By COLlive reporter
The familiar format of the program at the gala banquet of the International Kinus Hashluchim, set to took place at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal this Sunday, is being changed this year.
The evening usually included a “guest keynote address” often delivered by a renowned lay-leader who had a relationship with the Rebbe or was uniquely affected by the work of the Shluchim.
Speakers in past years included Argentinian President Fernando de la Rua, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, Knesset Speaker Yuli Adelstein, philanthropists Lev Leviev, Gennady Bogolyubov and the late Sami Rohr.
The slot will instead be filled this year by a 5 individuals, each presenting age demographic that is serviced, educated and inspired by Shluchim and Shluchos around the world.
Merkos L’inyonei Chinuch, which organizes the convention, said the new format titled “Generations” will aptly represent the spirit of Hakhel, the current year which represents Jewish unity like in the times of the Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem.
The segment will feature a child, a teenager, a college student and middle-aged community member and a Holocaust survivor. According to organizers, each will share their personal journey, representing thousands of their peers that are inspired through the growing army of the Rebbe’s Shluchim and their families.
The speakers are Eli Feldman – Gladwynne, PA; Phillip Yurchenko – Redwood City, CA; Matthew Burke – University of Southern California; Dr. Yaakov Guterson – Pittsburgh, PA; and Milton Mendel Kleinberg – Omaha, NE.
Chairing the banquet will be Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky with greetings from Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky representing Merkos. The keynote address will be delivered by Rabbi Shlomie Chein, Shliach in S. Cruz, CA.
As reported on COLlive.com, Tehillim will be recited by Moishy Holtzberg, son of the slain Shluchim of Mumbai, India. Prayers for Israel will be recited by Jerusalem’s Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
The banquet, said to be the largest sit-down dinner in New York City, unites 5,000 Shluchim, supporters and family members in a warehouse-turned-banquet hall to feast, dance and get inspired.
that’s an accurate observation you’re making. there are many young professionals beyond college age that are impacted by our shluchim , as well as many young parents, mothers and fathers whose family and personal lives have been impacted by shluchim. I’d have liked to see them represented in the cross-section of demographics the convention aims to include.
seems like they are missing the the young parents age group (30s), which is quite different from college student or middle aged.