By Sarah Bendetsky

Volunteers from Subbotnik, a grassroots organisation bringing together Russian Jews in Australia, recently surprised the community. The organisation published its first Jewish calendar “infused with Russian memories” featuring an artistic tapestry of Soviet cities and their Jewish symbols.

Sarah Bendetsky, Subbotnik’s co-founder said, “We created this calendar to unite the Russian-speaking Jewish community throughout the times and generations. Each page of the calendar tells the story of a different city where our community came from. It’s filled with triggers from our shared past and serves as a great conversation-starter between parents, grandparents and kids, friends and neighbours.”

The calendar artwork was created by a talented Israeli artist, Ruslan Spivak. He researched the history of Soviet cities, including Kiev, Moscow, Minsk, Tashkent, Baku and Kishinev among others, to showcase the most recognisable sights and symbols as well as images of famous Jewish people and holiday candle lighting times for both Melbourne and Sydney.

Once the calendars were published, Subbotnik’s volunteers delivered over 600 calendars around Melbourne and Sydney to save on postage.

The response was overwhelming; the community absolutely loved the calendar and asked for more copies to be published.

For more information about Subbotnik, a grassroots organisation running events and projects for the Russian-speaking Jewish community in Australia, and to assist financially or by volunteering, please visit Subbotnik’s Facebook page, email info@subbotnik.org.au or call Sarah Bendetsky on +61468333770