Taraz Jewish Community within seven years carries out Community Festival of Jewish Book, which has turned to an annual holiday. Its realization became tradition in all countries, where live Jewish Diasporas, including Kazakhstan. Thanks to OFEK, wishing to join the Jewish literature from year to year becomes more and more. The festival is a perfect opportunity to find out about book novelties from Russia, Israel and to acquaint with a heritage of the Jewish people not only Jews, but all inhabitants of our multinational republic. And that is the great contribution to the Kazakhstan culture. The present year for a festival is especial - this year was 60 years of Independence of the State Israel. May 14, 1948 National Council led by David Ben-Gurion proclaimed creation of the Jewish state which had received the name Israel. Today it is one of the most advanced countries of the world. This year Community Festival of Jewish Book started in a village Merke. Just a part of the literature on Judaic, religion, Jewish traditions, and customs was exposed there. Gathered on a holiday have listened to the comments to the exposed literature, and also "Book kaleidoscope", devoted to the known Jewish writers, poets: Sholom-Aleikhem, Leon Feikhtvanger, Osip Mandelstamm, Eduard Bagritsky, Michael Svetlov, Boris Pasternak, Alexander Sobolev. With the great warmness was met the performance of the senior dancing group under the direction of Maria Koroleva.

Week after, library named after Auezov in Taraz met visitors and participants of OFEK - 2008. Just before opening of OFEK the members of community and guests of a festival could acquaint with the exposed part of fund of our library at JCC. Here both religious literature, and tradition, culture and history of the Jewish people, and fiction and, certainly, novelties sent to us from Almaty. This year "Book kaleidoscope" under the name "In the world of the Jewish book" began from presentation of the book of Dina Rubina "On the solar part of a street". Our volunteer and worker of library named after Auezov Ekaterina Zinchenko acquainted the students with the biography of the author. " Book kaleidoscope" was continued by Olga Berggolts, Victoria Tokareva, Viktor Dragunsky.

Finishing chord of literary part of a festival was "Children's page", devoted to creativity of the children's writer Samuel Marshak. On motives of well-known fairy tale, "Tower-room" the participants of drama circle under the direction of Alla Koroleva presented performance "Old fairy tale in a new way". The extensive program was not tiresome for the visitors of a festival, as every 20 - 30 minutes was diluted with dancing numbers in performance of group "Tamir".

This year there was much literary material and a final part of festival "Musical page" was transferred on the next day to a musical drawing room, which was conducted by Ludmila Kirshner - teacher of music in humanitarian college. Accompanying herself on a piano, she opened for all of us the world of magic music of Mendelson, Shopen, Mozart, Aginsky, Brusilovsky.

On these perfect sounds and finished the seventh Community Festival of Jewish Book. We hope, that within this year our library will be filled up with novelties of fiction of the Jewish authors and we will have with what to please the next year the visitors of a festival "OFEK - 2009".

Ida Bukina