Holiday barbecue for Jewish community

Goshen —Chabad of Mid Hudson Valley invites the Jewish community to join its annual “Lag Ba’omer Bonfire and Bar” bequest celebration on Tuesday, May 16, at 5:30 p.m. on the grounds of the Chabad Lubavitch Center, located at 63 Vassar Rd. in Poughkeepsie. The annual holiday event will feature a kosher barbecue offering hamburgers, hot dogs with a vegetarian option, corn-on-the-cob, salads, drinks, cotton candy, and roasted marshmallows. The program includes a special show featuring a comedy routine, “Juggling and Fire,” with R.J. Lewis, who has also performed on Broadway, Atlantic City, and at the White House. There will also be an interactive archery demonstration for children and adults, fire juggling, a moonwalk ride, music, and singing around the bonfire with roasted marshmallows. Admission is $8 and reservations are requested by calling Chabad at 463-5801 or e-mail at chabadmidhudsonvly@prodigy.net. Lag Ba’omer is the day when the great Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the famous book of Kabbalah, the Zohar, died. Before his death, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai asked that the day of his passing should be celebrated as a day of great rejoicing among Jews for all generations. Each year all around the world, Jews gather in parks to share bonfires, barbecues, and play with bows and arrows, and other outdoor fun.