Lag b’Omer burns with unity and pride

JEWISH pride will be on parade in Melbourne on Sunday, May 2 at the Lag b’Omer parade and fair hosted by Chabad Youth.

Complete with a marching band, stilt-walkers and inflatable floats, organisers are expecting people to line the streets of Caulfield to cheer the procession, before moving on to Princes Park for festivities.

“We want the whole community to participate and with that I don’t just mean the organisations, I mean the people,” Chabad Youth director Rabbi Moshe Kahn told The AJN.

“It’s really a day to show our Jewish pride, our faith, our heritage. We are one community united, we proud of who we are.”

Beginning at the Yeshivah Centre on Hotham Street, St Kilda East, the parade will continue along Inkerman Road to Orrong Road, where free buses will shuttle people to Caulfield South’s Princes Park for the fair. The theme of the parade is “Bereshit”, and Jewish schools and youth groups have already registered their floats.

Previously held in 2007 -— the last time Lag b’Omer fell on a Sunday -— the parade and festivities will also mark World Jewish Youth Day.

World Jewish Youth Day organiser Shimmy Weinbaum from Chabad Youth headquarters in New York said the notion of unity is an especially important lesson for children.

“On this day we strip away the layers of affiliations, backgrounds and nationalities. We discover our inherent oneness, and connect on a global level. That’s the message that needs to remain with our children,” he told The AJN from the US.

To be held on Sunday, May 2, the parade will kick off at 11am. Tickets are $10.

Enquiries: www.lagbomerparade.com.au

DALIA SABLE