FJC’s 124 ‘Or Avner’ educational institutions,  schools and kindergartens throughout the FSU celebrated this week the end of the school year. For hundreds of graduates it means a bittersweet farewell to the warm Or Avner family, as they begin a major new step in life, while for the remaining 6,800 pupils the occasion joyously marks their achievements throughout the year and, of course, the beginning of summer vacation and camps.

From Tajikistan to Belarus, the end of the year was celebrated with concerts and festive ceremonies. The rabbis of the communities also came to the schools to congratulate  the graduates and wish them luck. “The atmosphere was warm, kind, loving and a little sad, as we said good-buys to our graduates. They promised to come and visit often, and be an example for the other pupils,” says Elena Nikitina, the director of Or Avner school in Volgograd, Russia.

Or Avner is the FJC’s network of educational institutions that incorporate Jewish studies and general curriculum. From kindergartens to high schools and University, the network accounts 124 establishments in 10 FSU countries.