Hundreds of Petersburg residents came to the “Jewish Book Day” event organized at the city synagogue this Sunday and purchased the entire stock of the exhibited books, publishers said. The book fair, which was part of the event, presented a variety of books, from children’s literature to religious and cultural materials by several Russian publishers of Jewish books, such as FJC’s Knizhniki, Gesharim and PJ Kids’ Library.

“Jewish book day is a very interesting and important event that attracts an wide audience of people, regardless of religion and nationality. Today, interest toward Jewish literature in Russia has grown tremendously, nurtured by intelligent, well-read individuals and parents, who want to graft a love of books in their children,” said Baruch Gorin, the director of Knizhniki publishing. “Petersburg residents have really amazed me – they bought an entire stock of books, went to all the lectures and showed tremendous interest in the subject.”

Besides the book fair the event’s program included lectures and workshops in a variety of subjects: “The Influence of Communist revolution on Jewish literature” by Petersburg Judaica center director Mr. Valery Dymshiz; “Jewish Books in Russian; What is Worth While and What’s Not” by. Baruch Gorin; “The Structure of the Torah Scroll” by Rabbi Zvi Pinsky. There was also a live demonstration of Hebrew sacred writing on parchment by a local scribe.

“I was really impressed by the event- so much interesting information, enticing lectures and, of course, a selection of amazing books which I can not wait to start reading,” said one of the event attendees, Inna Malysheva, a school teacher.

FJC’s Petersburg Jewish community organizes many popular events for the general public, the next one being the “Night of the Museums” in two weeks, during which the synagogue will stay open throughout the night and welcome visitors for tours, lectures and activities.