Editor's note: The text that follows was presented before a live audience at the 2019 URJ Biennial.

Only a few short years after the founding of the United States of America, George Washington expressed in an exchange of letters with the Hebrew Congregation

We’re thrilled to announce the winners of our 2019 URJ Biennial Photo Contest. We received so many incredible photos depicting the vibrancy and diversity of Reform Jewish congregational life that it was difficult to choose the best.

How do we prevent an irreversible rift between the two major communities together with all others – between what I call Jerusalem and Babylon, 7 million Jews in Israel and 7 million Jews in North America?

Whether you want to re-read your favorite addresses from the Biennial or will be experiencing them here for the first time, we're doing our best to get everything online and available to you. Stay tuned all week long as we continue to update this list with links to additionall addresses.

With the 2019 URJ Biennial in our rear-view mirror, we’re now focused on how we can move this work forward and into our everyday lives. Ready to act? Here's how.

There are people out there that are looking for the authentic, meaningful experience that we offer, and as long as I have the great honor of leading our movement, we’re not going to walk away from them. Not now, not ever. 

"I’ve been amazed, impressed, and inspired by all the ways large and small, that we demonstrate our love for being Jewish."

Editor's note: The text that follows was presented before a live audience at the 2019 URJ Biennial on Wednesday, Dec. 11 as Sheldon Cole of Vancouver, BC, shared his Jewish story with convention attendees. 

So how did I get here? At this podium? Today?

I

"May the One who blessed our mothers and our fathers, our parents and our ancestors, bless the organizers and participants in the URJ Biennial 2019."