On the last night of Chol Hamoed, over 70 college-aged students and young professionals gathered for an exciting Sukkos program. They enjoyed pizza, a competitive Sukkos contest, music, and socializing. For many of them this was their first time fulfilling the mitzvah of Lulav and Esrog and sitting in a Sukkah. Rabbi Chaim Danzinger shared a story of Sukkos and elaborated on the significance of this Yom Tov, encouraging everyone to become more involved in Judaism.

Some of these students joined us this past summer on our bi-annual Birthright (Taglit) trip to Israel, and are now proudly continuing their journey exploring their Jewish roots.

Over 60 Jewish seniors from our community gathered for a festive Sukkot meal and celebration in the community Sukkah. Rabbi Chaim Danzinger spoke about the meaning of the holiday and explained the significance of the lulav and etrog. Following that everyone made a blessing on the lulav and etrog and a wonderful meal was enjoyed by all. The Chesed community choir performed some Russian Jewish songs and everyone clapped and sang along.

On Chol Hamoed children from all around Rostov gathered for a fun sukkot party and fair. The program began in the communities Sukkah with snacks and drinks. The children all shook lulav and etrog and loaded onto busses to go to a nearby park for Sukkot arts and crafts, games and horseriding.

A few days before Rosh Hashanah the Jewish Day School ran a Rosh Hashanah fair coordinated by Kaila Danzinger. A local beekeeper came to make a presentation and to teach the students how honey is made. Then the kids participated in a shofar demo, made greeting cards for seniors in the community and made candy apples for the first time in their lives. They learned all about the meaning of Rosh Hashanah and the various customs and traditions associated with it.

On Rosh Hashanah day, aside from our main services attended by over 200 people, we also held a separate seniors event and meal for 80 seniors, as well as a kids program and shofar blowing with over 100 kids and parents in attendance.We held two separate Tashlich services at the Don River, a five minute walk from our Synagogue.

Between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we held a kaparot service. We invited a shochet from Volgograd (a city 500 kilometers away) who is also the local Rabbi there to come prepare the chickens so that we can have kosher chickens for Sukkot.

Over the past two months, we have been distributing food packages to needy children in Rostov-on-Don and the surrounding areas. The packages include chicken, fish, fruit, vegetables, baked goods and non-perishables. This project has been generously funded by the Keren Yedidut foundation headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein (IFCJ). To date over 200 packages have been distributed to needy children.

This initiative comes at a very critical time, as the current economic downturn has caused many people to lose their jobs. The average monthly salary is between $200-$400 which leaves many families struggling to make ends meet.

At our recent food distribution, a single mother noted that “if not for the Keren Yedidut packages we would not be able to celebrate Rosh Hashanah properly.”

Our community would like to thank Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and the Keren Yedidut for all their continuous support.

In August, 40 Jewish students from Rostov experienced the trip of a lifetime going to Israel on a 10 day Birthright trip (Taglit). This was the second time this year that such a group was sent from Rostov, and plans are already underway for an upcoming trip this winter.

It was an incredible experience for them! They visited Safed, Tiberias, the Dead Sea as well as many other cities… The highlight of their trip was a Shabbat spent in Jerusalem and their visit to the Western Wall. Most of them experienced Shabbat for the first time, and came back with a real sense of Jewish pride.

Since their arrival back in Rostov many have started attending Shabbat services Friday night and about 10 of them have joined our STARS Judaism course.

The school year at our Jewish Day School has gotten off to a great start with a wonderful celebration with all students and their families on September 1st. There were great Jewish-themed song and dance performances by all the classes. The new students entering first grade received a warm welcome and were given gift packages prepared by the oldest class.

Rabbi Danzinger spoke about the importance of Jewish traditions and about the upcoming high holidays. He then blew the shofar for everyone present.

It was a really wonderful event- you could see on the children’s faces how happy they were to be back at school!

We have just completed our very successful overnight camp which was located an hour and a half away from Rostov, on the banks of the Don River.  We had 126 campers in total from as far away as Siberia (50 hours north-east) and as near as Taganrog and of course our very own Rostov. For many of these children, camp is their only Jewish experience of the year, and is therefore of utmost importance.

Our counselors were all local graduates of our Stars program (a study program for Jewish students aged 18-26 with no prior knowledge  in Judaism, who attend classes twice a week in Shul).

Tisha B’av in camp was very memorable. A general class was given a few days prior to the fast day describing the history and customs of Tisha B’av. Following the lesson the oldest bunk decided on their own that they would like to fast and keep the customs of the day.

The Jewish Community of Rostov held a very special event in shul on May 9th commemorating Den Pobedi – Victory Day.

This holiday is especially important to the veterans and elders who fought in the war and remember the Russian victory over the Germans. Every year the Jewish veterans look forward to a special program held at the Shul to honor their courage and bravery. This year the veterans were treated to a festive dinner, a choir performance by our Chesed Organization volunteers, as well as a song and dance performance by a few students in the School.

Rabbi Chaim Danzinger congratulated them and expressed his admiration for remaining steadfast in their observance and belief in Judaism throughout all their hardships.

On Wednesday, Erev Pesach, we made a Birchas Hachama gathering (blessing of the sun) outside the shul, followed by a chametz burning ceremony. We had a very nice turnout considering it was during work hours.

The first night of Pesach we held a community Seder in shul packed to the max (230 people). At the same time, there was a second seder held downstairs for the elderly. The second night there was one seder catered towards children and their families which was very cute and kid-friendly. And as soon as it was finished, everything was cleared up and we started a second seder for college-aged kids. All the Sedorim turned out really beautiful….

Prior to Pesach we distributed 3.5 tons of Matzah as well as 1000 bottles of grape juice…