A rare day of care free bliss is awaiting children from the Qassam rocket weary Negev region this Monday. Courtesy of Coalition of Centers for Deeping Jewish Identity, the Reut Center in Ramat Gan, and the Ramat Gan municipality, 400 children from Kibbutzim in the Eshkol and Shaar HaNegev Regional Councils will be treated to a day of Purim fun in the city, including a visit to Ramat Gan’s renowned Safari (Zoological Center Tel-Aviv).
The three aforementioned bodies joined forces in order to organize this event and show solidarity with the beleaguered residents of these Gaza vicinity communities.
This rare day of fun and leisure gives the children involved a much needed morale boost, as a well as a much needed reprieve form Qassam rocket attacks and Color Red alerts. It gives them a chance to prepare for Purim and learn about the holiday in an engaging and meaningful fashion, as well as to be ordinary children if even for a short while.
The day will begin for the children at The Russell Cultural Center, where they will watch the Purim play entitled “Ve-Nahafochu” or “Things were Reversed”. Is tells the story of a young girl who is somewhat of an outcast, and comes to learn through examining the Purim story in the Megila that things can indeed turn around when you least expect it.
The underlying meaning. Ve-Nahafochu (PR photo)
The play teaches children about the deep meaning underlying the Purim and how the holiday, and the values that it espouses, can be highly relevant to their lives even in our day and age.
The play is just one of many activities organized by the Coalition of Centers for Deeping Jewish Identity. The organization strives to strengthen solidarity and Jewish identity amongst various segments within the Israeli population, and to build bridges predominantly between religious and secular youth in Israel.
The organization operates under Ministry of Education supervision and is currently active in over 700 schools across the country, as well as in many after-school program and Kindergartens.