So, here we are - Last day, time to pack, time to head home. This has been a remarkable event - for me, of course, and more importantly for you. Last night's tribute to Debbie Friedman with a performance by Joshua Nelson and his group absolutely brought the house down! I had never heard Joshua Nelson before and let me tell you, it was an experience - Jewish Gospel! If you're reading this and didn't have a chance to attend the Biennial, find a CD of his - you will be wowed.

As the week progressed, the blog has been written later and later - a very typical occurrence for the Biennial. Friday was a magical day - starting with Rabbi Yoffie introducing outgoing Union Board Chair Robert Heller and Bob's stirring remarks about this tenure as Board Chair. Following on Bob's remarks, Rabbis Peter Rubinstein of Central Synagogue, New York and Josh Davidson of Temple Beth El of Northern Westchester, Chappaqua, New York presented a Eisendrath Bearer of Light award to Michael J Fox who spoke eloquently about his battle with Parkinson's disease, his close connection to the Reform movement and his hopes for the future. The afternoon brought us a speech from Jeffrey Sachs, Diretor of the Earth Institute who was honored with the second Eisendrath award. Professor Sachs spoke eloquently and passionately about eradicating hunger and poverty and the Nothing But Nets Initiative to help eradicate malaria in third world countries. His presentation was riveting!

Shabbat is almost here and the excitement is building. The buzz I keep hearing is that this Biennial is terrific. The workshop sessions have been well attended and well received, the plenary sessions have gotten rave reviews, especially last night's program on Building Community in the 21st Century. The Women's Torah Commentary was introduced to the Biennial Thursday morning and the line to purchase copies at the URJ Bookstore was very long! Clearly this volume is destined to be a tremendous success.

Well, this blog is being posted a bit late because yesterday, launch day started early and ended late (as will every other day this week!). The day started with the staff breakfast and assignments for the day - 7:00 a.m. with the reward for getting up so early being hot oatmeal!! It dawned cloudy yesterday in San Diego but by mid-morning when the delegates were arriving en masse, it was brilliant sunshine and warm temperatures. Registration has proceeded smoothly and our local arrangements volunteers are doing a magnificent job.

Two days out and everything is on schedule. The weather today in San Diego was absolutely ideal and it should just get better as the week goes on. Warm sunny days, cool clear nights - what more could one ask for in December? The Union staff arrived today and the Union office is set up and running. All the name tags are printed and ready to be distributed to registrants as they check in at registration starting Tuesday at noon in the Convention Center. The local arrangements office is also up and running and volunteers from the host congregations start checking in Tuesday at 9 a.m. The exhibition hall is being set up - it's really amazing to watch how a vast empty space is turned into a marketplace! Below you can see a picture of the exhibition space just being set up.

We are now three days out from the Biennial launch and staff and pre-Biennial program participants are arriving in San Diego. The Pacific storm that blew through last night and this morning is now gone and we are promised glorious sunshine and moderate temperatures for the entire week – perfect for a Biennial convention.

Today over 50 local arrangements committee members and volunteers stuffed the delegate bags. This year the delegate bags are eco-friendly (as are the delegate name tag holders), made strictly from recycled materials. The delegate bag stuffing was finished in under three hours – near record time!

The local arrangements office will be set up tomorrow for the volunteers. You will recognize the local arrangements volunteers by their colorful orange, white, green and blue vests.

Jay Geller, Biennial Program chair, and Shirley Gordon, Biennial Program vice-chair, will be posting regularly with updates and observations from the stage and back room.

We are both looking forward to greeting all of you on December 12 at the San Diego Convention Center where we will gather with delegates from over 700 Union congregations to study with HUC scholars, learn effective synagogue management tools, find exciting new congregational programs, discuss important issues to Reform Jews, listen to dynamic and challenging speakers, sing and celebrate our Judaism, and make new lifelong friends.