Almaty Jewish club "Retro 7.40" has turned six years old. There were many interesting events during these years when we were growing up. And mostly important we became real friends. That's why we want to come to our club again and again for a long, long time!

For our birthday we have wrote a poem to the tune of the song "At the Black Sea" - "Life is always beautiful, no matter old you are or young. But every Wednesday we are going to the club, our favorite "Seven Forty".

During these years the club has expanded and many interesting and beautiful ladies joined the club. We are now so many that we can barely fit into our room. And this time we gathered to celebrate the birthday of the club and make a small tour into the past - recollect the most interesting events.

Our celebration was visited by our respected President of Mitzvah Association Alexander Baron and Director of Hesed "Polina" Inessa Chugainova. The Captain of the community warmly congratulated the participants and wished everyone new successes and creative achievements, while Inessa took pictures.

For all the six years we celebrated the Jewish holidays - Passover, Chanukah, Purim, and others, did not forget the holidays commonly celebrated in our society - New Year, March 8, Victory Day. And certainly, we celebrated birthdays of the club members constantly improving our celebration parties. Many sessions were devoted to getting acquainted with the history of the Jewish people, our traditions. Many members of our club, including Mila Turner, Irena Chernitsyna, Lubov Polumiskova, Lilly Shparberg, Lenina Matlina, Galina Lipker, Bella Eskin, told us about the wisdom of our ancestors, the great deeds and glorious heroes, including our contemporaries, the great deeds of King Solomon and King David, the unknown pages of the o"Silver Age" poetry related to Mira Lohovitskaya, Igor Severianin, Konstantin Balmont. We learned about poetess Elena Shirman, poet Semyon Knudson. And how many interesting new books we read after fascinating stories told by Lyubov Polumiskova!

With the Retro Club we visited together theaters, cinemas, museums, exhibitions, and galleries. Galina Bezrodnaya introduced us to the works of philosopher and artist Nicholay Rerikh and we went to see an exhibition of his paintings in the museum named after Kasteev. We were deeply impressed with the exposition of jeweler Faberge. We loved the exhibition of artist Sergei Kalmykov. And, of course, with great pleasure we watched performances of the visiting teams - a remarkable Jewish Theater from Moscow, artgroup "Turetsky Choir", an ensemble of Jewish song from Karaganda.

Here is a brief excursion into the history of "Retro 7.40". On the first anniversary we laid a festive table with dishes that symbolized the gifts of the harvest - "The palette of autumn". Irena Ivanovna Chernitsyna told about fifty Jewish kosher commandments and regulations of the fall Jewish holidays. She recited her poems which greatly added to the beauty and the flavor of the dishes. The "Jubilee Number 2" was simply celebrated by an ample and tasty meal, songs and dances. Birthday presents included the poetry greetings assigned personally to different club members. The third birthday was marked with KVN (humor show) when three teams went into an imaginary trip to Odessa, a Pioneer Country and Rio de Janeiro. In the fourth year we organized a song contest, entitled "Jewish Odessa", when our club singers successfully competed with the chorus of the family club "Shalom." We made sketches based on the well-known songs in the Odessa-style, including "Murka", "Haim and Raya," "Flashlight" and others. Last year, the fifth birthday, featured a large scale event with many warm greetings and a wonderful gift from Hesed - a three-day holiday in Resort "Kazakhstan". And now, at our sixth anniversary, we recollected and sang all our best musical and poetic "masterpieces" created by the club. And according to the tradition at the end of the feast, we sang with great inspiration the hilarious and heartfelt "Lechaim".

Ludmila Brodskaya