What a wonderful time is spring vacation. Children are free from school for ten days! The most active kids of our community gathered together. Thanks to our sponsors they visited a swimming pool accompanied by the Coordinator of Children’s Programs. The children had a great time there swimming, playing volley ball, visiting sauna, and drinking tea together. After the swimming pool, everybody was in a good mood, and pleasantly physically tired. Rustam Raitsinov, 12, said, "It was cool in the swimming pool. We were diving and it was a lot of fun. It is a pity we had little time. We would be happy to swim for the whole day!"

On Friday everybody came for children’s Kabbalat Shabbat in accordance with our traditions. Dima Almazov and Semen Guretskiy recited prayers for washing hands, on the bread and wine. There were children, new members of the community, who came to Shabbat for the first time. Everything was interesting to them. They tried to repeat after children the prayers and Shabbat songs and they were doing great. The kids liked Shabbat so much that they did not want to go home after the ceremony. They stayed for a long time talking to each other.

During the vacation we went to an orchard house. The children were really interested to see amazing plants gathered from all over the world. It was nice to see how the children tried to come up with names for the plants and animals in Hebrew. They tried to use their knowledge received at our Hebrew classes. Later at a drawing class, they drew what they had seen. Vacation coincided with Passover eve and children reflected the Passover topic in their drawings and handicrafts as well. Lyubov Horuzhaya, our drawing teacher, guided the guys in this work.

Our children love the singing classes conducted by the teacher Tatyana Falaleyeva. Everybody likes to sing the beautiful songs in Hebrew. Dima Almazov, "I like to sing very much. Through Jewish songs I learn the history of our people."

We continued classes of Hebrew even during the vacation. The teacher Olga Krasheninnikova makes each class a journey into communication in Hebrew unlocking the language secrets. The children are very enthusiastic about learning new things. It is even more interesting to learn the language because the lessons are closely connected with Israeli history and stories about modern Israel. The most active children at Hebrew classes are Kseniya Slavutskaya, Dima Almazov, Kristina Bugayeva, Katya Bushina.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Joint Committee for its continuous help and support. Only because of the sponsor’s care our children were not left on their own during the vacation. They had a great time together, did many useful things, learned Jewish traditions, and prepared for Passover.

Yuliya Soroka, Coordinator of Children’s Programs