Despite a rain shower early in the event, Fifth Annual Jewish Life Festival brought families, Penn State students and more together for food and entertainment Thursday night.
Hosted by Chabad , the event was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., and the Twins from France acting troupe came to the stage two and a half-hours later.
One twin began the performance by saying to the sparse audience: “Are you here? I don’t hear you! I don’t see you!”
Together the Twins mixed acrobatics, juggling, unicycling and audience participation to entertain the crowd.
Using members of the audience and themselves as a springboard to their act, the Twins did a dance routine together, flipped and jumped over each other and juggled together, among many other acts.
The twins did not stop there. One rode a unicycle with a child audience member while the other helped to keep the two balanced. This was after a few audience members rode the unicycle while the twins supported them. These performances were met with laughter as well as prompted cheering and clapping by the audience.
Music artist DeScibe followed the comical pair with a unique sound that drew passersby into the audience.
Earlier during the artist’s soundcheck, student Isaac Moyer was drawn to listen to the Caribbean and pop influenced singer.
“I was walking from Rec Hall and I heard a guitar cry all over the campus here,” Moyer (junior-kinesiology) said.
As soon as he heard the guitar, Moyer moved toward the HUB Lawn to hear the band.
As he performed for the crowd around 7:30 p.m., DeScribe sang with meaningful lyrics that described his life’s path.
“If you’re singing this song you knew all along that the world can be hard and we all must be strong” were among the song’s lyrics.
Outside of the performances, tables were set up with kosher hot dogs for participants, a scribe that would write participants names in Hebrew and more.
Chabad President Fabiana Goldszal said she hopes participants take away “the happy spirit of Judaism .”
Chabad Director Rabbi Nosson Meretsky echoed Goldszal’s sentiment.
“They should see that Jewish Life is a Festival, that there are all kinds of exciting things to experience in Jewish culture and Jewish Life,” Meretsky wrote in an email. “We try to presert all different aspects; food, music, performance, holidays, daily life and more!”
