In a few minutes (around 12:45pm ET), President of the United States, Barack Obama will address more than 6,000 Reform Jews at the Union for Reform Judaism’s biennial convention. Unfortunately I am not there in person this time, so I will be watching like some of you. (Apparently this speech will also be on CNN).

The Biennials are always an amazing event. This year, with the advances in social media even though I am not in attendance it seems that I’m in on the action. You can follow updates on twitter with the hashtag #URJbiennial. In addition to the POTUS speech, some of the sessions have been recorded and are accessible here. Many of my rabbinic colleagues are writing daily blogs, updating on facebook and posting pictures (my favorite game is to look at the crowd shots and see who else I know in the picture that the photographer might not!).

Last night at the plenary David Boies and Ted Olson were given the Eisendrath Bearer of Light award, the Reform Movement’s highest honor. Boies and Olson came together from opposite sides of the political aisle to fight for marriage equality. If you watch the brief video, you will see some familiar faces.

Even though I could not be at the Biennial, I have never been more proud to be a Reform Jew.