Tuesday, July 9, 2013

First time ever Shabbaton for teenagers!!!!













For the first time ever, the Jewish Center of Ulyanovsk arranged a Shabbaton/Seminar for teenagers!!! 

The seminar took place the last weekend of June. 


The teenagers were greeted with beautiful welcoming kits as they arrived early Friday morning to the bus. (It included kosher sweets and the schedule). 


The long trip from Ulyanovsk to Tolyatti was utilized for lectures on Judaism. Rabbi Marozov explained to them the importance of living a Torah lifestyle, he spoke about the privilege and responsibility we have as Jews. He described the beauty of Shabbos through stories and parables, which made the trip very pleasant. 


Their first stop in Tolyatti was Go Carting! This sport is not available in Ulyanovsk so it was something new for every single one of these teens. They loved it! Afterwards we took a private boat ride along the great Volga River. 


As it was becoming closer to Shabbos, we arrived at our beautiful resort.The teenagers were extremely delighted with their accommodations! For most of them, this was their first Shabbat experience!


Rabbi Meir Fisher gave a class titled "Shabbat A to Z". Here they were taught everything about Shabbos in an hour. During Shabbos, they had workshops, lectures and even an "Ask the Rabbi" session! They had intellectual games and contests. Shabbat ends at 11:00 pm, so we used our extra time to have a Shabbos walk around the city. 


Saturday night the teenagers were treated to a grand Barbecue, with stories and songs.


We truly hope that this is only the beginning of many years for our new club "J-teen"! This club is designated to reach out to Jewish teenagers ages 13 - 16. This age group was mostly ignored since it does not fit into the traditional youth club or the children's Hebrew school. 


This Shabbaton in particular, and J-teen in general, is supported by the L.A. Pincus fund for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, Israel, the Ulyanovsk board of trustees, and the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, headed by Chief Rabbi Berl Lazar.  


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