NEAT Chagiga

Whew! What a packed, inspiring Hanukkah it has been for the New England Academy of Torah. On Tuesday December 3, more than 100 women and girls attended the annual NEAT Chagiga (Celebration) in celebration of Hanukkah. The evening began with beautiful words of Torah from 11th grader Tzippy Berkowitz and Chagiga advisor Mrs. Tzippy Scheinerman. Everyone clutched their passports in their hands as they sat and listened, since the theme was “Around the World in 8 Days”, all of those who attended were “tourists.”

Following the words of Torah, a fabulous and cute video entitled “Miracles” from New York Boys Choir was shown to help everyone catch the spirit. As for the choir that followed, I certainly hope it was pretty and pleasant, but I can’t comment on it since I was a member. All of our tourists then began to walk around the room, stopping at all of the colorful and fun tables to do varied activities. Each table represented a different country, and there were – eight tables!

The activities at each table related to a country. For example, Greece served Greek salad. At each table, our tourists earned a sticker for their passports and everyone who earned eight stickers got a cute country pin. There was also a raffle for all of the participants and Shifra Bracha Purec was the grand prize winner. Mazal tov! Our final activity was an amazing and spirited holiday dancing!