The day of the Yud Shvat anniversary in Dnipro’s Mahone Beis Chaya Mushka was unusual and spiritually uplifting. The events were held separately for the younger and older girls.
This year’s events under the general name “Rebbe Time” for the senior girls were held under the guidance of the Rebbe’s messenger Maryasha Heifer and, according to tradition, they began with careful preparation – during the week the girls performed tasks, prepared materials, learned the maamar “Bosi LeGani”, and on Friday, on the eve of Shabbat, on which this year Yud Shvat was celebrated, a big party was held in the mahon.
“The girls recorded interviews with their parents on various topics, during the four days of preparation for Yud Shvat,” Amora Sheina Smelyansky told our website, “the topics were: ‘The Faithful Shepherd’ about the role of the Head of the generation; ‘The Common Soul’ about the Rebbe’s connection to every Jew; ‘With Heartache’ about the importance of personal contact with the Rebbe; and ‘Divinity by Life’ about following the Rebbe’s instructions in daily life.” Each girl had to call for views of these interviews and depending on the number of views was able to score more points. There were many contests and raffles on the eve of Yud Shvat and based on their results, students in grades 5-6 could win a leather bound Hitas, while the main prize for the older girls was a ticket for a trip to see the Rebbe and it was won by 10th grader Malka Brez.”
The day of Yud Shvat itself began with a solemn breakfast followed by prayer and this order was not coincidental. “Amora Maryasha Heifer told a story about a young Rebbe Rivka, wife of the Fourth Rebbe, who was very sick and the doctors told her to eat more and she got up earlier to pray before breakfast and then her father-in-law, Rebbe Tzemach Tzedek, corrected her by pointing out that it is more important to eat in order to pray than to pray in order to eat, – explained Sheina Smilansky, – and after the prayers, a large interactive reality show with four teams was organized, and after it was over, a very unusual farbrengen was held, where the girls acted as organizers and guests, and spoke about their personal experiences with the Rebbe and how much the Rebbe means in their lives. This event was held on a very big spiritual high, with great energy and inspiration.”
