After waking the crowd out of its trance with a duet, sung by Jody and Alyosha in Hebrew, Claudia took her turn behind the piano. For eight minutes, she allowed her fingers to lead, giving us a glimpse into her world and beauty. With no music sheets or practice, Claudia has a real gift of playing what she feels.
The concert ended in rejoicing as Alyosha played Hava Nagilla. Taking a simple song and making it into a complicated rhapsody, Alyosha has transformed one of the most well-known Hebrew songs into a piece that tells the journey of the Jewish people, from shackles to freedom.
With the literal meaning of the song being, let’s rejoice, the room came alive in rejoicing and thanksgiving. Unable to help themselves, everyone’s dancing feet started moving to the famous beat, some becoming so swept away that they joined each other at the front of the room to spin and waltz.
“We are alive because our God is alive. Just like it says in the song, Am Israel Chai, ‘The nation of Israel lives, the people of Israel live, our God lives.’” – Alyosha (with lyrics from Am Israel Chai)
Lunch was served with the help of our American guests and our ever loyal volunteers, Jola and Lilia. It was a touching afternoon that also opened the eyes of our guests, one exclaiming that his favorite part of the event was listening to Jody’s speech at the beginning and seeing how the survivors were thankful and rejoicing even though their childhoods were stolen from them.
Before the bus arrived, a survivor stood to share her story: Born in Moscow, the War began when she was three years old. All women and children in her community were separated from the men and taken to the Far East. Called Moscow-ites and having to trade vodka for food, life was not easy. Anti-Semitism came into the town they were living in the form of injured Russians coming out of battle. When they were allowed to return home, her father was drafted into the Russian army as a de-miner. He died at the age of sixty.
The survivor’s story was emotional, but she was very brave to open up to the group. There are many other stories like hers, and it’s events like the Shalom House that gives the survivors a chance to have their voices heard.
The bus came too soon! After taking a group picture, we said goodbye to the survivors, sending with them our best wishes and love. A big thank you to Bozena Gasiorowski for hosting the event, Holocaust Survivors Hedera and their leader Zola for joining HHC; Jeff and Carol for bringing their group to participate in the afternoon; Jody & Alyosha Ryabinov and Claudia for sharing their serving hearts and music with the group; and everyone else who was involved in making the day so special!
by Hannah - from Helping Hands Coalition
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AGAIN, WE SEND OUR LOVE TO YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR SENDING US TO THE NATIONS AND TO THOSE IN NEED HERE IN ISRAEL. IF YOU COME TO ISRAEL PLEASE JOIN US FOR OUR TUESDAY HOME GATHERINGS AT 7 PM AND WE DO SPECIAL CONCERTS FOR TOUR GROUPS AS WELL. AGAIN, WE WARMLY WELCOME YOU! 💕 IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN JOINING A SEMINAR HERE IN ISRAEL, OR THIS SUMMER IN GERMANY TAUGHT BY ALYOSHA. PLEASE DO WRITE TO US FOR DETAILS!