Campus groups host festivities for country on Sunday

This year marks Israel’s 60th birthday, and this Sunday, students all around campus will have the chance to celebrate. Along with many other sponsors, Hoosiers for Israel and the Union Board are teaming up to host Israelpalooza 2008.\n“Israelpalooza 2008 will be an outdoor cultural block party including cultural music, Israeli food, a rock climbing wall, inflatable games, educational activities and more,” said Kim Kushner, program director for the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center.\nThe event will not only help educate the public, but will also help raise money for “Save a Child’s Heart,” Kushner said. Save a Child’s Heart, which is based out of Israel, provides pediatric heart surgery and follow-up care for children in Third World and developing countries, she said.\nBooths set up in the Indiana Memorial Union, the Arboretum and Gresham Food Court in Foster Quad will raise money by selling paper hearts for a dollar.\nA $100 voucher from STA Travel will be raffled off the day of the event. The tickets will be $5 for 10 tickets or a dollar per ticket, said Inna Kolesnikova, president for Hoosiers for Israel.\n“The money from this raffle will be given to ‘Save a Child’s Heart,’” Kolesnikova said.\nKolesnikova has been planning the event for months and although Israelpalooza has taken place in the past seven years, she said this will be the best one so far.\n“This is my legacy that I am leaving at IU,” Kolesnikova said. “This will be the biggest Israelpalooza yet.”\nThe family event hopes to bring the community together to learn about Israel in an interactive way. Dunn Meadow will be broken up into five distinct sections to represent different parts of Israel, Kushner said. The sections will include Tel Aviv, one of the largest metropolitan cities in Israel; Negev, the desert; Jerusalem, one of the holiest and oldest cities in the world; Eilat, a popular spa resort area in Israel; and Tzfat, the most artistic and spiritual area of Israel.\n“In each of these cities, we have planned theme programming to coincide with the history and culture of the area,” Kushner said.\nMany committees were involved in the planning of this event. One of the committees was formed by members of a one-credit class the Hillel center offers. Freshman Ari Ginsburg was involved in the planning of the event and spoke to resident assistants and student governments around campus. He hopes the entire campus shows up to the event.\n“I can’t wait to see the finished product of our hard work,” Ginsburg said. “It’s going to be amazing.” \nThis event is open to the community and people of all faiths are encouraged to come, Kolesnikova said. Israelpalooza is from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday in Dunn Meadow.\nIf it rains, Kushner said the event will move to the Flame room in the basement of the McNutt Quad center building.