Top 10 Things I did at the USCJ Biennial Convention in Orlando

By Howie Sniderman, USCJ Pacific Northwest Region President-Elect

10. Wore sunglasses at all sessions. The sun is quite bright in Florida. Also, this allowed others to recognize me easily. Also, they went well with my "Blues Brother" baseball cap.

9. Listened to about 8 gazillion cantors sing about 8 gazillion different tunes for Kabbalat Shabbat, Shabbat morning services and at a concert. My favourite - an R&B take on "I have a little Driedl".

8. Bought all my Chanukah presents from the 100 different vendors who set up shop during the convention. Best buy - an amazing print of our son's Bar Mitzvah parshat in picture form, being one panel from a full "Torah" of pictorial parshat panels. Really cool. And he loved it. Did not win the trip to Israel contest, but got enough free pens from all the Israeli vendors that I won't need to buy any for a year or so.

7. Avoided the alligators on the golf course which was part of the convention hotel. I'm guessing that this will not be a problem at the 2009 Biennial Convention in Cherry Hill, NJ.... but you never know, I watch the Soprano's and I know that Jersey is a tough place.

6. Enjoyed the oversized portions of delicious Kosher food at every meal. Particularly enjoyed the (whole side of) prime rib of beef served at opening night dinner. Sent my leftovers to Orlando food bank. Got a nice thank you note back from each of the 14 families who enjoyed the bounty.

5. Participated in USCJ Board meetings. Voted on the various proposals, propositions and resolutions. I think Al Gore won this time but as the vote was in Florida I'm not certain.

4. Convention hotel name: "Rosen's Shingle Creek Resort". Whaddaya think - too Jewish? It even includes the name of a disease! It was perfect. 1500 rooms and 1500 sq. miles of convention space. We walked 3 or 4 miles from our room to the seminars, sessions and services in the convention halls attached to the hotel before we figured out that we could have caught the cross-lobby express bus and transferred to the mid-convention centre local in order to get to the morning Minyan services before 11a.m.

3. Heard new Jewish Theological Seminary Chancellor Dr. Arnold Eisen speak about his ideas on what we need to do to increase our numbers and increase the level of our Jewish learning and knowledge. Understand that he will consider following his own advice by enrolling in the JTS to become a Rabbi in order to add onto his 14 doctorate degrees. Boy, is he ever one smart guy!

2. Enjoyed hearing subsequent speakers mix up name of Chancellor Arnold Eisen with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner. Mind you, we were just 2 miles from Disneyworld.

And the Number 1 thing I did at the USCJ Biennial Convention in Orlando:

1. Increased the level of my knowledge and understanding of our Conservative movement philosophy and continued to solidify my own belief (as also mentioned by Chancellor Eisen and others) that our movement is wholly authentic and faithful to the tenets of considered and inquisitive and progressive Judaism. We are intellectually honest and willing to open to our eyes to the entire world around us, just as God intended. We are part of that world, and proudly so, and have an important job to do to fill that world with light and love. Big job, but as long as we wear sunglasses and baseball caps we can do just about anything. Fact is (to borrow my favourite Blues Brothers phrase), "We're on a mission from God".