The music in four of the five services carried through the thin walls. The choir accompanying Cantor David Propis had to hold their beat against the drums in the Mishkan Chicago service next door. The hallway outside was lined with people in costumes ringing cowbells and banging drums. As we welcomed the Sabbath, they welcomed runners who were competing the next day to raise funds for breast cancer research.
Rabbi Felipe Goodman, of Temple Beth Sholom in Las Vegas, put the cacophony into perspective. "When you go to the Kotel in Jerusalem," he said, "you hear the voices and music of thousands of Jews praying in their own style. We're getting a little bit of that here tonight."
As we settled in, and five different versions of Lecha Dodi floated through the hallways, we were a community that forgot the rain and the rushing. We moved into sacred time and space, and remembered why we came there in the first place - to find each other.
This is why Marty Stein, from Temple Beth El in Aliso Viejo, CA, said, "We became a kehilla in about five minutes."
Over the next four days, 1,200 Conservative Jews would find each other. They would learn with some of the best teachers and thinkers in the Jewish world. Two poets in residence, Andrew Lustig and Vanessa Hidary, would inspire and challenge them with spoken word performances about Jewish identity. 150 USY teens and college students would remind the older adults that there is, in fact, a new generation hungry for the friendship, joy, and exploration that Conservative Judaism allows them. 1,000 clergy and synagogue leaders would see that they are not alone. They would share ideas and ignite relationships that they'll follow up on. United Synagogue would announce new projects, including a cost containment program, health insurance for synagogue professionals, the launch of the continent-wide PJ Library program, and a new teen engagement initiative thanks to the generous gift from the Susser Family Trust.
As for me, I would meet 500 new people each day, and stay up much too late in the Sulam Suite with synagogue presidents, educators, and young musicians and artists. I bit my nails through presentations that ran overtime, re-wrote speeches up to the moment when presenters took the stage, moved chairs, directed traffic, and walked 20 miles a day without ever leaving the building. I have never been more proud or grateful to work with my dedicated, talented colleagues, and our generous volunteers and supporters.
In every session during the conference, we asked people to write what their next steps will be when they get home. Here is a small sampling:
- Focus on builders, not buildings.
- Evaluate how we address people in transition.
- Read more about process theology. I am a committed Conservative Jew, but my theology is still a work in progress.
- Observe areas where my shul innovates and where there is resistance to change.
- Find ways to help our parents have a “moment” of in-shul spirituality.
- Find a “champion” to start the conversation about reaching out to 20’s and 30’s
- Join “God’s Timeline” and will look into setting up a congregational timeline.
- Speak with my rabbi about his approach to same sex marriage and synagogue wedding ceremonies.
- Taking back to my synagogue a “lens” to see how we might be unintentionally discriminating against those who don’t meet the norm.
- Bring board members into the school wing.
News articles are still being written, and people are still discussing what this gathering meant. Our team is back to work sending out thank you notes, getting the videos of our speakers onto our website, and bundling the resources from nearly 50 workshops together by topic to share with our United Synagogue network. We're debriefing to remember what worked, and fix what went wrong as we begin to plan the next convention in two years.
How would you follow up on the Conversation of the Century?
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