The Jewish Community of Dnipro held another gathering of the women’s club “Isha Meira” (“A Woman Who Carries Light”), which in the month of Cheshvan was dedicated to one of the four matriarchs of the Jewish people – Rachel Imeinu. The participants of the gathering became acquainted with the story of the Matriarch Rachel and discussed which lessons of her life can help a modern Jewish girl find the right path and make important decisions.
The “Isha Meira” club is a new program that began its activity this year and united the participants of the youth project of the Jewish Community of Dnipro “DJCY-STL-STARS Dnipro,” which is implemented with the support of STL, and the students of the International Humanitarian and Pedagogical Institute “Beit Chana.” The leaders of the project are Morah Sheina Leah Smilyanskaya, Chaya Maltseva, and Leah Lazareva. During the monthly gathering, the personality of one of the great Jewish righteous women, whose life can become an example for new generations, is discussed. The first session of the club, which took place in the month of Tishrei, was dedicated to Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, mother of the leader of our generation, the Seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
The current gathering at the “Isha Meira” club began, as is now tradition, with the joint preparation of challahs, and the mitzvah of separating challah was performed by Leah Lazareva. The girls also watched a video address of the Lubavitcher Rebbe and took part in an interactive game dedicated to the theme of the gathering.
The main heroine of the lesson in the month of Cheshvan was the Matriarch Rachel, one of the wives of the Patriarch Yaakov, the mother of Yosef and Binyamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Her fate, her faith, patience, and self-sacrifice became the starting point for a discussion about the significance that the spiritual heritage of great Jewish women holds for each new generation.
Special attention was given by the participants to the idea that on life’s path a person does not necessarily have to seek answers to all questions on their own, for many trials, difficulties, and decisions were already part of the lives of our matriarchs and righteous women. Their experience is not merely the history of a distant past but a priceless heritage that enables one to find answers to one’s own questions, to understand how to act under difficult circumstances, and to draw strength for right decisions. It is precisely this idea that will become the foundation of the entire annual cycle of gatherings of the “Isha Meira” club, each of which will reveal to the girls new examples from the lives of great Jewish women.
“It is very important to us that the girls who study in various educational programs can now meet monthly within a single club, fulfill mitzvos, and find in the fates of great Jewish women examples for their own lives,” noted Morah Sheina Leah Smilyanskaya. “For the knowledge and spiritual guideposts they receive today will certainly help them in the future, when they establish their own families, build their own Jewish home, and fill it with the light of Torah, love, and shalom bayis – family peace and harmony. We thank from the bottom of our hearts for the opportunity to hold such important gatherings that help Jewish girls become aware of their role and purpose, our beloved, cherished, united and cohesive Jewish Community of Dnipro under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki.”
