catc,brdta

Making
MitZVOt

Come Alive

Esther Baila
Rothenberg, 17, of

Oak Park demon-

strates the

mitzvah of sitting

in a sukkah.

Darchei Torah
girls create
lavish vignettes
for shabbaton.

elebrating mitzvot took on a theatrical bent during
an inspirational, fun-filled shabbaton at Yeshivas
Darchei Torah Girls High School in Southfield Feb.
23-26. Girls from Scranton, Penn., South Bend, Ind., and
St. Louis, Mo., joined the YDT girls for the weekend.
Months of planning and weeks of preparation led to sets
and scenery that transformed the school auditorium into a
virtual world of mitzvot, including scenes that showed
Shabbat candle-lighting, challah baking, the wedding chup-
pah (canopy), sitting in a sukkah, visiting the sick and
more.
The vignettes were expertly assembled, including
authentic props and painted scenery that added dimension
to the individual illustrated mitzvot.
The girls also participated in workshops, panel discus-
sions and enjoyed a creative educational scavenger hunt in
Friendship Circle's Lifetown facility in West Bloomfield.
Darchei Torah students presented a choir, a choreo-
graphed dance and a video after Shabbat. Alumni and
members of the parent body joined the gathering.
In creating this tangible world of mitzvot, Darchei Torah
girls drew on their talents and abilities and, with the
encouragement and direction of staff and administration,
produced a memorable convention. Out-of-town partici-
pants and locals girls took home a stronger understanding,
love and dedication to the Torah commandments. ❑

C

— Keri Guten Cohen,

story development editor

Left: Esther Baila

Rothenberg pretends to pre-

pare challah.

Above, left: Tova Krakauer, 18, of Southfield at the scene that shows the mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles.

Above, right: Penina Kroll, 17, of Oak Park demonstrates the mitzvah of visiting those who are ill. Luckily, Rivky

Ross, 18, of Southfield is only pretending.

JN

CELEBRATE • 2006

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