Jewish Bulgarians Get First Taste of Holidays in Varna

VARNA, Bulgaria — It’s one thing to talk about the Jewish holidays. But to actually experience them the way they were meant to be celebrated is like nothing else in the world.

Just ask Martin Michaelov, who this fall ate inside the very first sukkah to be erected in modern memory in his hometown of Varna, Bulgaria. Sure, the 29-year-old and other members of the local Jewish community had talked about the temporary hut that is a fixture of Sukkot celebrations around the world, but they had never before put one up.

But then Rabbi Yossi and Miri Halprin arrived to take a seasonal Chabad-Lubavitch center used primarily for the summer months by Israeli backpackers, and start providing weekly classes and holiday services for the local population. Halprin built the sukkah with the cooperation of the local Jewish community, directed by Oleg Kalderon, in the courtyard of its center.

“Before, everything was more symbolic, simpler,” said Michaelov. “We didn’t even have a sukkah. This year, we were able to have the holiday as it was meant to be.”

According to Yossi Halprin, the celebration was a first not only for Michaelov’s generation, but for many of the 70-somethings in the community.

“Everything was according to tradition,” said Michaelov. “We’re so happy that he came.”

The key, noted the resident, is the face-to-face interaction that the Halprins bring.

“Yes, there’s Internet,” explained Michaelov. “But it is something different when a person tells you about Judaism.”
Rabbi Yossi Halprin leads a holiday celebration in a sukkah in Varna.

The Halprins arrived with their four children four months ago. They’re currently planning events for the eight-day holiday of Chanukah, which begins Dec. 1.

“Everything here is for the first time,” said the rabbi.

All told, 100 people came for Sukkot celebrations; 250 attended services two weeks earlier for the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah.

At an afternoon New Year’s meal, an older couple from S. Petersburg, Russia, came in asking for the traditional apples and honey, said the rabbi.

“I gave them the apples and honey and told them to repeat the proper blessing after me,” related Halprin. “When I reached G-d’s name, the woman shouted in Russian, ‘I remember!’ ”

At that moment, the woman suddenly shouted out the six beginning words of the Shema, a prayer proclaiming G-d’s unity taught to the youngest of children.

“Everyone was emotional,” said the rabbi. “I know we will all remember this woman.”

Article Continued (Chabad.org)