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Girls in grades 3-6 line up for the sack race.

Carnival For A Cause

Young women organize event to raise funds
for Israeli bridal aid society.

Clockwise from far left: Rivky Waxenberg, 20, and Sarah Levin, 19, both of Oak Park,

are happy with the results of their carnival. Ettie Schottenstein and Aliza Shmulinsky,

both 6 and of Oak Park, devour their cotton candy. Dr. David Farhy and his family of

Southfield enjoy the game booths at the carnival. Yitzi Tainsky, 3, of Oak Park gets his

face painted by volunteer Rivka Snider of Southfield. Batsheva Sosne of Oak Park, 5, just

guessed how many chocolate chips were in the spoon of marshmallow fluff.

Susan Tawil
Special to the Jewish News

H

undreds of kids, parents and
grandparents turned out for an
afternoon of fun and games at
an Aug. 30 carnival, with all profits going
to Bayis Ne'eman, a bridal aid society in
Jerusalem that helps young women from
dysfunctional homes.
Former Beth Jacob classmates Sarah
Levin, 19, Yehudis Tawil, 20, and Rivky
Waxenberg, 20, organized the event. The
carnival included professional game
booths, a moon bounce, face painting,
wax hands, spin art, karaoke CD pro-
duction and contests like sack and egg

races. Clown Annabelle (volunteer Chana
Finman of Oak Park) twisted balloons into
animal shapes to the delight of kids.
Zishe Klainberg of Southfield grilled
hot dogs, while girls whipped up cotton
candy and served popcorn and sno cones.
The carnival was held in the parking lot of
Young Israel of Oak Park; food was super-
vised by the Detroit Council of Orthodox
Rabbis.
Yosef Greenberger of Cleveland provided
live music, ran the contests and helped the
boys belt out their songs to record their
CDs. Greenberger, a popular keyboardist
at many Detroit area weddings, drove in to
volunteer his time at the carnival as "a ges-
ture of hakaras hatov (appreciation)" and to

support the worthy cause.
Rivky Waxenberg, head of fundraising,
called local businesses to sponsor game
booths to help offset the costs.
"I'm thrilled that so many of our local
business owners jumped at the opportu-
nity to get involved. They, along with our
community members, made the event the
huge success that it was?'
The event raised $4,000.
"I gained a whole new appreciation of
what it means to be involved in our com-
munity, all the details that go into running
programs',' said Yehudis Tawil. "It was
inspiring. Everyone wanted to help out.
The best part was being at the carnival,
watching the event unfold. It was the most

amazing feeling."
Sarah Levin also was happy with the
results. "After all the effort that went into
it, it all pulled together and came out
great. We especially want to thank the
sponsors, all our friends who volunteered
at the booths and some very special peo-
ple — Phil Tewel of Jewel Kosher Catering,
keyboardist Yosef Greenberger, Rabbi
Michael Cohen and Jerry Eisen from
Young Israel, and Jeff Lazar, who gave us
so much of his time and advice!'
Sarah's proud mother, Joanne Levin
of Oak Park, said: "There's no limit to
the energy and exuberance of these girls
when it comes to doing chesed (acts of
loving kindness):' Il

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