A Purim Tale by Ben-Zion Friedman

MEGILLAH GEOGRAPHY

Once aPUN a time

King OSH-KOSH of the UNITED KINGDOM was HAVANA good time .

PEKING toasted ; ” YEMEN , SERB up SAMOA wine . let’s TAIWAN on . ”

The tipsy king asked Queen Vashti : ” KENYA dance the hoo-chee koo-chee . . without your NEW JERSEY ? ”

Vashti shouted : ” NORWAY ! :

PEKING ordered : ” You CONGO . ”

After she GHANA way , PEKING’s men went ROMAN for a YOUNGSTOWN girl .

PEKING SPOKAN said to Esther : ” On a scale of one-to-ten , you’re the only TENNESSEE .

I’d like to CZECH YOU OUT . ”

Seeds of Bravery

Rabbi Bill Kuhn delivered this d’var Torah last Shabbat and interpreted how we can all be “Brave!”  Last weekend was “Shabbat Parah” the first Sabbath after Purim, which highlights the connection between the holiday of Purim (last Saturday p.m./Sunday) and the festival of Pesach, which comes exactly 30 days later.

There are a lot of connections between these two holidays especially in perhaps the most important theme of courage.  The bravery of Queen Esther who convinced King Ahasuerus to save the Jews from Haman (Boo!) and the courage of Moses who stood up to Pharaoh and said “Let my People go!”

So Purim is the time to begin preparing ourselves for Pesach and to prepare ourselves to be brave.

This is why we chose this them for our Purim video.  It is done to the song called “Brave” by popular singer Sara Bareilles.  I’d like to thank Cantor Frankel for conceiving of this idea, and Rabbis Maderer and Freedman who helped organize, edit and produce this.

Brave! Purim 2014

It was a spirit-filled Purim at RS!  Enjoy this year’s brave video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDx5yl_PRUk

Recovering from Purim

Thank you to the Megillah readers, Rak-n-Kol a capella group, Beth Ahavah Players and Young Friend Purim poets for contributing to a fun and funny Purim Saturday night!  Here are 2 poems that were read by our Young Friends, Jen Simon Lento, Laurel Klein and Matt Adler.

Esther, Mordechai, and Us, Searching for Our Purpose

By Rabbi Jill Maderer

This weekend, celebrate Purim!  Saturday night at 7 pm, at our Purim Shpeil and  Party, adults will come in costume, hear some Megillah, enjoy the shpeil (skit) and party until we can’t distinguish between Mordechai and Haman!  Sunday morning at 9:30 am, at the Purim Carnival, families and children of all ages will hear Megillah, enjoy a shpeil, join a costume parade, and jump on the moonbounce!

Before the silliness begins, let us turn to words of inspiration about how Mordechai, Esther and we, determine our purpose in this world.  In his book, Days of Deliverance, 20^th c. thinker Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik z”l explores a discrepancy between the mission assigned to Moses, in the Exodus story, and that assigned to Esther and Mordechai, in the Purim story.