Chabad Synagogues and Centers of Westchester County are coming together to welcome families of all backgrounds and faiths to the Jewish Family Festival, an event celebrating Jewish life in the leadup to Passover. The event takes place at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 2, at Ridge Hill on the South Lawn in Yonkers, New York and is free of charge.

 

The project, dubbed “Jewish Family Festival,” is a joint project of the combined Chabad centers of Westchester and the Bronx, a group of organizations that empower Jews of all walks of life to come together to celebrate their heritage.

 

Passover, this year beginning at sundown on April 5 and concluding at nightfall on April 13, will be celebrated by Westchester’s Jewish community, and in the lead-up to what is the most observed Jewish holiday in America, the community is invited to come together. The event’s focus will be on the Year of Hakhel or “Gathering,” marked with Jewish gatherings focused on unity, Torah learning and practice.

 

“As the Jewish community prepares to mark the Festival of our Freedom, we’re looking forward to welcoming the community to join us in celebration,” said Rabbi Levi Groner, co-director of Chabad of Pelham, one of the Chabad centers collaborating on the event. “Our goal is to lower the barriers to Jewish engagement and ensure everyone feels welcome and included, and has the opportunities and resources they need to celebrate the holiday.”

 

According to its organizers, the Jewish Family Festival draws inspiration from the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, who as part of a global Passover campaign that began in 1954, launched the Shmurah Matzah initiative to create awareness and promote observance of the holiday.

 

Participants will enjoy family fun for all ages in the form of carnival games and interactive activities, Passover themed arts and crafts and an electric concert from popular Jewish band “Pumpidisa” as a perfect start to getting into the Passover spirit in a way of inclusion and awareness.

 

For more information about Jewish Family Festival at Chabad of Westchester County, visit jewishfamilyfestival.org.