Live Sunday at 1 PM: Kinus Closing Gala Will Reflect on Bondi Loss and Resilience
This Sunday, November 8, 2026, nearly 7,000 leaders will come together at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison for the closing gala of the international conference of Shluchim-Kinus, the world’s largest Jewish conference. This year’s Kinus is the largest yet and the gala will be streamed live to viewers around the world.
“Most of the conference is closed to the public, but this evening lets people see what inspires the shluchim,” said Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky, executive director of the conference of Shluchim. “We want everyone who watches to see themselves in that mission and become a shliach in their own right, the Rebbe’s call to be an ambassador of light wherever you are.”
The banquet has become the annual centerpiece event for Jewish communities worldwide. It features personal stories, tributes and the iconic International Roll Call. This year’s program will focus on the mission of shlichus, or emissary service, today, with stories of loss, resilience, Jewish identity and continued commitment. It comes at a moment of heightened tensions and renewed Jewish engagement.
One central segment will honor Rabbi Eli Schlanger OB”M, who was killed less than a year ago in a terror attack at the Chanukah celebration he led on Bondi Beach in Sydney. His son, Nosson Schlanger, and father-in-law, Rabbi Yehoram Ulman of Sydney, will present “The Mission Lives On,” a tribute to him.
Schlanger served as assistant rabbi at Chabad of Bondi for 18 years. On the first night of Chanukah last December, two gunmen opened fire on the celebration and killed him and 14 others. The evening will draw inspiration from his life’s mission and message of radical positivity and unapologetic Jewish pride.
Rabbi Alex Kaller of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, will present “His Mission Lives On: From Moscow to Miami.” Kaller grew up in Moscow knowing little about Judaism. As a teenager, he lit a menorah there while the Rebbe watched by satellite. He will share what he learned decades later about that night.
Gabriel Sonnino of Rome survived the Nazis after being rescued inside a building that today houses a Chabad House. He will tell his story in “A Flame Rekindled, a true embodiment of historic Jewish resilience.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Yechiel Leiter, will deliver the keynote address, “Across Israel. For Every Jew.” Leiter’s son Moshe Yedidya was killed in Gaza in 2023. Another son, Neria, was critically wounded in a terror attack in September. Leiter has asked people to pray for Neria Dov ben Chana.
The event is where Chabad makes its annual resolutions, known as hachlatas. These commitments set the direction of Jewish life worldwide for the year ahead.
Past galas have turned those resolutions into new institutions. In 2021, organizers pledged 360 new Jewish libraries and 120 new mikvahs. In 2022, the gala announced Zambia as the 110th country with a Chabad emissary and a $2.5 million overnight camping initiative. Last year, it announced a fund to send children to Jewish overnight camps.
The gala closes a weekend of important meetings, forums and strategy talks in New York. The weekend also includes a moving visit to the Ohel and the iconic group photo.
The evening will end with the International Roll Call, when representatives from around the world rise as their countries are named. From Paris and Sydney to countries where a single family sustains Jewish life, bringing to life the global Jewish community that is Chabad.
