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Months of Our Hopes

Every time during High Holidays Minsk Jewish Campus looks somewhat special and home–like. Children's babble, cheerful laughter of youth, serious talks of wise adults, Jewish music inimitable in its beauty — lots of sounds are heard in the court which is festively decorated. One could not stay indifferent to life size puppets crowded by kids, Jewish craftsmen street, stalls dedicated to the Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simhat Torah. But the most important thing is that the whole families consisting of several generations come to celebrate the High Holidays.

Jewish New Year 5770 will start on September, 19 2009. Like all the Jewish holidays it will start on Eve. Rosh Hashanah is observed on the first and second days of Tishrei; current year these days are September 19 and 20.

Some people definitely stayed a bit longer by the stalls to taste traditional Jewish food, to participate in various contests and to do some crafts by themselves. Attention of the others was attracted by the stall “Jewish Dances”; and may be not at once but they did join the dancing people, because it is their native, bred–in–the–bon e music. An improvised “yeshiva “–exhibition of Jewish art calendars called “Closer to Israel: the country I love”, was also very popular with the guests. No doubt that everybody entered Sukkah carrying Four Species, or Arba'at Ha–Minim, consisting of a palm branch tied to two willow and three myrtle branches, and an etrog (a fruit of a citron tree). All together they symbolize the unity of the Jewish Nation and their mutual responsibility for each other.

Kids were romping at the playground where different competitions and contests took place, and, of course, they didn't pass a “magic” machine turning sugar into cotton candy.

A concert has always been the main event of the High Holidays festival. This year Evgeniy Baranchik and the Braginskiy family joined the ranks of performers. An ensemble “Only Grandpas Play Jazz”, which is directed by a famous jazz musician Avenir Vainshtein, participated in the festival for the second time. Rich blues melodies and strong timbre of the soloist Rada Smushkevich charmed everyone.

It is a special warm and friendly atmosphere that has united around five thousand people that come for the seventh time to the MJC to celebrate Jewish holidays. Traditional greeting on Rosh Hashanah is «Leshana tova tikatevu» — "may you be written and sealed for a good year"!

The seventh High Holidays festival was generously supported by the Representative of American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee in the Republic of Belarus.

The following organizations also took part in the organization of the festival: the Union of Belarusian Jewish Organizations and Communities, Welfare Jewish Fund “Hesed–Rakhamim&rdq uo;, Jewish Community Center “Emunah”, Minsk Association of Jewish Culture named after Izya Harik, Israeli Cultural Center, Religious Union for Progressive Judaism in the Republic of Belarus, Minsk Community for Progressive Judaism “Sheket”, Hillel Student Center.

Photogallery

15.09.2009

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