Far East Jewish Youth Club Marks 5 Years of Activity

Federation of Jewish Communities ^ | Friday, June 10 2005

[jb6]

BIROBIDJAN, Russia – Members of the 'Chaverim' Youth Club, run by the 'Freud' Jewish Community of Birobidjan, has marked the club's fifth anniversary by launching a unique exhibition comprising photos taken by numerous previous guests of the community.

"Practically all travelers include the Jewish community in their list of sites to visit in Birobidjan," explained Eduard Tiraspolsky, the Chairman of the Youth Club. "My friends and I always ask them to share their impressions from their visit in our guest book". Their pictures and words, some of which are humorous, constituted the major part of this exhibition. Another section of the gallery features photographs of communal festivities and outings jointly held between the local community and the 'Chaverim' Club.

A great deal of the activities organized by local youth and students were outside the scope of this exhibition. Club members put great effort into maintaining the old Jewish cemetery, which contains the graves of the city's founders, as well as those persons whose relatives now live abroad. The Youth Club has also been active, since its very inception, in providing care and support to orphans at local boarding schools. As well, every member of 'Chaverim' volunteers their time to assist elderly Jews participating in the programs run by 'Chesed'.

Next year, the club has a lot of interesting educational programs in store thanks to the financial support of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia.