Florence Melton with Dr. Yonatan Mirvis, Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson and Dr. Marc Hirshman

FMAMS International Director Dr. Yonatan Mirvis welcomed Mrs. Melton and her guests and set the tone for the evening by saying "In the FMAMS, when we celebrate, we study."

Hebrew University Rector Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson presented the opening lesson, which was followed by dynamic, simultaneous Beit Midrash group study sesssions led by FMAMS faculty and organized by FMAMS Director of Professional Development Rabbi Michael Balinsky. Melton Centre Director Dr. Marc Hirshman gave a concluding Dvar Torah, which summed up the learning experience.

After dinner, Mrs. Melton, visibly moved by the presence and energy in the room, thanked her guests and reiterated her vision, which instigated the founding of the FMAMS. "The Mini-School grew out of my own need to know," she said. "I had a sense that if we could bring Jews of all stripes and all colors together, we could invent something new in Jewish adult education... The miraculous growth of the Mini-School has been due to a team effort. Everyone is working together in an atmosphere of creativity. And I do know that there is a power above."

Guests included Mini-School students and alumni from South Florida, Buffalo, NY, Tucson, AZ, Columbus, OH, Daton, OH, Denver, CO and Montreal, Canada; and representatives of the American Friends of the Hebrew University.

"We are declaring war on the biggest threats to Judaism in the free world. We are attacking indifference, ignorance and illiteracy by creating a lifetime of Jewish learners and Jewish doers," said Gordon Zacks, chairman of the Board of Directors of the FMAMS Institute and Mrs. Melton's son, in his keynote remarks. "We are offering an alternative to fear, assimilation and disassociation. We are offering Sinai and Torah."