By COLlive reporter
Photos by Levi Nazarov
A special Chanuka party took place on Motzei Shabbos Chanuka, Parshas Miketz, Rosh Chodesh Teves. The party was in Moscow’s central Marina Roscha shul and was arranged by the gabbais for the students of the community’s Mosdos Chinuch, namely, those who participate every week in the “Avos u’Banim” learning program.
At a set time each Motzoei Shabbos, close to two hundred children arrive, accompanied by their fathers, for many of whom it is a long drive in from various neighborhoods in Moscow and the surrounding suburbs, and they all sit down in the shul’s main sanctuary for an hour of pure Torah study, their sweet voices filling the air with holiness.
After lighting the Chanuka candles and singing together “Haneros Halalu”, the shul’s gabbai who emceed the event, called up the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar to speak to the children. He thanked the dedicated project director Rabbi Yeshaya Gross, who, along with the shul’s gabbais run the program successfully on a weekly basis. The children then stood in line and each received Chanuka gelt from Rabbi Lazar.
The “Avos u’Banim” program is but one of a variety of multiple programs run for children who come to the central Shul. These include Chevra Tefila every Shabbos, Chevra Mishnayos, and other interesting programs which bring out the children’s love for davening, and also make a strong Kiddush Hashem amongst the adults who come to shul, for many of whom it is a brand new experience.
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