PURIM 2007!

Tonight was probably the most fun I’ve ever had at any church or synagogue service! Today and tomorrow mark the celebration of Purim, the holiday that commemorates the events in the book of Esther-in case you’re fuzzy on the details of the story, here’s a quick synopsis:

A Jewish girl named Esther (Hadassah) is raised by her relative Mordecai, as her parents are deceased. The King of the region (which reaches from Ethiopia to India) is Achashveros (that’s the Jewish spelling and it’s easier to remember than the other ones!). The Queen is Vashti, and one day she doesn’t come when the King calls here, so she is dethroned. After loneliness sets in, the Kings advisors suggest he hold a “beauty pageant” to find a replacement for Vashti. Enter Esther and Mordecai-Esther enters the pageant, Mordecai tells her to keep her background a secret, she wins the pageant and becomes the new Queen. Enter the Evil Haman-he is pompous and arrogant and wants all the subjects of the King to bow down to him, however Mordecai doesn’t because he is Jewish, and this infuriates Haman. Haman devises a plan to kill Mordecai (on a 75 foot gallows he has built for him), and also convinces the King to have all the Jewish people in the kingdom put to death.

During Haman’s scheming, the King is reminded that Mordecai foiled a Royal assassination attempt and was never rewarded. So while Haman is devising evil against Mordecai, the King has Haman help honor Mordecai. The result is Haman is even more enraged. Mordecai learns of Haman’s plans, tells Esther, and after a couple of private banquets for Haman and the King, Esther tells King Achashveros of Haman’s evil plan to destroy all of her people-the King is horrified, Haman is put to death (on the gallows he built for Mordecai), and a new decree is issued, saying that the Jewish people throughout the kingdom may now kill all of their enemies, including anyone who was planning to kill them. So the Jewish people are spared (and infact, many of the gentiles in the kingdom converted as a result of the whole thing) and the whole event ends with feasting, festivities, and giving of gifts to friends and food to the poor. It is also decreed that the Jewish people will keep this festival forever, throughout their generations. And so they do.

However today a few newer costumes have been added-I’m not sure how common it is for people in the U.S. to dress in costume for Purim, but here in Israel it’s a BIG DEAL!!!I think I started seeing people in costume as early as Thursday (think Halloween but without the scary, evil, or gory stuff), and the official holiday is today and tomorrow, so by this evening EVERYONE on the street was in some sort of costume-and I imagine tomorrow will be much the same.

Another newer addition is the “Hamentaschen”, a type of cookie that is made for this holiday and is said to represent either Haman’s ears, or his hat (you’ll hear both explanations). And there are fireworks-I haven’t really seen any displays, but we here random things being shot off throughout the neighborhood-and no, it’s not gunshots, rockets, or anything else. I’ve even seen a few kids giggle and run by just as they’ve dropped one-are very harmless fun.

Also, as part of the festivities, the story of Esther is read in the synagogue-however this is not some austere reading of a serious story-people are encouraged to make lots of noise during the reading (which is read from an actual scroll, or “Megillah”)-specifically cheering whenever Mordecai’s name is mentioned, and booing, using “noisemakers”, or anything else to make a racket when Haman’s name is read (and there may be a designated sound for Esther or King Achashveros as well). Check out the book of Esther, their names are mentioned a lot!

So tonight I was at the United Conservative Synagogue here in Jerusalem with my Italian friend Leah. They had a guy playing guitar, drum, & harmonica, and he had re-written several older pop songs to fit the occasion, and he provided a good portion of the entertainment. But that’s not all-the Chazan, the man who chants the Hebrew prayers in the synagogue also added his own Purim flair. He did each prayer to the tune of some once popular song, like “Oklahoma!”. Other examples included: Phantom of the Opera, an Elvis Presley selection, a few Italian tunes, and other things like that. It was HILARIOUS!!! (Although I found it very hard to be reverent during this service.) And at the end of each chapter, the “one man band” would play another one of his hits-the whole thing was tons of fun!

Well service ended and we were all invited to stay for a party downstairs-And the Rabbi specifically mentioned that there would be beverages to “warm the heart”. Oh, I forgot to mention-another custom on Purim is to get drunk. In case you are unaware, celebrating and drinking wine are important in Jewish culture (so I’ve had a lot more wine in the last 2 ½ years than I’d probably had in the previous 15-20 yrs! According to the Rabbis, one should drink so much that “one doesn’t know the difference between Mordecai and Haman”. So I was expecting to see some wine down there. Well there were lots of snacks, and of course pita and hummus (eaten all the time here in Israel), and soda, and beer, a little white wine, and lots of Vodka! I didn’t know Vodka came in so many flavors-lemon and strawberry and mixed berry-it was very interesting. I get fooled by fruity sounding drinks-I tried so-called raspberry flavored beer a few years ago-this did not taste like raspberries-it tasted like beer! I’ve never liked the taste of beer, so I was highly disappointed. Well I thought surely berry flavored Vodka would taste at least similar to berries, and even be sweet, right? OF COURSE NOT!!! It tasted like VODKA! So again, I was disappointed-but at least I’ll know next time! (And in case you’re wondering, this was a miniscule amount of vodka, I think it was probably less than the amount in half of a shot glass, and I diluted it with lots of water!-I was never planning to follow the custom of getting drunk-And next time I’ll just stick with my one glass of Mogen David kosher sweet wine on Shabbat, thank you very much!)

But despite being reminded that I still don’t like hard liquor, I HAD A GREAT TIME!!! There was so much laughter and fun, and the costumes were fantastic-really creative, funny, outrageous-I wish I’d had a camera-I just thought we were going to synagogue-it never occurred to me that I would find what I did. Well I think someone from the synagogue was taking official photos, so I’m hoping they’ll be up on the website soon-and if so, I’ll be sure to share them with you.

Well that’s it for now-PURIM SAMEACH!!! (Happy Purim)

Blessings from Jerusalem!