By Sarah Bendetsky

On 24 March, over 140 people attended the Russian Purim Carnival hosted by Subbotnik, Kangarusski and the Australian Forum for Russian Speaking Jewry.

Participants enjoyed a vibrant masquerade, a delicious Russian-cuisine inspired dinner, a Purim Spiel, and a concert by Absolute Simcha band, as well as listening to Megillat Esther and packing shalach manot gifts for each other.

So too, children and children at heart loved face painting, arts and crafts activities by Betar madrichim, photo booth fun and the best-dressed contest with great prizes.

As most of the Subbotnik events, the Carnival was organised by a group of volunteers who shopped, cooked, entertained the crowd and marked one of the happiest Jewish holidays as one family.

“We are blessed to have so many generous people in our community who contributed their time and talents to make our function a success,” said Sarah Bendetsky, Co-Founder of Subbotnik. “Our local volunteers helped to shop, cook and bake, decorate the venue and set the tables while we also had volunteers in Israel who sent us beautiful megillot and graggers just in time for our event. It’s heart-warming to see that less than a year since the Subbotnik’s launch close to a thousand people participated in our events and celebrations. We would never be able to achieve that without the support of our community.”

To find out more about Subbotnik visit the Subbotnik Facebook page.