Students of St.-Petersburg Anglo-American School visit Grand Choral Synagogue
	Last week students of St.-Petersburg Anglo-American School, mostly children of English-speaking diplomatic officials and businessmen working in St.-Petersburg, visited the Grand Choral Synagogue as part of their religious studies program. After a guided tour around the Synagogue they asked a Jewish community representative a number of questions concerning Jewish religion and tradition. It turned out that English and American teenagers show most interest in such issues as Kosher food, circumcision, conversion into Judaism and… the afterlife. Despite differences in their nationality and religious views,
the children were equally impressed by the beauty of the Synagogue and the majesty of Jewish tradition.  After the visit some students sent their e-mails to the Synagogue to share their impressions and express their thanks: Robert Friesen I just wanted to send you a few messages from some of my students. We really enjoyed the visit to the synagogue. Thanks for your time. I'm Taavi Pdrnsalu, the boy who arranged the Synagogue trip. From my side I just want to say a GREAT THANK YOU. I'm so thankful that you had the time to talk to us and guide us. Thank you!!! Thank you for the interesting tour that you gave us. Even though on my mother's side, our family is Jewish, we don't practice the religion that much. And even though I think I know pretty much of Jewish history and practices, I learned much more that day. Thank you. David Benthe Thank you for the briefing of Jewish history and ceremonies in the beginning. I was happy to learn more about Judaism and its history. Also it was great to visit the main hall and see how beautiful it looked, our class got answers to the questions which we were looking for. Thank you!! With all the best, Eddie Oinonen Thank you so much for the special trip, I really enjoyed it. I'm really interested in Judaism and I had a really good time learning more stuff about it and converting. Thank you so much!! It was so much fun comparing my religion (Islam) with Judaism during the trip   Sanem Kocak Thank You for the hard work and in explaining to us about Jewish ceremonies and history. I know a lot more about Judaism. Thank you very much. Anthony Toptchi