Celebrating Purim

This month, we celebrate the holiday of Purim. Usually, the holiday falls in March or April, but this year we will celebrate on the evening of Thursday, February 25.

Traditionally, we dress up in funny costumes, give gifts called Mishloach Manot, sing songs and get a little tipsy to celebrate our victory over the evil Haman. We eat hamantaschen and we read from the Megillah. We also do a re-enactment of the Purim story called the Purim Spiel.

Just like everything else this year, the holiday of Purim will look differently than it has in the past. This year, we will be doing a Zoom spiel that will be a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ version of the Purim story. You will have the opportunity to weigh in and direct the story line by voting for one of two possible options at several different points in the spiel in the chat section of the Zoom call. Don’t worry, the happy ending will remain in place no matter what!

We will be sending out an email ahead of time with some links to Purim music and arts and crafts activities that you can do with the whole family and other fun stuff! Even though we still can’t be together in person, we will make sure that we fulfill the mitzvah of being joyful and of retelling the story of Esther.

Looking forward to seeing you soon (on Zoom and in person!)

Todd Herzog
Cantorial Soloist