Nothing is like Roll call at the CCAR convention!!!

This morning we had our annual HUC breakfast. The big difference this year was that the HUC breakfast has become the Reform Movement Breakfast and thus URJ, CCAR and HUC-JIR have joined forces. There is no doubt that this is part of the exciting future which our colleagues Ellen Dreyfus, Eric Yoffie, David Ellenson and Steven Fox discussed during the breakfast. We need to be one unified family working together. There is no doubt that the economics of our time have given us a wonderful opportunity. Everyone spoke from the heart and they were concise in their comments making this a very enjoyable session. Of course the highlight each year for me is Roll Call! There is something about our class sitting together and jumping up yelping our “YEAH”. The feeling that each year we wait longer to hear our class year being called out is balanced with the sense of awe that I feel toward our colleagues who have been rabbis for so long. The annual standing ovation for those who were ordained 50 years ago is heartwarming. There is a sense of Kesher that we share with each other that seems to be so present at this session each year. I appreciate the process that “roll call” has gone through over the many years I think we got it down now. It works really well. Then we had the first part of our Professional Development Day as we attended the first of two sessions dedicated to improving our rabbinate. I took the session titled, “The Well Connected Rabbi – Having an Online Rabbinic Presence,” lead by Dan Moskovitz. I thought it was a great session with lots of wonderful and practical ideas for getting our vision, our teaching to our congregants. I have a lot to learn about blogging!!! Now time for lunch break and then off to round two!