Petah Tikva, local shuls partner for Yom Ha’atzmaut

Jonah Oziel, left, and Noah Benarroch celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut at Petah Tikva. SHERI SHEFA PHOTO

TORONTO — For Petah Tikva Anshe Castilla Congregation, this year’s Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration – which was organized in partnership with a number of other North York shuls – was bigger than ever.

Jack Benaim, co-chair of the April 23 event, which included a heated tent with a petting zoo, camels, live entertainment, a barbecue dinner, and more, said one of the main goals was to make the celebration a community-wide event.

Although there have been Yom Ha’atzmaut events organized at Petah Tikva in the past, Benaim guessed that there hasn’t been an event to this scale in at least 20 years.

One of the main differences from last year’s event is the inclusion of music. Benaim explained that last year, the leadership was concerned about playing music during the Omer (the quasi-mourning period between Pesach and Shavuot), which is forbidden, but this year, they agreed to add Israeli music to the festivities.

Petah Tikva vice-president and event organizer Jacob Benarroch said that in the past, the shul has always held a ceremony to commemorate Yom Ha’atzmaut, but hasn’t hosted a party on this scale in recent memory.

“Last year, there was a carnival – there was a barbecue, there was a photo booth and kids activities, but no music and not in partnership with other shuls,” Benarroch said.

“This year we wanted to make it a community event, so we reached out to multiple Moroccan shuls in the area and two – Magen David [Sephardic Congregation] and Tiferet [Israel Congregation] – partnered up with us, so that was something new. It doesn’t happen often that we have these kinds of events that are run by multiple synagogues.”

Benaim added that this event was also the first time that Petah Tikvah partnered with Beth David B’nai Israel Beth Am Synagogue, a Conservative shul located west of Petah Tikva.

While Beth David had its own event with live music, a DJ and catered food, the two congregations came together at the end of the evening in Beth David’s large parking lot for an impressive professional fireworks display.

Cari Kozierok Bahar, Beth David’s executive director, said that in the past, many shuls in North York didn’t plan huge celebrations for Yom Ha’atzmaut, because there was an event held at the JCC on Bathurst Street, north of Sheppard Avenue.

“For us, it used to be that everyone went to the JCC and participated in the UJA event, but now, they moved it so far north,” she said, referring to UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Yom Ha’atzmaut event at the Lebovic Jewish Community Campus in Vaughan.

“Having a program like this, we felt was a good way of creating something in our neighbourhood so that we could celebrate in a big way, the way it should be done,” she said.

Benarroch said he was committed to organizing an event that would give the kids in the community a way to celebrate the State of Israel.

“While my kids go to [Joe Dwek Ohr HaEmet Sephardic School] and will learn about the impact of Yom Ha’atzmaut there, I think it is important that kids realize the miracle that is the State of Israel and what it means for us as Jews and the security we have because of it,” he said.

“The same way that we celebrate Purim with a huge carnival and the kids associate Purim with something fun, I want them to have that same association with the creation of the State of Israel and know that it is something important and something they can look forward to every year celebrating it. For the kids, we want to ingrain it in them that the State of Israel is something to be proud of and it is a great occasion.”