Hanover Festival’s Active Booth

By Zalman Nelson, lubavitch.com

Sunday’s fourth annual Israel Day Festival in Hanover, Germany drew more than 1000 local Jews and featured Jewish, Israeli, religious and cultural attractions, including a popular booth from Chabad-Lubavitch of Hanover.

Manned by Rabbi Benyomin and Shterni Wolff and Berlin yeshiva students Avner Anton and Shaya Green, visitors gravitated to the Chabad stand for kosher food, books and reading materials, information on programs like Shabbat and youth events, and sign ups for classes and letters in a Torah school.

For many, it was their first encounter with Chabad of Hanover which serves the city’s 8000 Jews. For others, it was the first time they donned tefillin, including a Holocaust survivor.

“People kept us busy all day, asking questions, putting on tefillin, and enjoying kosher food,” Wolff told Lubavitch.com.

“Seeing a survivor enjoying his Judaism and putting on tefillin, here in Germany, really moved me.”

Sponsored by the German Israeli Alliance, the Israel Day Festival took place in the courtyard of one of Hanover’s historic medieval castles.

Hanover is a major center of northern Germany and one of the leading exhibition cities in the world. It hosts more than 60 international and national exhibitions every year.