Book is our life. Books give us hope for tomorrow day. Namely books keep the whole tragical way of our nation, and exactly due to books we can see a light at the end of a tunnel at the hardest time of our life.

   That's why Jewish Book Community Festival became one of the most important events of the year for Pavlodar citizens. This year OFEK was started on August 2. The opening ceremony of the festival was held in a house-museum of Naum Shafer.

   Several months running festival had been gladdening the city with its exhibitions, recitals, concerts. The brightest festival meetings for the community members and Pavlodar citizens were the following: a literary hall "Letters from that place. Or our people in Israel", a recital of Hanna Lobchenko "Looking into the past" - reading the diary of her tutor, a front-line soldier Lev Matzeilik, an evening in the Women's club "Female Characters in Tanache" and an exhibition "The people books in the world of books".

   Today Jewish Book Community Festival is a part of life of the whole republic, city, and community. So, a present for the close ceremony of OFEK-2004 had to become an even worth attention of the republic, city and a community as well. A wonderful musical play "Mishpaha" that was held in the first week of winter, gave Pavlodar citizens a lot of pleasant moments. Guests of the holiday were the representatives of Karaganda Hesed "Miriam": Bella Kamenetskaya Arkadievna, a Hesed director and Irina Kozhanovskaya, a director of "Shemesh" community center.

Tveritneva Irina