Costumes and Cookies: Shavei Israel celebrates Purim around the world
Bnei Menashe children dress up for Purim in Upper Nazareth
This week, Israel and the Jewish world are celebrating the holiday of Purim, which marks the remarkable historic turnaround from the near annihilation of the Jewish people in Persia over 2,000 years ago to its ultimate salvation.
In honor of the joy the Jews felt at their last minute deliverance, Purim today is perhaps the happiest day on the Jewish calendar. Everyone dresses up in costume to read from the Scroll of Esther (the Megilla), deliver treats (mishloach manot) to friends and family, and attend extravagant parties with loads of kosher hamentaschen (three-cornered cookies filled with poppy seed, date, chocolate and a host of other yummies).
The communities that Shavei Israel works with are getting into the spirit of the holiday, too. Here’s what our emissaries have planned for the rest of Purim week.
Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis (center) from 2014 celebration in Katowice, Poland
Poland – Shavei Israel’s emissary to Krakow, Rabbi Avi Baumol, reports that the community will be reading the Megilla together at the Tempel Synagogue, followed by a Purim “carnival.” There will be a parade in the streets of the Kazimierz, the restored former Jewish district of Krakow’s Old Town, followed by a community-wide Purim party at the Krakow JCC. In Katowice, our emissary, Rabbi Yehoshua Ellis, reports that he already took part in two pre-Purim parties – one in Katowice, where he taught classes on the Megilla and traditions of Purim, and the other in nearby Gliwice, which included a concert. Rabbi Ellis will be reading the Megilla in Katowice on Purim itself, where there will be another party and a festive meal for the community.
Portugal – Shavei Israel emissary Rabbi Elisha Salas will be reading the Megilla with his community in Belmonte, then heading up the annual costume party at night. The following day, he’ll be overseeing a communal lunch which he says will be especially meaningful this year, as a number of the community’s key members are planning to make aliyah in 2015.
Colombia – The Bnei Anousim community in the Colombian capital of Bogota will be partying on Purim night, complete with a Megilla reading, prayers and lots to drink (in line with the custom that Purim revelers not be able to tell between the blessedness of Mordechai, the hero of the story, and the evil Haman). Our emissary Rabbi Shimon Yehoshua reports that 150 people are expected to gather in Bogota on Purim eve.
El Salvador – The Megilla will be taking to the road in El Salvador this year. Since the Bnei Anousim communities in the country have only a single kosher Scroll of Esther, Shavei Israel’s emissary Rabbi Isaac Aboud will do a reading first in the Beit Israel synagogue in the country’s capital, San Salvador, then hightail it by car to the smaller Bnei Anousim community in the town of Armenia (a 45 minute drive) where he’ll do it all over again. Rabbi Aboud has been teaching the laws of Purim to the community for some weeks now, so the community will be well prepared to embrace the holiday spiritually…and with spirits (of the liquid kind).
Italy – the Italian Bnei Anousim community will celebrate Purim this year in Palermo, Sicily, with a Megilla reading and Purim party, with Shavei emissary Rabbi Pinhas Punturello.
China – the small Jewish community of Kaifeng will be celebrating Purim as usual this year, but with additional knowledge imparted from Shavei Israel teacher – Aaron Wood, who has spent the last few months in China. Wood is a Chinese Jew himself (although not originally from Kaifeng) who discovered Judaism and became religious almost entirely on his own in a 16-year journey that took him through China, Canada and eventually to Israel where he formally converted in 2011. (We’ll be writing more about Wood soon.) With his help, the community is looking forward to a freilechen (joyous in Yiddish) Purim.
New booklet in Russian on the fast days
Subbotnik Jews – In addition to marking the holiday itself, the Subbotnik Jews have something else to celebrate this year – the publication of a new Shavei Israel booklet in Russian covering the Jewish fast days. The day before Purim is one of these fast days – known as Ta’anit Esther, when Jews traditionally refrain from eating as Esther did in Persia before her fateful meeting with the king to stave off Haman’s decree against the Jewish people. 200 hundred copies of the new Shavei booklet have been printed – half to be distributed in Beit Shemesh, where most of Israel’s Subbotnik Jewish community lives, and the other half in Visoky, Russia. The booklet includes articles on the Jewish Laws pertaining to the fast days, and the full text – in both Russian and Hebrew – of the Book of Eicha, which is read on the fast day of Tisha B’Av.
Bnei Menashe with Tavor “mechina”
India – the Bnei Menashe traditionally hold the most extravagant Purim celebrations of any of Shavei Israel’s communities, and this year will be no exception. Multiple Megilla readings, Purim plays, costume contests (including the annual “Ms. Esther” beauty pageant) and overall community spirit will mark the day both in India and Israel. At the left is a photo from the pre-Purim party the Bnei Menashe living in Upper Nazareth held together with the “Tavor” mechina (pre-army seminar). And to remind you of what’s still to come, as Purim formally kicks off later this week in India, Yonatan Haokip shared these videos taken last year at the Beith Shalom Shavei Israel center in Churachandpur.
As we receive photos from Purim itself (starting in most parts of the world on Wednesday night; in Jerusalem and Safed on Thursday night), we will post them to our website and Facebook. Stay tuned!