The Hilton Hotel in Manhattan hosted this week the banquet, the highlight of the International Conference of Chabad Women Emissaries, who are also known as the “shluchot”. This conference is actually the female version of the familiar shluchim banquet that was held two months ago.

More than 3,100 women, mostly shluchot alongside their family members, packed the hall in the huge, powerful and exciting event which concluded the conference.

The conference itself included more than 180 lectures, classes and workshops in a variety of topics related to life as a Chabad emissary.

“This annual meeting with fellow shluchot gives me strength and refreshes me for the coming year,” Dina N, a shlucha from Brazil, said. “It is difficult to describe the unique atmosphere of the conference which contributes to each participant on a variety of levels.”

Participants in the final event of the conference said that it was impossible to ignore the special virtue of these women who, along with their husbands, help make the world a better place. Several participants shared exciting and interesting stories from their life as an emissary.

The event concluded with the famous International Roll-Call, during which the names of countries in which there are Chabad emissaries are called out and the shluchot from those countries rise from the seats when their country is called, as the entire audience cheers them on. At the end of the Roll-Call, the shluchot who started their mission in the 1940s were asked to get up, followed by those who started in the 1950s, 1960s and so on. The host then asked the shluchot who began their mission in the past year to rise, at which point the whole room was on its feet and the participants burst into wild dancing.

The event concluded at about 10:00 p.m. New York time, and the thousands of emissaries went home with renewed strength and pride that is unparalleled.