This past Tuesday night, close to 600 Jewish women gathered at the Frontenac Hilton for the “Couture & Cocktails” soirée. 600 Jewish women! In St. Louis! This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, turnouts the Jewish Federation of St. Louis has ever seen for one of their events.

The fashionable affair was thrown by the Women’s Connection of the Jewish Federation in honor of Israel’s 60^th anniversary. Once everyone maneuvered the gas main break at Clayton & Warson roads, the gala began with live music by Rick Recht, a Jewish rock star if you will, accompanied by the Beit Israeli Children’s choir. Traditional Israeli food was served (think falafel and tabbouleh) followed by a runway fashion show featuring the chic clothing of Israeli designer, Biya, and dazzling bling from Mavrik Fine Jewelry. All being modeled by some really incredible local Jewish women…and me.

So I’m not just writing about this to share with you my moment as supermodel (although it was a blast). The underlying message of the evening was something that Jewish people really take to heart: Live generously. Do what you can to help those in need. Perpetuate the Jewish faith. We call it tzedakah. And it’s what the Women’s Connection of the Jewish Federation is all about.

The mission of Women’s Connection is to bring women in the St. Louis community together to demonstrate the impact of women’s philanthropy and leadership.

The fashion show not only highlighted the fabulous clothing and sparkling gems, but the accomplishments of the models, and some really interesting facts about Israel. For example, Motorola developed the original technology for cell phones at their research and development centers in Israel. And, Israel has the largest number of start up companies per capita in the world. One of those start ups, ICQ, was the first to bring internet chat messaging to the world. Israel is second only to the US, in the number of companies listed on the NASDAQ. Not to mention, per capita, Israel has the most number of universities than any other nation. Which is perhaps why they have the highest number of engineers, scientists and PhD’s per capita. Pretty impressive.

So overall, the event was a huge success. The event chairs, speakers, models and many of the guests are role models for the Jewish community. Doing what they can. And inspiring others to do the same. That’s what it’s all about. So kudos to the women who were clever enough to realize that a celebration of fashion and friendship, was a powerful way to spread their message.