There are many various ways of involvement into Jewish tradition. Some people deeply learn Jewish classical sources, others consider it is enough to celebrate Jewish holidays, another are fond of Jewish songs or are keen on Jewish cuisine.  But our library has introduced a very interesting way to get acquainted with Jewish tradition through symbolism. We live in the environment of symbols including Jewish ones but sometimes even do not have any idea what could they mean.  There are so many Jewish symbols around us. That is why we prepare a big cycle “Smalim” (“Symbols”) which will consist of 10 literary-musical programs.

The first program “ Symbolism of light in Judaism” took place in June 2006. Library readers, clients of Club, Day Centre and Family Club enjoyed it very much. They learnt a lot about polysemantic meaning of “light” in Jewish tradition, could hear poems and songs about Saturday and Hanukah candles, menorah.

We sincerely believe that our project will be very interesting and useful not only for the Jews of our city but also beyond its bounds.

Olga Fadeyeva   (Library manager)