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Thousands Come to see Maccabees in Florida

DELRAY BEACH, FL [CHI] — Maccabees, a live interactive Chanukah adventure, presented by Rabbi Shmuly Gutnick the director of Chabad Youth Network of Florida. Thousands of Children from all over Florida; Palm Beach, Broward and Miami –Dade came to see this amazing production, in which they went back in time to relive the miracle of Chanukah. All left in awe and had the most rocking time ever!

The excitement begins with each child receiving their very own maccabee costume consisting of a helmet, shield and sword. They then enter a time machine through a giant dreidel and spin back in time to ancient Judea. upon arriving in Judea they witness a dramatic scene as a few belligerent greek try and convince Jews to become Hellenists. The Jews stand by their belief and are then dragged to the pompous palace of the eveil king Antiochus.

The king rants and raves in an attempt to frighten the Jews into leaving the ways of the Torah and become Greeks. As the jews remain steadfast in their faith, the angry king declares that whoever refuses to obey him will be put to death. He orders his officers to take one Jew as an example and commands all to go to the marketplace to see what happens to someone who does not obey him.

In the marketplace the Jew is about to be put to his death, when Judah the Maccabee, along with his brothers Yochanan and Shimon, remarkably appear and fight the Greeks and lead the Jews through a forest and into a secret cave, where they teach them how to play dreidel to fool the greeks. They also learn a really fun dreidel song!

When the Greeks discover the Jews in the cave, everyone pretends to play dreiedel and it works! The greeks leave them alone. The Maccabees then fight and defeat the Greeks and reclaim the Holy Temple. The children help the Maccabees search for pure olive oil, with the seal of the kohan gadol and rekindle the lights of the menorah, which miraculously burned for eight days!

A great yasher koach to the Staff of Maccabees 08 for all their hard work and talent:

Sruli Richler, Mendy Weiss, Chaim Litvin, Avrohom Abrams, Levi Walton, Mendel Gutnick, Yehudah Cowan, Reuven Kiel, Dovid Russ and Shmuly Alburkerk.

A special thanks to:

Yisroel Bernath, Dovid Russ, Pinny Ginewisch, Zevi Steinhauser, Mendy Nagar, Mendy Browed, The Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, New York, who created this program two years ago, And Living Legacy in Montreal for all their help.

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15 Comments

  • an appreciateve fan

    Rabbi Litvin and Rabbi Weiss,

    The production looks fantastic! you did a great job! hope you were appreciated!

  • rabbi s

    wow beautiful all the rooms are amazing
    elephants, bridge, waterfall just wow
    amazing
    Chaim you are amazing keep up the good work.
    Mendy well done.
    I can’t belive you guys put this together in 3-4 weeks

  • Abrasha!

    Mendy do you mean i could have been in that show?!?! Man! I gotta tell ya! Anyway i think my show was better ….. if you know what i mean! Keep up the great work!

  • amazing!

    Rabbi Shmuly G. you rock! another incredible production! you and all your staff/actors did a phenomenal job!!!!

  • Corn flakes

    Yes any one that did not see this Maccabees never saw a Chabad production in there life time !!!
    Funny story The staff did a amazing job give them all credit for outing up with what they did

  • Can-t imagine...

    Unbelievable !!!! Great job and Mazal Tov KINGLIT!!!! WEISS you rocked! AYCEE – new meaning to talent, WELTON – as usual, you were awesome! G – well done!! Pity I had to leave after the first show…. May you all go from strength to strength..

  • Commentator

    Rabbi G – have you been frozen ch’v in that position since the kinus photo? OMG! I hope you get better!

  • Mat

    I went to the show, it was great. The guys there were just amazing, they just should not have done the Olive Press, Rabbi G. when did you stop rocking???

    But the show was great, the guys were great and I am happy I got to see it.

  • very involved

    it seems that nobody relizes what happened
    4 bochurim spent 1 month working 20 hr days to put this together the other 4 hrs they were out giving out flyers and getting people to come see the show then 3 more bochurim came and 1 had to leave and tought the story of chanuka to over 4000 people
    a special thankyou to Reuvan kiel and the others who dealt with the managment

  • fantaktic job!!!!!!!

    another job well done. It was an amazing show i loved it!! scenery was gorgouse!
    shmully g keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!
    keep rockin!!!!!!!!!!

  • bal harbour resident

    saw the show
    it was great
    1st class
    humorous
    great acting
    amazing props
    and backdrops
    it was a bit pricey but the guys made it worth it