Purim

Jacinda Ardern's reframing of her 'hot-mike' vulgarity reminds us of the power of words and carries powerful echoes of Esther's bravery in confronting ...

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(March 6, 2023 / JNS) Tens of thousands of Jews will attend public megillah readings for the Purim holiday organized by two prominent modern Orthodox ...

He continued, saying “on Purim, where we learn about the power of national unity, we need to take a break from all the division and arguments and remember that we are one people in our homeland with a common destiny. Kenneth Brander, president and rosh yeshiva of the Ohr Torah Stone network. The community events will also distribute explanatory megillot (scrolls) and mishloach manot food baskets for those in attendance.

Kids dressed in costumes and enjoyed festivities including delicious traditional food during Temple Sinai Stamford's Purim Carnival on Sunday.

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Traditional Jewish pastries called Hamantaschen are eaten during Purim (Adobe Stock photo). March 6, 2023 – Submitted by Chabad of the South Shore. Hingham, MA ...

Children—and some adventurous adults too—traditionally [dress in costumes](http://www.chabad.org/1456808), an allusion to G‑d’s hand in the Purim miracle, which was disguised by natural events. Purim is observed with the reading of the [Megillah](http://www.chabad.org/1473) (Scroll of Esther) which recounts the story of the Purim miracle, gifting food gifts to friends, giving charity to the needy and enjoying a festive Purim meal. As part of the festivities, there was a “Chanukah Gelt (chocolate coins) Drop” from the top of a Hingham fire truck and holiday greetings were shared by Hingham Selectman Joe Fisher. Those interested in attending the Purim party can RSVP by visiting The holiday commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in Ancient Persia from Haman’s plot “ Ken Paull, a Cohasset resident, lights the 9-foot Menorah at the Hingham Shipyard on the first night of Chanukah, during a community celebration sponsored by Herb Chambers and organized by Chabad of the South Shore. (Photo credit: Josh Ross) At a time we are seeing a rise in antisemitic rhetoric, the Purim celebration takes on added meaning. The event is a community-wide program, and all are welcome to join, regardless of Jewish affiliation or background. “What greater joy can there be than to be surrounded by family and friends in celebration of our rich heritage!” of a decree](http://www.chabad.org/645309#The) calling for the extermination of the Jewish people throughout the Persian Empire. The festivities will be held in Hingham, exact location of the event will be shared upon reservation, on March 7th featuring a buffet dinner and ventriloquist show.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The Jewish Community is celebrating the holiday of Purim starting tonight. It lasts through tomorrow.

Every person really inside is a miracle, is a piece of God, and therefore overlook the costume, and we’ll be able to bring people together in a much stronger and a more efficient way. This is a special occasion of Purim as this year’s celebration coincides with Hakhel, which comes once every seven years and encourages those of the Jewish faith to come together. Rabbi Shaul Perlstein, the director for the Chabad Jewish Center of Chattanooga, said, “When we look at any person, we come across people who are angry, who are all different types of people that maybe we don’t like, or it doesn’t feel good when we meet them on a regular day but “No” says the Rebbe (a spiritual leader) that this is just a costume.

EXPLAINING THE Sarajevo Haggadah in the Sarajevo Museum. (photo credit: Richard Rinberg). Purim is a story repeated all over the world. Not just the texts, but ...

The story tells of an apostate named Marcus who slandered the Jewish community to a non-Jewish king, putting their status in jeopardy. It was well known enough that an American Reform rabbi from New York would publish a stage play based off of it in the 1940s. Both cities were part of the Spanish empire in 1492 and were depopulated of Jews following the Inquisition. “On the 21st of Teveth, Friday evening, of the year 5451 (1690), at 8 and a quarter, there was a powerful earthquake. Dozens also take part in a pilgrimage every summer to the grave of Rabbi Danon, who is buried in the south of Bosnia, not far from the Croatian border, where he died on his way to what was then Ottoman-controlled Palestine. In that year, the story goes, a local dervish was murdered, prompting the corrupt Ottoman pasha of Sarajevo, a high-ranking official, to kidnap 11 prominent Jews, including the community’s chief rabbi, a kabbalist named Moshe Danon.

This year's annual Binghamton University “Purim Carnival Extravaganza” was held this evening at the Union Center on Binghamton's campus.

“Being in college it is really important that people are still able to enjoy the holidays like they do when they are at home so having such a big carnival is a way for people to really connect with the holiday even though they are not doing it in the typical way that they might do it at home.” said Maya Hoff. In the spirit of Purim, many community members came to participate in a costume contest as well as a food eating contest. Students and University staff as well as families around the community came to the glow in the dark themed carnival to enjoy a wide array of game booths and attractions including a mechanical bull ride, joust and more.

Members of the Chabad of Fairfield came together Monday night to celebrate a Jewish tradition. Purim is the holiday commemorating the saving of the Jewish ...

"It's a powerful message for everyone that when things look bleak and we don't see how we're going to pull through, let's have a little faith. Purim is the holiday commemorating the saving of the Jewish people of ancient Persia from extermination. Members of the Chabad of Fairfield came together Monday night to celebrate a Jewish tradition.

On Monday night, members of SU's Jewish community gathered at the Winnick Hillel Center to celebrate the holiday of Purim.

Bair said that joining together as one community is a vital part of Jewish tradition, and he was happy that students were passionate about celebrating their culture. Senior Madi Weinnman, who has been going to Hillel events for the last four years, is very passionate about community service and is grateful for the opportunity to connect with people outside of campus. Bair explained that this idea of masking and uncovering one’s identity is expressed through the different outfits that people wear. In addition to giving back, another important tradition of Purim is that everyone dresses up in costume, Bair said. Bair explained how Jewish people give gifts to members of the community who may be less fortunate. In the story, Haman wanted to find every Jewish person living in Persia and remove them from the land.

"At the end, the Jewish people prevail," said Dan Canfield, a member of Adath Jeshurun synagogue in Hopkins. "You learn that you keep going. Even though it's a ...

Among the many events across the Twin Cities on Monday night was a megillah reading at Mall of America. "I think that sense of community is very important." The Canfields were among hundreds who attended a Purim circus party at Adath on Monday night.

Members of the Chabad of Fairfield came together Monday night to celebrate a Jewish tradition. Purim is the holiday commemorating the saving of the Jewish ...

"It's a powerful message for everyone that when things look bleak and we don't see how we're going to pull through, let's have a little faith. Purim is the holiday commemorating the saving of the Jewish people of ancient Persia from extermination. Members of the Chabad of Fairfield came together Monday night to celebrate a Jewish tradition.

“Travel” together with us and experience “Purim Around the World!” This is a “Hakhel, year of unity” community celebration. Never miss the best stories and ...

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Jewish people in D.C. area, and around the world, are celebrating Purim on Tuesday.

“The message is there might be one thing on the surface, but there’s something entirely right below the surface,” Geisinsky said. Rather, they doubled-down to celebrate it, be proud of it, and stand for who they were,” said Geisinsky. “Go with ‘Happy Purim,’ that will do,” said Aaron Miller of Washington Hebrew Congregation.

Israel's Lawmakers Used the Holiday to Make Political Statements Amid the Race to Complete the Overhaul of Israel's Judiciary and the Protests Against It.

[ Labor MK Gilad Kariv](/israel-news/elections/2021-04-11/ty-article/.premium/where-the-first-reform-rabbi-to-serve-in-the-knesset-gilad-kariv-draws-the-line/0000017f-e19b-d804-ad7f-f1fb27b00002) put together a Purim costume fusing the look of the tens of thousands of Israelis who have been [taking to the streets every week](/israel-news/2023-03-04/ty-article/.premium/record-number-of-israelis-protest-against-netanyahus-judicial-coup/00000186-ae28-d1b6-a99e-ff6c33750000) protesting the judicial reforms with the insults hurled at them from the right. Freedom, however, didn’t seem to be prominent in Regev’s mind as she [that of Orit Strock](/israel-news/2022-12-07/ty-article/.premium/far-right-lawmaker-named-israels-first-national-missions-minister/00000184-ebe0-d523-a3bc-effb32af0000), a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party and Minister of National Missions, who chose to dress as Esther Hayut, chief justice of Israel’s Supreme Court, mocking her with a sign reading “Queen Esther.” Hayut is the [most powerful opponent of the current government’s](/israel-news/2023-02-06/ty-article/.premium/israels-chief-justice-declines-to-attend-annual-event-with-top-govt-officials/00000186-239e-df0e-a9df-3f9e7e700000) proposed judicial reforms, and the court she leads is the

Several Israeli MKs and ministers took the time to make costumes that either reflected Purim merriment or contained political meanings.

Pictured with him is his divine partner Themis, the goddess of justice and judgment. Religious Zionist Party MK Michal Waldiger has dressed up in an orange dress along with a carrot necklace and carrying a basket of carrots. However, his Purim costume this year had nothing to do with politics. [pic.twitter.com/lmAEMkZ5ZX] [March 7, 2023] Odds are this was by no means meant to be a flattering portrayal of Israel's top judicial official. [pic.twitter.com/tKEdYZGaho] [March 7, 2023]

Shaare Emeth kicked off their Purim festivities on Sunday with “A Purim Story,” a family-friendly Purim spiel for families with children ages 0–12.

On the evening of Feb. 26, several hundred Israeli settlers invaded the Palestinian village of Huwara. They set fire to dozens of cars and homes, ...

Divesting ourselves of this rhetoric, of state and vigilante violence hiding behind the mask of self-defense against an existential enemy, is necessary in order to build a lasting, just future. It is Judaism in the hands of a settler-colonial, Jewish supremacist ideology that will seize on any language and tradition to justify the murder and expulsion of Palestinians as holy war and protection. It means giving material support to Palestinian organizing both in the land and in the diaspora. They are a natural extension of the mainstream Israeli belief that Palestinians want to destroy Israel simply because it is Jewish, rather than understanding Palestinian opposition to the state as a natural reaction to settler colonialism and occupation. In the Torah, Jews are commanded to wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens; the only way to avert Jewish destruction, the thinking goes, is to destroy Amalek first. Rabbinic literature and later mystical traditions render their name synonymous with a mythic, existential enemy: a nation that preys on the weak and is utterly committed to the destruction of the Jewish people. [Romans, Nazis, and many oppressors in between](https://www.nli.org.il/en/books/NNL_ALEPH990025038960205171/NLI). Goldstein’s violence and the pogrom in Huwara are just two horrific examples of a larger pattern: using the language of Jewish safety and potential annihilation to justify state and settler violence, and framing it as a means to defend ourselves against an eternal enemy. The concept of Amalek — a people we read about on the Shabbat before Purim and on Purim day — has held great sway within the Jewish imaginary over the centuries. Hours after the massacre, in synagogues across the land, congregations concluded the special Purim Torah reading with a verse from the Book of Exodus declaring “a war for the Lord against Amalek from generation to generation.” Many of Goldstein’s far-right allies suggested he was doing just that, presenting the ethno-nationalist massacre of an occupied people as an act of One Palestinian was shot dead in the nearby village of Za’atara, though it is [not yet clear](https://www.972mag.com/settlers-soldiers-huwara-zaatara/) if he was killed by settlers or soldiers, given that both were firing at the Palestinians in the area. [invaded](https://www.972mag.com/huwara-settler-violence-army/) the Palestinian village of Huwara.

Purim Shpiel: The following is a satirical article from The Jerusalem Post's annual parodic Purim page, The Jerusalem Roast. Enjoy!

“You are already seeing drafts of proposals floating at the UN to denounce the current situation. The cats are cute, but they don’t speak any Hebrew. “How can we have a binational state?

In 2023, Jews across Tennessee and all around the world celebrate the holiday of Purim March 6 to 7, based on the biblical Book of Esther.

Purim is a holiday about breaking gender norms and gender stereotypes. And adults will adorn the clothing of a different gender. The drinking of alcohol is encouraged. Called a Megillah, the book is one of only two in all canonized scripture in which God’s role in the story is masked. The holiday is likened to Halloween, as is observance calls for dressing up in costumes and encourages revelry. In 2023, Jews across Tennessee and all around the world celebrate the holiday of Purim March 6 to 7, based on the biblical Book of Esther.

A bill signed into law there makes it illegal to stage “adult cabaret” anywhere a child might encounter it.

In fact, this is basically the story of Purim. It is one of the oldest forms of Jewish entertainment, even mentioned in the Talmud as a way that wedding guests would bring happiness to the bride and groom. On Purim, drag takes on special significance, because it manifests the megillah’s theme of ve-nehaphech hu — turning things on their head. The idea that children seeing adults cross-dressing, on Purim or any other time, is going to lead to illicit sexual behavior is ludicrous and insulting. On the contrary, it means that it makes no sense to forbid identities in halacha. Queer people have cultivated and perfected drag into an art form that brings joy to millions. There are no Jewish laws about what names to call the community one comes from, or the name of a synagogue, school or youth group. The same arguments that Yeshiva University is using to deny queer students a club on campus are being used to try to deny Jewish students at progressive colleges the right to have Jewish clubs that support Israel. Laws that seek to curtail queer rights (or the rights of any minority group) inevitably are used against the Jews. This Purim as every Purim, Jews around the world gathered in costumes and masks to recite and parody the story of Esther. Is it any wonder that indulging one’s prejudices only emboldens others to enact theirs? Figures like Shapiro promote the libel that queer people “groom” children, sexualizing LGBTQ+ youth themselves by framing their identity solely in terms of their sexual behavior.

Hundreds of Congregation B'nai Amoona members arrived in costume Monday evening March 6 for Purim Palooza - Under The Big Tent.

In the fortress Shushan the Jews killed a total of five hundred men [and the text continues by listing the ten sons of Haman who were also hanged]… The rest of ...

and in the end humanity and justice will win over vulgarity and violence. Do not forget this thing, for when the day comes when you yourself will suffer from the aggression and vulgarity of Amalek… If the day comes and you want to be similar to Amalek and their likes, and you will not know the obligation, and you will know not God, but you will just look for opportunities in small and big matters, to exploit your superiority only to harm mankind, “don’t forget” the moral mission of Israel… The obligation on Purim? And so, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—when the king’s command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened, and the Jews got their enemies in their power. The kids get tired and noisy, and everyone wants to get to the hamantaschen. It was a narcissistic wound that got out of hand. So, he had to issue a second edict, allowing the Jews to defend themselves. Throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the Jews mustered in their cities to attack those who sought their hurt; and no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples..So the Jews struck at their enemies with the sword, slaying and destroying; they wreaked their will upon their enemies. And that little bloody fact never made it into the annals of Persian history? The Jews killed 75,000 Persians? It works wonders for you, psychologically.

Over the decades, women's Megillah readings have moved from cutting-edge to squarely within the norm, marking the growth of Orthodox feminism and its ...

But he wasn’t comfortable telling the scribe the Megillah would go to a woman, and instead said it was a gift for his son-in-law. Some Orthodox rabbis permit women to read the Megillah for other women, but prohibit it in front of men. She usually reads half of the scroll, including a difficult passage in the ninth chapter. He later decides that despite his discomfort he should be more flexible in the future, within the constraints of Orthodox law, to make the woman he loves feel respected. In recent years, a growing number of Orthodox women rabbinic leaders have weighed in on the question as well. “It is kind of the one semi-kosher or kosher thing that women in more [religiously] right-wing communities can do,” Friedman said. Still others worry that a women’s Megillah reading will act as a sort of gateway to non-Orthodox practice more broadly. For many modern Orthodox women more than four decades later, women’s Megillah readings have moved from the cutting edge to squarely within the norm. She chanted the Scroll of Esther, known as the Megillah, in front of a mixed-gender audience in suburban Washington, DC, on the festival of Purim. Although traditional Jewish law, or halacha, obligates women to hear the Megillah on par with men, many more traditionalist Orthodox communities still do not hold women’s Megillah readings. “My father, when it came time for the bat mitzvah, was trying to figure out what was something meaningful that a young woman could do,” she said. JTA — When Alyza Lewin became a bat mitzvah in 1977, the fact that she had a ritual ceremony at all was still relatively revolutionary in Orthodox circles.

Jews, some of them new immigrants, read the Megillat Esther (the Scroll of Esther) during the Jewish holiday of Purim in Katzrin in northern Israel on March ...

Our ability to cover the most important issues in Israel and throughout the Jewish world—without the standard media bias—depends on the support of committed readers. Purim is also a time to give gifts to friends and neighbors (mishloach manot) and to donate to those in need. (March 7, 2023 / JNS) Purim was celebrated in Israel with all the usual fanfare of the holiday: costumes, parades, festive meals and parties, and, of course, with Megillah readings throughout the country.

People participate in Adloyada Holon Purim Parade 2023 in Holon, central Israel, on March 7, 2023. Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the ...

Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman's plot during the reign of the ancient Persian Empire, according to the Biblical Book of Esther. People in costumes are seen during Adloyada Holon Purim Parade 2023 in Holon, central Israel, on March 7, 2023. People participate in Adloyada Holon Purim Parade 2023 in Holon, central Israel, on March 7, 2023.

Observance includes recitation of Chapter 9, Verse 28 of the Biblical Scroll of Esther known as the “reading of the Megillah,” exchange of gifts of food, ...

Happy Purim to you,” Prime Minister Netanyahu told the security troops after the reading. “We are on the eve of Purim: 2,500 years ago, an enemy arose in Persia who sought to destroy the Jews. May G-d grant you success and that you watch over the country, yourselves and each other. Queen Esther, who was Jewish, is attributed with foiling a plot by Haman to annihilate her community. Many appeared in traditional outfits such as biblical characters, IDF soldiers, superheroes, princesses, brides and monsters. [ dressed in costumes and full of cheer](https://www.tv7israelnews.com/masks-costumes-purim-2021/).

Each Spring Judaism celebrates the holiday of Purim based upon the story found in the biblical Book of Esther. The holiday has always been marked by a.

If there was a time for KIVUNIM students, alumni, parents, friends, staff members, and leadership to apply what we have learned over all these years of “building world consciousness” it is Now. Until this week we might have thought ourselves incapable of what the Book of Esther describes in Chapter 9, of wanton acts of destruction, brutal and random acts of physical violence against people whose guilt or innocence is unknown to us, of Jews participating in a “pogrom” (as the Israeli press is calling it) against “others”. Will they wonder if we think like the official of the Israel Government who called for the village to be obliterated and completely destroyed? We don’t think or behave that way!” Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel said: “In a free society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.” Will our gracious hosts wonder if we think like the settlers who burned the village of Hawara? I think we should apply this practice to the reading of the 9th chapter of the Book of Esther. The holiday has always been marked by a balance of fun and seriousness.

We asked our readers if they planned to attend a Megillah reading on Purim. Here's what they said.

At the moment we need to absorb a historical event such as this for our own comfort and outlook. I dressed as Bert from Sesame Street and my shorter friend came as Ernie. A happy event of pertinence to our people, with a positive outcome.