 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
More Than 1,000 Celebrate Purim at St. Petersburg New YESOD Center
In a celebration of the richness of Jewish life in St. Petersburg, Russia, over 1,000 members of the local Jewish community gathered to mark the Purim festivities on March 11 and 12 in the newly opened YESOD building. A series of events had been planned for all ages and interests, including a Purim Blues Festival, a Children's Festival, a Community Concert and Purimshpeil (a special play in honor of Purim), and a student party. The entire event was marked by extraordinary community-wide cooperation and planning. "The programs were so successful that attendance far exceeded expectations," said one of the organizers. "We ran out of chairs, coat racks and Hamentashen — and this was the best thing that could have happened!"
The entire gamut of community organizations took part in the planning and execution of the event, including the Adayin Lo Jewish Family Center, the JDC-sponsored Hesed Avraham social welfare center, the Choral Synagogue JCC, the Sha'arei Shalom Progressive Community, Eva Welfare Center, Hillel, JCC on Rubenstein, NETZER, Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli Cultural Center. The event was coordinated by YESOD and the JDC in St. Petersburg with the support of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County. Also in attendance were members of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland who enjoy a special partnership with the community of St. Petersburg. The celebrations opened on Saturday night with a Purim Jazz and Blues Festival. Jazz bands and Jewish Klezmer folk music were featured in the evening's program and lured the general community as well as the Jewish one. "Hundreds of locals purchased tickets to attend and stayed into the wee hours of the morning," observed one of the organizers. The Sunday events opened with a noon Children's Festival, including a Purim Fair in the YESOD Atrium and a costume competition with prizes. For the main event, the 350 seats of Ribakoff Hall were filled to overflowing, with many children sitting on their parents' laps. A huge banner in Russian, Hebrew and English welcomed the participants, decorated with the logos of YESOD and the JDC. The word "Purim," in large Russian letters crafted from balloons, arched over the stage. "It was striking to recall that not so long ago, when these young people's parents were their own age, such a public celebration of any Jewish holiday would have been forbidden and even illegal," remarked Mr. Porath, JDC Country Director for Western Russia, who attended the festivities. At 6pm an entirely new crowd arrived to fill the auditorium, this time primarily middle-aged adults and the grandparents of some of the performers. The Community Concert opened with greetings from the myriad of YESOD sponsors and partner organizations, representing JDC, Mr. Porath greeted the crowd in Russian: "Today is the very first day of community programming in YESOD. We at the Joint had dreamed for many years about this day and now our fondest hopes have been realized. In our vision, YESOD should be a place for the entire Jewish community to gather, and we can see for ourselves how that has become a reality. May God grant that today's festivities be only the first of many and may we continue to grow from strength to strength."The evening's talent show of local organizations included dance performances from Adayin Lo and Eva, a choir from the Jewish Day School "Jerusalem", Yiddish songs from the JCC on Rubenstein, a youth group from the Israeli Cultural Center and others. The program was capped by an hour-long Purimshpeil presented by the Eva Welfare Center; the retelling of the story from the Megillah replete with song, life sized puppets, dance, costumes, humor and deep emotion captivated the audience. In this retelling, the performers used creative interpretations of the characters: the contestants in Ahashverosh's "beauty contest" were dressed up as Ukrainian peasants, Spanish dancers, French artists and American models; when Haman was forced to lead Mordechai astride the royal horse, the performers celebrated by dancing a "Freilach" (the traditional dance of Russian Jews); and when Esther prayed for her people to be saved, it was to the melodic and haunting strains of the theme from "Schindler's List". The Purim festivities concluded with a Sunday night student party. The beautiful Atrium was transformed into a three-story discoteque, complete with rotating colored lights, an appropriately loud d.j., and confetti strewn along the dance floor. These Purim events coincided with the integration of a number of local Jewish organizations to the YESOD building, which was inaugurated in September 2005 as the St. Petersburg Jewish Community Home. The Petersburg Institute for Jewish Studies moved in mid-February, in time for the Spring Semester, and currently conducts classes for 120 students every day from 9am-3pm. The Hillel rooms are filled with boxes from their recent move, and the hallway in front of their offices display pictures and announcements for upcoming programs. The Adayin Lo Family Center moved their kindergarten into the building and began their first day of classes in their new home on March 13. And two moving vans from Hesed Avraham had already arrived in anticipation of their final moving date of March 24. The pre-Pesach distribution of matzot will take place in the YESOD building so that all elderly Hesed clients will have occasion to visit in person. Ms. Levina, the director of YESOD, commented on the many new faces which came to celebrate the holiday for the first time and who are looking forward to future activities and programs. "It is very encouraging to see that people are coming back to the community and engaging in the holiday events," she said. Plans are already underway for a pre-Pesach matzah baking project, an Israeli Yom Ha'atzmaut (Independence Day) celebration, and for the marking of the traditional Russian May 9th "Victory Day". The inauguration of programming in YESOD with these overwhelmingly successful Purim festivities marks a new and vital step in the development of Jewish life in St. Petersburg. From Kiev to Moscow, Odessa to Kishinev Purim is Celebrated March 2006 |
