An article on Peoplesworld.org, "Celebration Condemns the Death Penalty," describes the event, which brought together "hundreds of revelers, young and old, who danced, weaving the traditional Jewish line and circle dances around the hall" and featured a megillah re-telling and music by The Klezmatics, folk singer Juan Avila, and King Django's Roots and Culture Band who played reggae with Yiddish lyrics.

Celebrations of traditional ethnic culture can often be narrow and emphasize the separateness of peoples from different backgrounds. This Purim celebration showed how cultural practices grounded in a particular community can be expanded to express solidarity.

The traditions represented by this Purim carnival called on the traditional religious culture of the Jewish people, but, perhaps more importantly, the more recent past when the Jewish community in New York City was the bedrock of progressive politics. By using Yiddish and focusing on the politics of opposing the death penalty, this event was truly faithful to those traditions.

Co-Sponsored by Workmen's Circle/Arbeter Ring (WC/AR), Amnesty International USA, HEEB Magazine, and Great Small Works.