Thousands of Jewish leaders from around the world packed a converted ballroom at the Brooklyn Armory for the gala banquet of the 23rd-annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Women Emissaries.
Coming from places as distant as the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh and as close as the neighborhoods around Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York, attendees spoke of balancing communal obligations and family life, and derived strength from others’ tales of strengthening Jewish life in practically every corner of the globe.
“This conference keeps us rooted in a way,” offered banquet chairwoman Dinie Greenberg, co-director of China’s Shanghai Jewish Center. “It reminds us of the fact that we’re all kind of in the same boat, that we’re all doing the same thing around the world, that we’re each thinking local and affecting global.”
(Photos: Jonathan Alpeyrie)
A total of 2,640 Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and their lay leaders joined together at the Armory on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, N.Y., for the evening banquet, part of a five-day long series of workshops, inspirational discussions and networking opportunities for Jewish women from around the world.
Tables sported red flags, which attendees waved as their home countries were announced during the banquet’s traditional roll call.
“This conference keeps us rooted in a way,” offered banquet chairwoman Dinie Greenberg, co-director of China’s Shanghai Jewish Center. “It reminds us of the fact that we’re all kind of in the same boat, that we’re all doing the same thing around the world, that we’re each thinking local and affecting global.”
Coming from places as distant as the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh and as close as the neighborhoods around Lubavitch World Headquarters in New York, attendees spoke of balancing communal obligations and family life, and derived strength from others’ tales of strengthening Jewish life in practically every corner of the globe.
Emissaries from Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, rise as their country is called.
After the roll call, the hall at the Brooklyn Armory erupted in dance.
Randy DeFilipp, of Charlotte, N.C., spoke about the importance of the work emissaries do to enhance the lives of individuals, families and communities.
Goldie Plotkin, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary in Markham, Ontario, spoke about the challenges and rewards inherent in blending family life and communal responsibilities.
The banquet featured a presentation from the daughters of Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries.
A corps of daughters enter the hall.
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