A solemn conclusion to the latest season of the “Bnos Melech” (“Daughters of the King”) program took place in the Dnipro Jewish Community. The program is implemented for 5th and 6th-grade students of Machon “Chaya-Mushka,” the leading educational institution for girls of the Dnipro Jewish Community. The event, in the format of a gala dinner, was held in the informal education space on the 8th floor of the world’s largest Jewish center, “Menorah.”
For many years, the “Bnos Melech” program has been preparing Jewish girls for the most important stage of their coming of age – the conscious entry into Jewish adulthood and the beginning of active involvement in spreading the light of Yiddishkeit. Over the course of two years, the girls attend regular meetings, and through lessons, conversations, creative assignments, and joint projects, participants become acquainted with the values of the Torah and learn to see their purpose as future guardians of the Jewish family and Jewish tradition.
This year, the program was led by a young shlucha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, a recent graduate of Machon “Chaya-Mushka,” Morah Zivi Smilyanska. With the support of the Dnipro Jewish Community, she organized the gala dinner, which served as a ceremonial conclusion for the older girls and an important event for those moving on to the next year of the two-year preparation. The culmination of the evening was the ceremony honoring the program participants – the sixth-grade girls successfully completed the full cycle of study and were proclaimed true Jewish princesses with the status of “Bas Melech.” To mark this achievement, each girl received a beautiful tiara, symbolizing the path they had traversed, their spiritual growth, and their readiness to move to a new level of personal development. The fifth-grade participants received diplomas for completing the first year of the program and will continue their studies next year.
Two special workshops were organized for the girls. One was dedicated to creating fragrances, as scent brings joy to the soul and symbolizes the atmosphere that was present at every session, filling the girls’ souls with the true light of Yiddishkeit and inspiring them to reveal their Jewish potential, spiritual beauty, and modesty, and, like a fragrance, to fill the world around them with pleasantness. The second workshop was dedicated to etiquette and the culture of behavior. Its participants learned how a true “Bas Melech” – a “Daughter of the King” – should conduct herself, how to show respect for others, maintain dignity under any circumstances, and represent Jewish values through their actions and way of life.
“The conclusion of the latest ‘Bnos Melech’ season was not only a summary of the year’s work but also an important testament to how the Dnipro Jewish Community consistently invests strength, knowledge, and care in educating a new generation of Jewish girls – future wives and mothers who are destined to build strong Jewish families, raise children in the spirit of the Torah, and ensure the continuation of the rich spiritual tradition of the Jewish people,” noted Raizel Milman, Director of the Machon. “This is an important part of the educational mission entrusted to the ‘Bnos Melech’ program, which plays a special role in shaping the future of the united and cohesive Dnipro Jewish Community under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezki.”
