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The celebration will take place at Woodstock Jewish Congregation, 1682 Glasco Turnpike in Woodstock, from 1 to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 6.
The free public event will also feature native Israeli music, dance, storytelling, children’s activities and food.
It is sponsored by the Israel Advocacy Committee of the Jewish Federation of Ulster County and supported by every Ulster County synagogue and a synagogue in Catskill.
If it rains, the festival will be held inside Woodstock Jewish Congregation.
The jubilee also celebrates Israel’s accomplishments in the arts, sciences, agriculture and other fields of achievement. The “startup nation” is widely recognized as a major player in the fields of innovation, research and development and entrepreneurship.
“There is much about Israel to celebrate, and this joyous party will showcase Israel like you’ve never seen it before,” said Nathan Borsky, the Jewish Federation’s vice president for Israeli advocacy and one of the festival’s organizers. “I promise you, you won’t be bored."
Sunday's anniversary celebration will start at 1 p.m. with a special recognition of the soldiers and civilians who died in Israel’s 1948 establishment amid warfare, and during combat and terrorism in the years since.
This will be followed by high-energy singing of Israeli music, under the direction of Cantor Bob Cohen of Kingston’s Congregation Emanuel of the Hudson Valley.
Also participating in the two-hour songfest will be Rabbi Yael Romer of Congregation Emanuel, Rabbi Zoe Zak of Temple Israel of Catskill, Cantor Devorah Gartner of Kingston’s Congregation Ahavath Israel and singer-songwriter Marka Knight of Woodstock Jewish Congregation.
The multicultural Caravan Kids dance troupe, under the direction of Livia and Bill Vanaver of the Vanaver Caravan of New Paltz, will demonstrate and perform traditional and modern Israeli folk dances to rousing music from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The kids will also teach and lead festival-goers in those dances.
Throughout the afternoon, children and adults will be able to enjoy storytelling, interactive games and activities, culture, art and food.
At the festival’s giant Western Wall mural, attendees will be able to write prayers on slips of paper that will later be flown to Jerusalem and placed into the cracks of the original wall, dating from the first century B.C.
At the festival, the metal roses forged from artillery rockets fired into Israel were made by Israeli artist and blacksmith Yaron Bob, who lives in the small southern Israeli town of Yated.
He makes them as part of a project he started called “Rockets Into Roses.” He says he was inspired by the biblical passage, “They will beat their swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4). Many of the roses he made will be for sale.
In addition, Israeli artwork, ceremonial Judaica, Israeli jewelry, Israeli gifts and other handicrafts will be sold throughout the day.
For more information about the festival or to be a sponsor, call the Jewish Federation at 845-338-8131, write to coord@ucjf.org or visit www.ucjf.org.
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