Jew and even more excited than ever to be involved in the reform movement and to be a part of the Temple Chai family.

My Biennial experience would not have been possible without the support of the Clergy, Staff and the Sisterhood of Temple Chai. Thank you all so much. If you have never attended a Biennial, I suggest that someday you do it.  I promise you will not regret it. 

Deborah Greenswag, Facility and Event Director