About 550 men, women and children from the Chabad community in Lod participated last Saturday night in the “Special Audience” event held at the Municipal Culture Hall as a salute to children with special needs and their families, an emotional evening that brought tears to the eyes of all the participants in the hall.
The rabbi Rafael Korkus, The father of a special child invited the first of the speakers – the rabbi of the Chabad community in the city, the rabbi Baruch Boaz Yurkovich He spoke about the virtue of the precious souls who were clothed in physical bodies in this world, and how much it is our duty to give them equal treatment, along with warmth and love. At the end of his speech, the rabbi gave the special student David Leeson a five-star gift, and a moving video of the rabbi was shown in which he talks about the virtue of the special children.
Haim Rivkin, A father of a special child launched and unveiled the “Special Hour” project in which families from the community will adopt the special children for a weekly hour, as will be published later.
Mayor, Adv Yair Rabivo who was moved by the size of the class and the stage they gave to children with special needs said that this is the first event of its kind – which will become an annual event that the municipality will hold for the Chabad community in the city. Rabivo sang with the audience a song about the year of the ‘audience’ and the excitement was felt in the hall.
Also the mayor and holder of the education portfolio – Yossi Harosh, who participated in the event wished to wish the participants and organizers his blessing and added that the great investment surrounding the preparation of the conference is great, but in practice the result is even more worth it.
Singer Simcha Friedman – The resident of the city, who led the musical content, hosted the special children, their parents and siblings to sing together on stage, when the audience burst into applause and tears in their eyes. Before each family went on stage – a video was shown in which the family revealed the difficulty, the coping and the challenges in the daily upbringing of the special child and also shared what their request is from the community around them.
During the event, a mass musical drumming performance was held, in which illuminating, special and unifying energies were felt under the auspices and artistic management of Hani Malka. At the end of the event, all the families with the special children stood on the stage, and to the applause of the audience they received medals and trophies “We are a special family”.
The audience left with a feeling that cannot be described in words, with great excitement and a powerful and touching experience. The reactions were not long in coming when the families described how for the first time they were exposed to the struggles of their friends in the community, the neighborhood and work and how much they value and want to be partners. Needless to say, the empowerment and special powers received by the struggling families, when the face forward to act continues and joint action with the community.
She organized the event very successfully Ariela Yurkovich, The director of the Chabad community center who wanted to thank the partners in the work: the mayor Adv Yair Rabivo and his deputy Joseph hemlock, Director of the Culture Division – Orit Ofer, Director of the Social Integration Division – Orly dahandirector of the family center – Lior Samai, Director of the Torah Culture Department – Yael Rosenthal, CEO of the Lod Experience Network – Avi Gil, Director of the Culture Hall – Naomi is privileged as well as the Chabad community committee and the committee of parents of special children in Chabad.
