The DJCY – STL teens – EnerJew program for Jewish teens, implemented by the Jewish community of Dnipro with the support of STL and Enerjew (a project of the JRNU Foundation), has been carefully preparing for the Jewish holidays of the month of Nissan for two weeks in a row.
“On the last Sunday of March, we were preparing for the birthday of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem-Mendel Schneerson,” says the program’s director and host, Beila Letichevska, “We discussed the Rebbe’s influence on changes in the life of the Jewish people and the world in general, and what actions and other activities he took to achieve this. Together we decided to give the Rebbe a birthday present, namely, to try not to eat hametz as much as we can this Pesach.”
Also at this meeting, the teenagers made a collage with Jewish quotes and photos symbolizing the mitzvot initiated by the Rebbe, and from now on this installation will decorate the room where the program meetings are held.
“The next Sunday we started preparing for Pesach as a holiday of our freedom,” continues Beila Letichevska, “We discussed how to clean the house properly and why it is important to sell the hametz on time and how to do it, as well as the importance of participating in the Seder and making sure that everyone will be at the Seder either in the community or in the family, and no one will be left out of the holiday.
This lesson also featured a thematic game called “Eighteen Minutes,” in which, as Beila Letichevska noted: “the children worked as one cohesive mechanism and had to complete the task in that time.” Everyone did well and received lottery flowers for a perfectly completed task, which later turned into prizes.
