My View of the congress by Rachel 02 May 2006

Hello all of you Sydneyites!

I wanted to email you a few photos and to share with you some brief reflections about the congress.

The photo of the guys on stage is from one of the cultural evenings, and all of us placed a leaf on the tree as we entered the hall.

The congress was focused on circulation, as I’m sure you have heard by now. Our editing workshop, led by Mike Kellogg from the U.S., with some help from Israel’s own Leah Goldberg, was brilliant. We really got to explore what is required in our editing practice, and to sort out common problems. The translators also took part in this workshop which was very helpful.

Rav’s lectures were as always outstanding, even during the parts where we fell asleep! The Erev Pesach meal, also led by Rav on the first night, was exceptional…we could feel the journey…

The food was beetroot, carrot, cucumber and more beetroot—the traditional Pesach diet of Rabash. There was also chicken, filter fish, yogurt, sour cream and eggs and during the last few days avocado. I actually loved the food. They didn’t provide fruit, but we knew this from last time, and so brought our own.

HaKfar HaYarok was a nice location. The rooms were grubby, but ok, but our toilet block was so disgusting that we used another block. The men worked so hard to clean the common spaces and the kitchen clean. From the state of our block, I think the men must have worked very hard indeed. I think they will try for another location next time.

So, it seems that BB is really getting structured into a circulation factory. It is so much more organised now, and Rav said that in the coming few years he will need to employ full time staff—Kabbalah students of course—to do all our circulation work, as our need is growing. Especially required are media/internet people, but I think that more professions will also be required as time goes on. It is all very exciting.

There was also a lecture from Professor Laslo of the World Wisdom Council, who said at the end of a live Q/A session with Rav that he wants to support our goal! It was such a great and touching moment. Again, things are happening!

From this congress one of the important things I gained was the need to periodically read some thing short from an intention book to keep our minds focused on the goal—even at work for one minute every hour—so that we don’t get lazy and forget…it can be a slippery slope!

Oz-Israel-everywhere Kli echad!

Rachel x