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Yesterday, the first candle was lit at the Hanukkah holiday - one of the four great holidays of the Jewish people - Hanukkah - began. There is still a big community event ahead, when many clients of our Foundation, members of the community and guests will gather together to light the second candle on Hanukkah and celebrate the victory of good over evil, light over darkness. But now I would like to look back a week and remember the Hanukkah marathon that preceded this holiday.
In the period from December 19 to 23, employees of the Khmelnytskyi Charitable Foundation "Hesed Besht" together with volunteers of the "Community" network held a large-scale marathon in small communities of the Khmelnytskyi region. Territorially, it happened that in our region there are mini-communities remote from the center, which sometimes consist of one (the village of Stepenokovka or the village of Kalnaya) or several (the village of Vynkovtsi) Jews. The reason why people still live there is different for everyone. But for us, there are no differences between members of the community, and the mission of the Hesed Besht CBF clearly states: "Every Jew with our assistance must participate in the Hanukkah holiday." Therefore, all week before the lighting of the first candle, our employees and volunteers traveled around the region, visiting members of the Jewish community and giving them both the joy of fellowship and valuable gifts for the holiday.
The name of the marathon this year is: "Give the warmth of Hanukkah." Our clients received valuable warm things, such as a new blanket, an oil cooler, and warm bed linen. These things are intended for use and heating of the home. But along with this and the Hanukkah set, which includes juice and sweets, customers get something else. Many days before the marathon, our volunteers worked hard to knit socks and soft slippers, which are also given to people who are far from large Jewish communities. It is this that allows them to feel friendly help and care, even if they are not in the same settlement with the volunteers. Another feature of the marathon is that people themselves create warm things for themselves or for their loved ones. Regional development manager Halyna Atamanchuk conducts mini master classes on knitting scarves with groups of clients. For this, needles or special skills are not needed - threads and hands are enough to do everything. The technique was observed at Jewish seminars and it turned out to be very useful. During home visits, women in a few minutes create amazing scarves that are not only beautiful, but also very practical. Keep the creation for yourself or give it to someone - it's everyone's personal choice. The marathon will pass through 17 small settlements where only a few community representatives live in the Slavut, Izyaslav, Teofipol, Shepetovsk, Belogorsk, Derazhnyan, Polonsk, Vinkovets, Volochysk and Horodok districts.
Hanukkah is a family holiday, and no one from our big Jewish family will be left alone this time.
