WORLD EMISSARIES' CONFERENCE CONCLUDES
Though the Chabad-Lubavitch movement's International Conference of Emissaries was formally concluded early last week, the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn is just now returning to its usual pace.

The conference itself was extraordinarily productive, yielding numerous new Jewish education initiatives, some of which LNS looks forward to presenting to you over the next few months. More than 1,800 emissaries from around the world participated.

Some of the emissaries and their families lingered on to catch up with family members and friends whom they get to see only once every few years, and to pack up kosher food and other provisions to take back to their distant postings.

So long as the emissaries were in town, the streets were charged with a feeling of festivity and pride.

That pride was on particular display during the conference's gala banquet at the Brooklyn Marriot hotel. Lay leaders joined their emissaries in celebrating the accomplishments of the past 50 years since the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson of righteous memory, assumed leadership of the movement - and they recommitted themselves to the Rebbe's vision and goals by undertaking future programs for world Jewry at an ever increased pace. [We look forward to bringing you some of the specific programs in future editions.]

[For the Jewish Telegraphic Agency's description of the emissaries' visit to the Rebbe's gravesite please click here:
[http://jta.virtualjerusalem.com/index.exe?9911111]

RUSSIA'S JEWS UNITE
In an extraordinary show of unity, more than 80 Jewish communities from across the Russian Federation gathered for two days at the Renaissance Hotel in Moscow to create the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia. The new federation will represent Jews and Jewish interests in all matters religious, legal and political. This marks the first time that the communities created their own legal, representative entity - "from the people by the people." A small army of lawyers worked for weeks around the clock to ensure that every last legal detail and community specification was taken care of.

The 250 community representatives voted on by-laws, regional and national representation, and undertook numerous new initiatives. A young leadership division sprung up from among the ranks, as did numerous working committees. Members also voted on a rabbinical representative body and Rabbi Berel Lazar, chief Lubavitch emissary to the region, was appointed as its head. Numerous local, national and international government officials attended or sent their blessings, including President Yeltsin.

[We hope to bring you a longer report in a future edition.]

NEW FILM ON RELIGIOUS TENSION DEBUTS IN U.S.
The New York Film Academy hosted the first American screening of a critically acclaimed Israeli film called "Seder Trek." The film examines the relationship between "religious" and "secular" Jews in Israel through the eyes of participants in the Chabad-Lubavitch movement's annual "Seder On Top of the World" in Katmandu, Nepal.

[The director, Shachar Zefania, and producer, Amnon Marcus, can be reached through the Israeli consulate in New York, (212) 499-5999.]

MEDICAL CONFAB
The Conference on Judaism and Contemporary Medicine was held this past Sunday, November 14, at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel. World-class rabbis, physicians and researchers held forth on such heavy topics as Children at Risk, Medical Research Ethics, Infertility Issues, The Patient-Doctor Relationship, End of Life, Cloning-New Horizons, Is Viagra Kosher?, and Care for the Uninsured.

In opening the conference, organizer Dr. Moshe Akerman said, "It is our duty to confront the ethical questions and moral ambiguities inherent to progress."