Hatikvah Halloween

What does a pumpkin have in common with the Israeli national anthem? Well, both squash and hymn were the guests of honor at Moishe House Minsk, the evening of October 30th, a.k.a. “erev” Halloween.
Why? Well, in Russian, the word for pumpkin is "tikva," and the name is the Israeli national anthem is “Hatikvah,” or The Hope, in English. This fun linguistic coincidence was all we needed here at Moishe House Minsk to combine American Halloween traditions with some good old Zionist education!

Our guests arrived and were immediately greeted in the spirit of American trick-or-treating. First, they were offered candy and treats by yours truly, decked out in a dog costume I found in the Minsk Jewish Campus preschool toy box. That the costume was likely fashioned for a six year old did not stop me from wearing it with pride!

As guests proceeded towards the table of delectable sweets, a certain Star of David shaped light beckoned to them.
What could it be? Sure enough, the source of the emanation was our Jewish jack-o'-lantern; a “tikva” carved with “Hatikva” in mind.

After guests began to satisfy their sweet tooth, they sat down for an interactive presentation on the history of “Hatikva,” written by by Naftali Hertz Imber, a Zionist poet from Zloczow (formerly Galicia, now Ukraine) in 1877. We listened to two recordings of “Hatikva,” one sung by Ofra Haza, and the other sung by Abayudaya ("Jewish" in Lugandan) children in Uganda. Needless to say, the two versions provided an interesting contrast to one another. Those who knew the words sang along to both.

After the “Hatikva” segment of the evening was over, we watched the horror film, “The Reaping.”
Once all of our guests had left, Natasha and I were left with the remains of our dear Jewish jack-o'-lantern. After mourning its short but meaningful life, we made tikva soup.