On Sunday, March 30 Children's Art Center visited Almaty synagogue. Rabbi Elhanan Kohen took them to one of the most fascinating trips in their life - a trip to the history of Pesach.

  The large hall was divided into sections. Rabbi Elhanan said a few words about the holiday and opened the door of the first room. There was a table with different foods, and children had to choose kosher food for Pesach. They began discussing the matter very actively, and if they could not come to an agreement, they asked rabbi Elhanan for help. Finally they made a table worth celebrating Pesach.

  The next section was little Moshe's room, where children had to find chametz. After consulting a little they told rabbi Elhanan than they needed a feather, a candle, and a paper bag. He smiled and suggested to start.

  What a naughty boy was Moshe! It was hard to believe that during a year he managed to turn his room to a real storehouse. Children found cookies, slices of cakes, and bits of cracknel everywhere - under the bed, in the wardrobe, in the pockets, and even under the mattress. In five minutes everything was gathered into the paper bag.

  In the next section the children saw a pile of dishes. It was only then that they finally understood what kind of dishes could be kashered and how laborious it was. But the holiday cannot be celebrated without it.

  Then rabbi Elhanan showed the children a kehara, and they repeated the foods that had to be found on it as well their symbolic meaning.

  Children were amazingly smart. They found the answers for all the puzzles. As encouragement rabbi Elhanan made dough for matzoh and offered the children to roll it out and bake it themselves. Oh, it was so delicious!

  The meeting was over too soon, as well as everything good is. Thanks to rabbi Elhanan the children will never forget the rules of celebrating Pesach!

Larissa Poltavskaya