Bochurim Bring Holiday To Life

By COLlive reporter

This year’s holiday of Lag BaOmer in the central Israeli city of Cholon will be one that local residents won’t forget.

Thanks to the ingenuity of a group of bochurim of the local Chabad Yeshiva, children and parents of all backgrounds got to celebrate the yartzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

In a city-wide effort organized by Boruch Ceitlin, a bochur in the Yeshiva, a creative program was held in 6 local schools bringing the story of the Rashbi to life. He was joined by Yitzchok Stell, Yossi Cohen, Mendel Shmotkin, Mendel Gurkov and Sholi Zlatapolski.

Students from each school were tasked with acting out an educational story-line that illustrated the importance of Ahavas Yisroel, genuine love for a fellow a Jew. An accumulative 1000 children were in attendance.

On Sunday, the day of Lag BaOmer itself, a crowd of 1,500 people gathered at the city’s main square in the Kiryat Sharet neighborhood, from where they marched holding Jewish themed signs to the Payis Park.

Accompanying them on the march of Kiddush Hashem was a magnificent float sporting life-size models of some of the 10 Mitzvah Campaigns initiated by the Rebbe.

Unique about this float hand crafted by the bochurim was that children were able to walk through the Tefillin boxes, climb up the Tzedakah box and pose for a photo in the Shabbos candle sticks.

Addressing the gathering at the park was Shliach Rabbi Dovid Gourary, Director of the Yeshiva, and his father, Cholon’s Chief Rabbi Yochanan Gourary. Children’s entertainer Shlomy and Stam gave a performance following the reading of the 12 Pesukim.

During the rally, a flight to New York was raffled off and participants were encouraged to sign up their sons and daughters in the Children’s Sefer Torah. An upshernish for a 3-year-old boy concluded a most memorable and educational day.