The youth project of the Jewish Community of Dnipro, “DJCY-STL-STARS Dnipro,” implemented with the support of STL, has launched a new educational season, opening with the first gathering of program participants. The meeting combined introductions with new participants, strengthening already-formed bonds within the youth community, and preparation for the approaching Rosh Hashanah. The start of the new season became for the project both a continuation of systematic educational work and the beginning of a new stage – in which regular participants will once again meet to study Jewish tradition, socialize, and jointly reflect on important questions, while those who have only just joined STARS will gradually become part of the project and the entire community.
Since new young men and women joined “DJCY-STL-STARS Dnipro” at the start of the new season, a significant portion of the first gathering was dedicated to participants getting to know one another. The organizers sought to ensure that this went beyond the usual introduction by name, helping to reveal shared interests, unexpected coincidences, and points of connection between people who may have previously had little contact. By completing various tasks, answering questions, moving between groups, and talking about personal interests, dreams, life experiences, and Jewish tradition, the participants expanded their usual circle of communication, while new participants from the very beginning joined the shared work of STARS – not as outside observers or “newcomers,” but as a full-fledged part of the youth community.
The second substantive part of the gathering was dedicated to the approaching Rosh Hashanah and one of the holiday’s most important symbols – the shofar. Participants reflected on the various meanings of its sound, including the shofar as a reminder of the Almighty as King, and at the same time as an opportunity for a person themselves to turn to Him with the words: “I am here. Hear me.” Thus, the theme of the shofar became a meaningful continuation of the first part of the gathering: having begun with the ability to hear another person, the participants moved on to reflections about the ability to hear oneself, and then to the special call carried by the sound of the shofar on the eve of Rosh Hashanah.
The first gathering outlined the main directions of the season now beginning for STARS – the study of Jewish tradition, meaningful connection, the expansion of the youth community, and the creation of a space in which new acquaintances become the foundation for further joint learning and participation in community life. The new season is only beginning, yet its very first gathering demonstrated the continuity of the program’s core principle: combining knowledge and tradition with the direct participation of young people, helping them not only learn more about Judaism but also become aware of their own place within the Jewish community.
“The start of a new season is always especially important for us, for it is precisely now that the circle of people is being formed who will study together, reflect, discover new meanings of Jewish tradition, and gradually get to know one another much more deeply,” said Chaya Maltseva, director of the project. “We want every young person who comes to ‘DJCY-STL-STARS Dnipro’ to understand from the very first gatherings that here they become not merely a participant in another educational program, but part of a great Jewish community. It is precisely this sense of belonging that helps us together build the future of the united and cohesive Jewish Community of Dnipro under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki.”
