Thank you to the more than 200 rabbis who attended Our RA Convention last week in St. Louis. It was a long awaited opportunity for us to gather together with our colleagues, and we spent four days praying, learning, eating and dreaming together.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK
GATHER: A moving Erev Shirah on the opening evening to bring our community together in song and spirit.
NOURISH: Learning with cross-cultural partners: Exploring the work of racial justice in St. Louis with Jewish and Christian clergy, and engaging in a collaborative foundational workshop from Reverend Susan Beaumont.
STUDY: Unique and fulfilling tefillot and limmud throughout the week, taught and led by rabbis and scholars from around the world.
REFRESH: Thanks to a generous grant from UJA-Federation of New York, our rabbis were nourished with wellness bags of snacks and comforts, and made Sacred Connections in mishpahot groups centered around shared interests and curiosities.
FUN: We toured around St. Louis, including trips to the Missouri History Museum, Busch Stadium, the Anheuser-Busch Brewery and the St. Louis Arch, and then teamed up to battle our peers in a mega team-trivia night.
Recordings and Printed Materials: We have recorded many of the limmud sessions, as well as the foundational workshop with Susan Beaumont and the public response to reproductive rights. PDF versions of both the Memorial Book and the Convention 2022 Program Book are also available to view and download online.
Whether you were at convention or not, this playlist is a great soundtrack for working, study, relaxing or reflection!
CONVENTION PHOTOS!
We know that many of you took great photos, and we want you to share them with us! Use this link to upload your photos from convention. Please note that by sharing your photos, you are giving permission for us to use them in social, digital and print media.
Our own photo album is now online! Photos from convention can be found on our Facebook page. Make sure to check back as we will add photos to this album when more become available (or when you share yours with us!).
"It was good, pleasant, even delightful, to share with my colleagues, mostly younger people I’ve never met before, as well as a number of others whom I have known for years, some of whom I had never really sat down to talk with before. We were together as one. If I may say so, there was not the kind of division that I have known in past conferences when important, controversial issues were discussed, sometimes heatedly. This year there was a sense of unity. How good and how pleasant it was, indeed."
"The sound of our voices together for Minhah Sunday afternoon was overwhelming. That first "Ashrei"--"happy are the ones" was bigger, deeper, than I could have imagined."
What is unique about spending time with RA colleagues?
During convention, we asked that question and collected video responses via Megilla. Whether you joined us at convention or not, please visit our Megilla room to record your video answer to that question. Your responses will be used to promote the RA, as well as to collect data that will inform the work on our 3.0 Strategic Plan.
Special Thanks
We would like to extend our thanks to the convention committee, particularly convention chair Noah Arnow, as well all of our teachers and presenters, and the RA staff for their leadership and hard work.
