For the celebration of Hanukkah-5786, the Levi-Yitzhak Schneerson Jewish Lyceum No. 144, the leading educational institution of the Jewish community of Dnipro, prepared a large performance with a creative adaptation of the motifs of a series of popular novels about the adventures of the young wizard Harry and his friends, filling its version with Jewish meanings and values.
The performance, which was shown on the fourth day of Hanukkah in the Sinai Hall of the world’s largest Jewish center, Menorah, was called “Harry Potterman and the Enchanted Hanukkah” and was built as a Hanukkah story in the world of “Jewish Hogwarts”, where magic is directly identified with light, faith, knowledge, unity and good deeds. All the characters received recognizable Jewish images, and some surnames even began to sound with a national flavor. Hogwarts is preparing for Hanukkah, but the heroes are opposed by dark forces led by Voldemort, who seek to destroy the light of Hanukkah by turning the Hanukkah into an ordinary teapot. The driving force of the plot is the search for eight Hanukkah candles, each of which is obtained through a separate test related to the values of Hanukkah.
The play begins in semi-darkness to the music from “Harry Potter”, and a voice-over introduces the key idea: this is a special version of the story, where Harry Potter is a Jewish boy Harry Potterman, who enters the Jewish Hogwarts – the school of magic and sorcery. One of the first stages was the scene with the “Sorting Hat”, which set the general rhythm of the play and distributed the characters according to their faculties, and in the play of the Jewish Lyceum this distribution is completely different than in the original, which is extremely important for the idea of ”Ahdus” – the unity of different faculties for the sake of a common victory over evil. This scene is associated with the idea of the “arba minim” – four types of plants, and therefore Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood end up in Hufflepuff, Ron and Ginny Weasley go to Ravenclaw, and only Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Neville Longbottom go to study in their former school.
As soon as the professors and students of Hogwarts begin to prepare for Hanukkah, and the Hanukkah lamp is brought into the hall to the sounds of the song “My Hanukkah” performed by the 5th year, a sharp contrast occurs immediately after it ends: from the darkness comes the ominous voice of Voldemort, declaring that he has bewitched the Hanukkah, and the light will no longer come.
Then the action unfolded as a series of tests and numbers, in which students from different classes of the lyceum participated. The 2nd class presented its bright musical number, which was later joined by the 6th class, strengthening the feeling of heredity and joint team play. A separate expressive episode was the song of the 4th class, organically incorporated into the plot of the search for light.
A special place in the performance was occupied by interactive scenes, thanks to which the auditorium ceased to be just a hall. Together with the heroes, children and adults searched for Dobby’s lost socks, actively responding to the events on stage, and during one of the tests, inflatable balls flew into the hall, transforming the entire Sinai hall into a space of joint play and joy.
The trials followed one another, the Quidditch scene became a metaphor for teamwork and mutual support, the Potions and Library episodes emphasized the importance of knowledge and memory, and the broomstick dance added dynamics and visual drive. Gradually, candle by candle, the Hanukkah light returned, not through magic, but through unity, friendship, and a common goal.
The climax of the performance and the expression of its key meanings was the scene of the unity of the faculties, which presented its most important messages: the light is not divided by faculties, the Maccabees won thanks to unity, ahdus is more important than differences, and only by becoming united and united can we return the light of the Hanukkah lights to this world and overcome spiritual darkness.
The finale of the performance was the joint song “Everything is Brighter”, performed in karaoke format, when the audience and the stage united in one sound, finally capturing the main message of the evening: light conquers darkness when we are together.
The Jewish community of Dnipro thanks all the teachers, students, and organizers who prepared this bright and inspiring performance, which became one of the most important events of the celebration of Hanukkah-5786 in the united and united Jewish community of Dnipro under the leadership of Chief Rabbi Shmuel Kaminezky.
