On November 26-27 a youth seminar on "Hanukah or Search for a Miracle" was held in the Resort "Energetic". At the lecture the guys were reminded of the history, traditions and customs of the holiday, and then were divided into two teams: "Fireflies" with Paulina Engel, Lera Gruzman, Adam Sakharov, Ghoshf Kurilov, Gleb Daerbaev, Sasha Tselovalnikov and "Shamash" with Sasha Bryansk, Sasha Barinskaya, Lisa Daerbaeva, Lisa Gelfenbuym, Katya Zhdanova, Dina Bektemirova, Volodya Tereshchuk. The teams made up Hanukah crosswords and guessed them. Both "Fireflies" and "Shamash" were able to answer all the questions.

In the evening, according to the tradition, the girls lit Shabbat candles, and Sasha Bryanskiy made Kiddush and told the weekly Torah chapter. After Shabbat the seminar continued to work with the text "Light Intensity" written by Isaac Bashevis-Zinger. First, we discussed what a miracle is. It is an unusual and surprising phenomenon that goes beyond our mind. Many would like to believe in miracles but as written in the Talmud: "We should never stand in a dangerous place, saying, "a miracle will happen to me" because it may not happen, but if it happens, the merit of such a person is reduced. The guys were reading in groups. One was reading aloud, and the rest were following the text.

This enabled the three-way interaction including speaking, listening, and seeing - all this ensured the groups’ full involvement in the learning process. After that, the guys were asked to find all the "wonderful" moments in the text and determine whether it was a miracle, a coincidence or the work of man? After the discussion the guys agreed that everything what happened to the heroes was the result of the candle power which David found miraculously. The seminar participants understood that they should not despair in the most desperate situations. There is always a solution.

The next day, despite of the rain, everybody was in high spirits and took part in the Hanukkah game. All divided into teams of the "Jews" and "Greeks". The team "Greeks" hid Hanukkah, and the team "Jews" had to catch all the "Greeks" first and then find the hidden Hanukkah. After that, the teams changed roles. It turned out that the most interesting in the game was to hide and find Hanukkah.

In addition to lessons on Hanukkah the participants were involved in psychological trainings including team building games, tests to identify the communicative and organizational skills, and to assess the level of reactive and personal anxiety.

The workshop gave the young representatives of the Jewish community not only the concept of miracle but the certainty that miracles can happen to them.

Irina Tveritneva