On Motzei Shabbos, after the lighting of the chanukiot in the Gallery of the “Menorah” center, the second meeting of the “Moms and Daughters” format took place on the eighth floor, dedicated to Rosh Chodesh Tevet, as part of the integrative cooperation between the “DJCY – STL kids – JFuture” and “DJCY – STL Teens – EnerJew” projects.
This format has already been well-received by the participants, so this time the meeting was attended both by mothers and girls who were at the first meeting and by new participants. Since the evening coincided with the seventh day of Chanukah, the program began with the lighting of a chanukiah, and this time the Chanukah lights were kindled by Yonatan Tyshchenko, after which the participants moved on to a discussion about the important dates of the month of Tevet – Didan Notzach and the Fast of the 10th of Tevet.
The meeting was structured so that both mothers and daughters would have their own separate, meaningful space. For the mothers, Adina Seldina spoke about the history and significance of Didan Notzach, the importance of Jewish books in the home, and about the Rebbe’s Mivtzoim, particularly that every Jewish home should have Jewish books. After this, the mothers were able to give free rein to their emotions and creativity, painting special canvases, creating their own designer paintings, and choosing for them quotes from Jewish books that were closest to them in meaning and feeling.
The children, at this time, also listened to the story of the Didan Notzach holiday and later, with great pleasure, made beautiful and unique bookmarks for their favorite books. A particularly important part of the evening was a large display of Jewish books, and after the meeting concluded, each participant could not only choose a book that particularly interested her but also take it home. Thus, every Jewish family that attended the meeting this evening acquired at least one Jewish book for their home library.
In the second part of the program, they discussed the 10th of Tevet in a playful format. Mothers and daughters together performed intellectual, creative, and active tasks, for the completion of which they received parts of a puzzle. In the finale, all the puzzle pieces came together to form one large picture of the Holy Temple. The evening concluded with a joint wish that through their good deeds, everyone would contribute to the speedy arrival of the Righteous Moshiach into this world and that, in the very near future, the Third Temple would be rebuilt.
“The ‘Moms and Daughters’ format is being implemented within the ‘DJCY – STL kids – JFuture’ and ‘DJCY – STL Teens – EnerJew’ projects, which the Dnipro Jewish Community carries out with the support of STL and the projects of the JRNU foundation,” said the coordinator, Bela Letitchevskaya. “The second meeting on Rosh Chodesh Tevet once again confirmed that this warm, meaningful format is truly in demand and finds a sincere response in the hearts of the participants. We thank the united and cohesive Dnipro Jewish community under the leadership of its Rav, Shmuel Kaminezki, for the opportunity to develop our programs so successfully.”
