The Jewish Unity Parades (Berlin, LA, Melbourne)

[Bela]

Berlin Hosts First-Ever Jewish Unity Parade http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/ ... Parade.htm
http://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/ ... Parade.htm
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=ar ... n&id=18726
By Joshua Runyan
May 3, 2010 1:30 PM



An estimated 1,500 people took part in what is widely-believed to be the city of Berlin's first-ever Jewish parade.

Marching alongside clowns, floats, elaborately-decorated vehicles, and drum-carrying children, attendees snaked their way through central Berlin, stopping at the city's Chabad-Lubavitch educational center for a street fair and carnival. Coming just a day after neo-Nazis held an illegal May Day demonstration at the same location as the parade's starting point, organizers emphasized the unifying nature of Sunday's Jewish event.

"The excitement was palpable," said Rabbi Shmuel Segal, program director at the Rohr Chabad Center. "Hundreds of people marched together in a display of unity and happiness."

Echoing similar parades elsewhere in the world, Berlin's festivities celebrated the springtime holiday of Lag B'Omer, which marks the passing of the second-century mystical sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.

It not only emphasized Jewish unity, but sought to educate people about Judaism and its traditions.

"Knowledge brings tolerance," said Rabbi Yehuda Tiechtel, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Berlin.

Jewish organizations throughout Berlin co-sponsored the parade, setting up booths along the parade's route at the Adenauerplatz transit stop.
The parade snaked through central Berlin before stopping at the city's Chabad-Lubavitch educational center for a street fair and carnival.

Among them were the Israeli Embassy, the Jewish National Fund, the Central Welfare Council of Jews in Germany and B'nai B'rith.

Udi Lehavi, who staffed the United Israel Appeal's booth, told the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, that he hoped the parade would help foster improved relations between the Jewish community and their German neighbors.

"Tolerance means for me to accept people as they are," he said. "They [should] also accept me as I am."

Rabbi Uri Gamson, who was visiting with his wife and son from Jerusalem, told JTA that the open celebration of Jewish life was historic for Berlin.

"In Israel, Germany represents everything bad," he said. "What's going on here is unbelievable."