Festival Brings Saratoga Together

By CAITLIN MORRIS – Saratogian.com

Daniel Wolk, his wife and three children moved from Israel to the Capital District one month ago, and he said events like Sunday’s Saratoga Shalom Festival in Congress Park make the transition a bit easier.

This is the 10th year Saratoga Chabad has held the festival.

Sunday afternoon, Jewish festival-goers of all denominations milled about Congress Park, eating cultural food like knishes from Brooklyn, listening to music, watching Keith the amazing fire juggler and practicing their shofar skills on ram horns.

“It would have been much harder to come back if it weren’t for things like this,” Wolk said, as he watched his children play games at the festival.

Being a part of a Jewish community that mingles with the varied Jewish religious movements — Hasidic, Orthodox, Conservative and Reform — is something Wolk does not take lightly, because, he said, historically there have been many instances different Jewish branches have clashed violently.

“Temples in Jerusalem have been destroyed because Jews couldn’t get along,” he said. “It’s that much more important that we can do this and celebrate together.”

Wolk, his wife and their one child moved to Israel six years ago because he said he didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to live in Israel when for so long Jews were literally dying to live there.

“I get off the plane in Tel Aviv and I feel like I’m home,” Wolk said, who first visited the country for his bar mitzvah. He returned, 25 years later to see if it was a place he wanted to live and it didn’t take him long to make the life-changing decision.

The Wolk family moved back to the area, two more kids in tow than they left with, and they plan to stay for a year. The move was prompted by business, the 98th birthday of a grandmother and also because Wolk wants his children to experience America, too.

The festival certainly offers a peek into Jewish cultural traditions, music and food.

Yoel Sharabi, a guitarist who hammers out tunes on a dumbek and simultaneously plays two flutes, played a mix of modern Israeli, classic Yemenite and Chassidic melodies.

Keith Leaf, a fire juggler from Long Island, towered over the crowd on stilts. His show offered specialties like the flaming slinky of death, blazing meteor balls, fire dog leashes, flaming tennis rackets and fire staffs. For his grand finale, Leaf juggled three knives while balancing on a rola bola.

There was a short charity walk, the proceeds of which went to the Mollie Wilmot Oncology Unit, the Michael Fox Parkinson Disease Foundation and Saratoga Shalom Food Pantry.