concert in the par
•

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff Wruiter

IV

hen Rabbi Mendel Aisenbach suggest-
ed that the Bais Chabad of North Oak
Park/Friends of Refugees of Eastern
Europe (FREE) plan a concert, he
recalls the response of the organization's director.
Rabbi Yosef Mishulovin of the Southfield-based
FREE told Rabbi Aisenbach his idea was a good
one, but then asked, "Do you want to do it?"
Rabbi Aisenbach, originally from Montreal, has
spent the last several years studying in New York
with Rabbis Mendel Gotlieb of Brooklyn and
Yaakov Schnider, a former Soviet citizen now of
Jerusalem. The three religious leaders are in
Michigan doing outreach work with new Americans
from the former Soviet Union. And on Aug. 16,
they did indeed arrange a concert in celebration of
the holiday of Tu b'Av (the 15th day of Av).
"It was a lesson from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, to
do something nice on that day," Rabbi Aisenbach
said, referring to Chabad's revered leader, the late
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Tu b'Av is a festival day that marks "the positive
climax to Tisha b' Av (the 9th day of Av)," explained
Rochel Kagan, program director of FREE.
Tisha b'Av "is when we reach our lowest point,"
she said of the fast day that commemorates several
tragic events occurring on that date in Jewish histo-
ry. These include the destruction of the First and
Second Temples in Jerusalem.
"On Tu b' Av, the moon is full, which is symbolic

9/1
2000

48

of the rebirth of the Jewish people,"
Kagan said. "It reminds us that even after
reaching the lowest point, there is
rebirth."
For the event, more than 300 guests
came to Charlotte Rothstein Park in Oak
Park to hear Ilya Kozadayev's lively
Yiddish and Hebrew keyboard music.
However, as Kagan notes, "This was
not your average,"outdoor summer con-
cert." The unique offerings at the park
included one
booth with a
demonstration
of how a
mezuza is cre-
ated and
another booth
where guests
could discover
their birth
date by the
Hebrew calen-
dar. Former
Russian the-
ater performer
Rabbi Moishe Khusid, the director of adult educa-
tion for FREE, offered remarks on the holiday.
Rabbi Aisenbach himself delighted the crowd by
balancing a fiery pole on his chin. The evening's
finale was the group's launching of colorful balloons,
each marked with the words "Moshiach is on the
way" in English and in Russian.

Clockwise from top:
The crowd joins together in launching balloons.

Rabbi Mendel Aisenbach of Montreal prepares to
balance fire for the crowd.

Stella Navlo, 9, and liana Beznosor, 10, both of
Oak Park, are careful not to let go of their soft
drinks or their balloons.

Under the leadership of Rabbi Mishulovin, FREE
addresses the spiritual needs of new Americans in
the Detroit-area.
Holding regular Shabbat and holiday services in
the Jewish Community Center's JPM building in
Oak Park, the organization accommodates Yiddish
and Russian speakers, offers b'nai mitzvah, Hebrew
school and family programs. ❑

