Between the 29th of September and the 1st of October, 2007, on the occasion of the Sukkot (Festival of Tabernacles), The Romanian Cultural Institute in Tel Aviv organized the Festival The 17th Sheep. Romanian Nights in Old Jaffa, in partnership with The Romanian Peasant's Museum and The Tel Aviv – Old Jaffa City Hall.
The theme of the Festival was "The peasant and his sheep", the goal being to represent the significant details of the Romanian peasants' life as accurate as possible, in association with the elements corresponding to the local communities in Israel – the sheppard in the Jewish and the Muslim traditions. The title of the Festival refferes to a well known song for children, "The 16th Sheep", by Yonatan Gefen.
The program started on Saturday, the 29th of September, with the Opening of the exhibition "The 17th Sheep", hosted by the Old Jaffa Museum of Antiques.
The Opening will be followed, on the 30th of September and the 1st of October, in the Kikar Square and the forecourt of St. Peter's Church, Old Jaffa, by workshops for children (ceramics, drawing, painting, clay mould, helium balloons), concerts performed by Einuea, Lapuşnicu Mare Fanfare, Ardealul Group, Iza Group, Nightlosers and an art fair presenting handicrafts and traditional Romanian food.
A serious game was proposed to the public in Tel Aviv: shepherding (with an accent on the masculine side), and wool handicrafts (with an accent on the feminine side). The hard and dangerous path of the sheep herd and the symbolic path of the ply as the life thread were presented as two parallel readings.
