If you’re new here, welcome! The Asheville JCC is a busy place, and we have something for everyone! From our preschool, Shalom Children’s Center, to our Aquatics Center where we fulfill the Jewish commandment to teach our children to swim there is always opportunity to connect. We create community through our swim team, our water fitness classes and we offer programming to members of all ages and interests through groups like TAG (The Adult Group for those 50+) or YAJA (Young Adult Jews of Asheville) and so much more! Below are some photos from our programming during the Hanukkah season as we lived our mission every day to strengthen Jewish identity, celebrate Jewish culture, and build inclusive community.
A Week In Review:
The beautiful Hanukkah menorah in front of the JCC Main Building has lit up every night of this last week, bringing warmth and peace to our community as we packed our days and nights with togetherness, dancing, and celebration. We also took time to reflect on our world and community, sharing in critical discussions with one another about the current events and history that informs our work everyday.
During this special season, when the days are darkest, the miracle of Hanukkah can lift our spirits and bring us together in a variety of ways.
Our HanuKammunity dance featured beautiful music Asheville’s own Bandana Klezmer Band with dancing led by Yiddish Dance Master, Steve Weintraub. It included a community candle lighting that added a sparkle and warmth to the social hall while we danced the night away.
We hosted a Hanukkah party and community candle-lighting, with our wonderful musical host, Penny White and our Jewish Lifelong Engagement Director, Geri Garfinkel-Gershon. We did crafts, lit our menorahs and won homemade sufganiyot in our own version of musical chairs.
We created 35 Blessing Bags with Brunch B’yachad that will be distributed by Haywood Street Congregation to those in need during the winter.
We welcomed over 50 families to our Winter Photo Booth! These professional photos will be shared back to the families and individuals who participated at no cost and will become a display in our building to celebrate our vibrant community! Here are a couple sneak peeks!
We also shared Hanukkah cultural programming with students at 19 local area schools.
