A day of unity and celebration

A SHUK, a sheshbesh competition and a variety of community stalls were just some of the offerings at the Magen David Adom (MDA) Unity Day Street Market on Sunday.

The St Kilda Town Hall was transformed into a vibrant Israeli street scene, with felafel and traditional street food, a Moroccan lounge, market stalls and Zooz Israeli dancing thrilling older and younger attendees alike. Face painting and henna art delighted many, while others danced away at the silent disco or enjoyed a massage.

Other entertainment included performances by the Mount Scopus Memorial College String Orchestra, the Yavneh Hebrew Music Ensemble, the Kim Factor School of Dance and the Letteine Polynesian Dance Group.

A raffle with a total prize pool of $11,000 was also drawn, with a top prize of two return business class tickets to Bangkok up for grabs.
Each entrant donated $5 which will go towards supporting the life-saving work of MDA in Israel.
More than 1500 community members attended the event which honoured the memories of Eyal Ifrach, Gil-ad Shaer and Naftali Fraenkel — the Israeli teenagers kidnapped and killed by Palestinian Hamas members on the West Bank of Israel in 2014.

The 18 days that extended from when the boys were kidnapped, until their bodies were found, were marked by an enormous sense of togetherness and hope which spread throughout Israel and Jewish communities worldwide. Despite their immense loss, the parents of the boys wished to capture that unity, and each year since then over 1.5 million people in over 26 countries participate in Unity Day.

“We’ve had such great feedback. It was just an amazing day which brought the community together to enjoy a fun afternoon of activities and market stalls while supporting and raising funds for Magen David Adom in Israel ,” enthused MDA Victoria chairman, Glynis Lipson.

“It would not have been possible without the many sponsors and volunteers,” she added.

AJN STAFF

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