Meeting VIP's

So the other thing I loved about this convention was the fact that the Movers and the Shakers of the Conservative Movement came to speak to us. They were inspirational, informative and thought provoking. Here is just a taste of who I had the pleasure to meet and learn from....

Lisa Kogan: The Educational Director of Women's League and the author of the first Women's League Self Published Book,
WITH STRENGTH & SPLENDOR: JEWISH WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CHANGE


What an amazing speaker and a great book. You can learn more about the book here:
https://https://www.wlcj.org/templates/page5_details.asp?docid=1752


We will be purchasing a copy of our Temple Library!





Arnold Eisen: Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, came to the Z'havah breakfast (Z'Havah is a Sisterhood group for members 45ish and under). he wanted to know what the young Sisterhood women would like our Rabbis to know about servicing our younger members. What challenges do we face as young women and raising young children in our Conservative Synagogues. After our private breakfast he addressed the entire convention on the Path of the Conservative Movement. What is the focus when training our Rabbis.


The session ended with the presentation of a new initiative for our Torah Fund endeavours....Women's League will be funding the building of a Physical Fitness Facility on the campus of JTS! Let's work towards making this the best Torah Fund year yet. If you are thinking of becoming a benefactor it is not too late. Please contact your Torah Fund chair.






Rabbi Danny Nevins: Rabbi Nevins is the Pearl Resnick Dean of the Rabbinical School of the Jewish Theological Seminary. He was instrumental in writing Homosexuality, Human Dignity and Halakhah, the legal foundation for the admission of gay and lesbian students to the rabbinical schools of the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Zeigler School of Rabbinic Studies.
He spoke to us about Israel at 60. Having led many trips, missions and tours he brought back his knowledge of Israel and the importance of our continued support of Israel and Mercaz.


(And yes....by the end of the night he was beaded by Z'havah!)

Cantor Meir Finkelstein: In honor of Israel's 60th birthday we were entertained by Cantor Finkelstein. Born in Israel, trained in London, Cantor Finklestein is a composer of contemporary Jewish music. His compositions are sung in synagogues throughout the world.

Installation and Entertainment

Sunday night ended on a High Note both figuratively and literally...

I was installed on the new 2008-2010 National Board of Directors. I also want to just say congratulations to all the other women installed with me. The list is too numberous to mention.

It is with pleasure that I do announce that one of our own regional member's, Harriet Merkowitz, was installed as the Vice President of Membership for Women's League.

When the installation was over and our International Women's League International President addressed the Convention, it was time for the party to start. Our entertainment for the evening was the Gospel Singing Group from the Motown City of Detroit. We were serenaded by the tunes of Amazing Grace, Heart and Soul, and in honor of them singing for us they studied and learned a soulful version of the .....Shechechianu!

Now this was something I would have never expected at a Women's League convention. After feeding our souls with music we fed our stomachs.....What a wonderful dessert spread we had. This was the highlight..... who doesn't love chocolate. That was just part of what was offered!

And Now to the Convention......

2:27pm

I'm taking a break from today's activities to bring you a report on yesterday's opening festivities.

The registration table opened 9:00am on Sunday morning when I picked up my kit, program and meal tickets....a girl has got to eat!

What else does a girl like to do besides eat???? Shop, of course...so my next stop on the Convention trail was the Judaica shop. Yes Robin, Sharon and Heidi...I got business cards from each vendor so you can check out their web sites and order products when we lift your spending freeze! So far I've mostly been doing some window shopping but the perks to having a mother with you is....she bought me presents. I finally picked out a tallit that I liked and a new one for Aaron too. I will also take a photo later of the new Menorah she bought me. The only think left are the presents I want to buy for my family and myself.

OK...so now the meat of the convention (because I know you did subsidize this trip so I can eat and shop)...as promised...my focus has been on Z'havah, a sub-group of Sisterhood geared to the 45ish population of our fabulous women. I am getting into "Z" know!

This is Robin the National Z'havah Chair. She had a great program planned for us to start off convention. We had to meet everyone in the room and learn one thing from each of them (based on a list of questions she gave us). Do you know what a "Vampire Kiss" is? ....You might have heard of it as a Pomegranite Martini....Here is the recipe, (don't say I didn't bring back any important information! Ha Ha Ha!)

Pomeganite Liquor, Vodka, Cranberry Juice, Lime Juice and a splash of wine.

It's also time to learn the Z'havah Song.....sing along with me to the tune of We Will Rock You by Queen.

WE ARE Z'HAVAH

Hey, we're a loud group

Proud group

Starting on the road

Building bonds of sisterhood

We got style and grace

We're right on base

Gonna give Women's League a fresh young face

Chorus: We are, we are ....Z'Havah

(Sing it)

We are, we are ....Z'Havah

Ready to learn

Takin our turn

Tryin' new things

With passion that burns

We're here to stay

And starting today

Z'havah women gonna lead the way

Chorus:

After the Z'Havah session it was time to eat again...what else????

We then had our opening plenary session.

Here we voted on our new by-laws and resolutions and voted in the new 2008-2010 Executive Board and Directors. At the end of the plenary each Regional president presented their Region to the chairman....Here is Diane Jackson our esteemed leader of North Atlantic Region.

L'Dor V'Dor

As a young child I remember my mother went to the Catskills to attend a Sisterhood Convention. She came home without a voice from lack of sleep and presents for all. Sisterhood was a priority in her life outside of family and work. She was a Sisterhood president and a Branch (long before we had regions) President. I grew up watching my mother take on leadership responsibilities to grow the Southern New Jersey Branch. She spent many hours locally, regionally and nationally to ensure that today as her daughters became young adults, wives and mothers, we too can continue in the traditions.




So this being my first Women's League's Convention I cannot think of better way to be introduced to the organization than to have my Mother and Sister here with me. To come to a convention of this magnatude, not knowing too many people outside the North Atlantic Region Board, it is comforting to know I am surrounded by history. My mother, her friends from years past, and my sister with her friends from Mid Atlantic Region have made me feel comfortable amongst the hundreds of women gathered this week for Study, Prayer, Friendship and most of all Sisterhood!

Sleep.....What's that????

6:26 am.

Whooo hooo! I actually got to my arrival destination - Detroit- about 20 minutes early. What a treat. Mom and sis were right there waiting for me and off to the luggage carousel we went, then to the taxi who drove us to this beautiful hotel. Huge rooms and great accommodations so far but lets get the facts straight, it's almost 12:30 am....any matress, blanket and pillow would be fine at this point....but now I am wired...can't sleep...tossing and turning...watched the end of Saturday Night Live, then Cold Case and started watching Without a Trace...Don't you just love late night television. By 2:15 I turned over and was finally asleep. So you ask...what are you doing on the computer at 6:30 am. A normal person would be sound asleep. I guess that answers a lot of questions about me....huh.???

So Convention starts today. I will log in from time to time with the most recent updates. Sorry if I've bored you up until now. I promise to tell you the whole story. Well here it goes.

Good bye for now.

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I am here sitting in the Providence Airport. It is 4:42pm…..1 hour 18 minutes until my flight leaves for Philadelphia. I don’t have free internet access so I cannot check e-mail or set up my blog to post this but I can write the draft and get it ready. I am reporting to you all from convention to let you know two things….1. How grateful I am to the Sisterhood of Temple Beth Emunah for this wonderful opportunity. I would not have been able to do this without you financial support and your confidence in me as your President. 2. To report to you all that goes on and to show you the excitement in Sisterhood and Women’s League as a whole. So for now I am going to get myself some dinner and relax because between all of you and me…..I hate to fly and sitting here by myself is making me anxious. I have my MP3 player going with my favorite tunes and I am going to go eat something. By the time I get to Philadelphia and meet up with my Mother and Sister they would have already eaten.
Bye for now.
Lisa


7:10pm
I am in flight to Charlotte….Charlotte you say, I thought you were suppose to head to Philadelphia….well plans do change. Don’t get excited, I’m still going to convention, just getting there the long way. You know how that goes. Delayed flight into Philadelphia would have meant missing the flight to Detroit altogether. I couldn’t do that so the nice people at US Airways put me on a later flight to Charlotte then a connecting flight that will get me into Detroit. So instead of landing in Detroit at 10:00pm the kind airline people told me I would land at 11:51pm. I don’t think I like flying at night. I always seem to end up at my final destination sometime in the wee early hours of the morning. I even get a 1 hour layover in Charlotte. How exciting is that. Well another place I can check off the list of cities I’ve never been to. I am going to Charlotte only I will never leave the airport.