I Just Spent 136 Hours Straight on Zoom. It Was Sublime.
Tech Tribe Dispatch #84
💡 Think:
The International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, the Kinus Hashluchim wasn’t canceled this year due to Corona. In fact, it was bigger than ever . . . Only it was all streamed live on the web.
That’s hardly surprising - most conferences and big events this year have moved the way of the video conference. You can watch it here. What was truly profound was what happened to what was supposed to a side event: The Post-Shabbat Zoom.
Meant to take the place of the regular melaveh malkah farbrengen gathering that takes place at the outset of Shabbat in New York on any other year began after Shabbat ended at 9:30 p.m. in Melbourne, Australia, and continued with Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries tuning in to speakers from Melbourne, Bangkok, Moscow, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, Paris, London, S. Paulo, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Anchorage, culminating with the end of Shabbat in Hawaii, when the Chabad emissary in Honolulu was finally able to log on some 24 hours later.
But it didn’t end my friends.
Rabbis around the clock, from Oslo to Santa Fe, Austin to Alaska, took turns sharing stories for days on end. The spirit of the call became increasingly eclectic, taking on the form of a rolling Chassidic farbrengen—informal conversations conducted between Chassidim mixing words of Torah, stories and personal encouragement while sharing song, food and l’chaim. A group of friends and I broke away to start a regular study session in Ayin Beis, the most sublime and profound series of discourses, originally delivered between the years 1911-1916.
The Zoom continued through the entire week, only ending Friday afternoon in Australia - last night here in the states.
One Hundred and Thirty Six hours and Forty Five minutes.
There are two main takeaways I’d like to share with you:
1) The farbrengen was constant - but due to the need to sleep, work study and perform other normal tasks - I was not on it for six straight days. Yet it continued. All around the world, words of connection, of unity, inspiration to take decisive action for the Jews the world over were bouncing from computers and cellphones to servers and cell towers. They were broadcast on radio waves that were beamed around the world. When I walked to work. When you walked to work. When I slept and you slept and everyone else slept . . . there were words of the most sublime unity - and love for humanity - permeating the space around us.
2) We are really altogether. With so many things in flux in this Corona era, we very much STILL connect. So much so, that saying l’chaim in Brooklyn, it could be reciprocated, instantly, in 1000 other places around the world.
Think about the power you have in your pocket. You can take out your phone and call someone to say hello and uplift their spirits, give money to cause you’re passionate about, or share some positivity with the world.
In the end, 1000 rabbis said l’chaim at 10:15 last night and logged off. The chance to spend a week together was sublime. But now it is time to get the work done.
🏃 DO:
🔥 Join us the evening of Saturday, December 5th for CIDER + SMORES: A Musical Havdala experience!
🎧 Listen:
A classic folk song, about a chasid writing to his rebbe, asking for a blessing in the face of personal difficulties - and the joyous experience of seeing the blessings answer.
🐦 Tweet:
📚 Read:
😷 Will the Coronavirus Wedding Model Outlive the Coronavirus?
👨💻 Chassidic Gathering Becomes World's Longest Zoom Event. Rabbis from around the world joined in a marathon ‘farbrengen’.
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