Chanukah goes rural
Chabad of RARA will spread Chanukah light and joy in Jewish communities around our vast continent, with an impressive 21 celebrations planned.
CHABAD of RARA (Rural and Regional Australia) will spread Chanukah light and joy in Jewish communities around our vast continent, with an impressive 21 festival celebrations planned, from Cairns in tropical north Queensland to Jindabyne in the Australian Alps.
Co-director Rabbi Yossi Rodal said these regional events are always very poignant.
“At one of these tiny gatherings last year, in Jindabyne NSW, we all experienced a moment above time and place,” Rabbi Rodal said.
“Tina [a 91-year-old attendee] had been living as a Christian her whole life, and only a few months before had decided to explore her Jewish roots.
“As we lit the menorah and sang Ma’oz Tzur, tears streamed down her face, and she said the last time she’d heard that song was when she was 15 during World War II.
“This experience showed us clearly what Chanukah is all about – rekindling the small but powerful soul hidden within every Jew, no matter how long it may have been left dormant.”
The roaming rabbis of RARA will begin the Chanukah celebrations on December 25 in Darwin, Geelong and Cairns.
Jews in the Central Coast, the Dandenong Ranges, Narooma and Townsville will get their opportunity to partake in chanukiah lighting, singing, and eating doughnuts and latkes on December 26.
The Chanukah cheer will then head to Albury, Newcastle, Bowral and Mackay on December 27 and to Port Macquarie, Jindabyne, Coffs Harbour, Nowra and Airlie Beach on December 28.
The series will conclude on December 29 with Chanukah events in Wollongong, Toowoomba, the Blue Mountains and Port Douglas.
Rabbi Rodal said a fair bit of planning is involved in arranging so many events in far-flung locations within less than a week.
“It required a lot of logistics, manpower and, yes, a bit of craziness,” he said.
Rodal said a group of young rabbis will kick things off in Darwin and then make their way to NSW, visiting different locations every night.
Rabbi Ari Rubin and his wife Mushkie will be covering North Queensland, and Rabbi Rodal and his wife and RARA co-director Malki will begin in regional Victoria and finish in Wollongong.
Volunteers from the Beth Rivkah Ladies College school community in Melbourne will set out to the Southern Highlands, volunteers from Sydney will head to the Blue Mountains and a Melbourne couple will travel to Drouin to celebrate with its small Jewish population.
For more information, visit www.chabadofrara.org.
SHANE DESIATNIK
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