Sometimes you do Purim and sometimes Purim does you
It hasn't been very obvious but since we moved to this lovely community in the shade of New York (14 miles down the road to the George Washington Bridge if that fixes the place for anyone), I found a synagogue and signed Becca up for Hebrew school and started to get involved. I helped out, I cooked a few things, I may have made latkes with the kids on Chanukah or something.
In May of last year they asked me if I would be the programming chairperson. Silly me, I said yes. When I tried to ask the couple of people I knew if they'd be on my committee they were already busy so I have a committee of one and it hasn't been easy.
Coming early this year but seeming far enough away was the holiday called Purim which observes the time in Persia when the king needed a new wife and ended up with Esther and there was this plot to kill the king and it was foiled and then there was this plot to kill all the Jews and eventually that was foiled and then everyone ate pastries and was happy. So happy that they had a party.
In modern Jewry we review the story, eat pastry and have a party. There are a couple of other commandments - some of which are very interesting - and this year, in our synagogue, the gig was mine.
My father's Hebrew name happens to be Mordechai. The funniest thing happened 10 years ago when my parents moved to upstate New York. The town next to the one they moved to is called Shushan. Shushan is the name of the city in Persia (also called Susa) in which the whole story of Esther and the king (and her uncle, Mordechai) takes place.
My dad lamented that he lived in Cambridge, NY and not Shushan. One day a postal delivery person came by and told my dad that if he wanted to move his mailbox to the side of the street in front of the house and not across the street he could do that - but he'd have to change his address to Shushan. What do *you* think he did. So my dad, Mordechai, lives in Shushan.
In a seemingly unrelated turn of events my father took up watercolor painting after he retired. One day he painted something that looked vaguely like a long view of a desert city. Quick minds were thinking.
Fast forwarding to this year, my dad re-created the city picture and sent it to me. We scanned it and added the words "Greetings from Shushan" to it and had it duplicated in color on postcard stock. We sold postcards from Mordechai of Shushan to be sent to the recipient of one's choice with a handwritten greeting on the back. I will never forget how to write "Purim sam-a-ach, b'ahava Mordechai" as long as I live. I addressed 88 cards and sent them to the postmaster in Shushan who stamped and canceled them by hand and mailed them out.
We made mishloach manot bags to share with our community and 10% of our net will go to Mazon, a jewish food bank. Today we heard the story of Esther read and shared a festive meal with our congregation. So we fulfilled the four commandments or mitzvot that are associated with Purim.
There were activities. The kids in the Children's Learning Center put on a play - Dr. Seuss inspired and then there was face painting, mask making, a bean bag toss (hamantaschen shaped bean bags), and a relay race.
Then there was exhaustion.
Ask me about Shabbat across America (actually, no- really. This coming Friday night. Find a synagogue participating and go. There'll be a blessings, songs, food and Friday night services.) After that I think I'll take a little rest.
In May of last year they asked me if I would be the programming chairperson. Silly me, I said yes. When I tried to ask the couple of people I knew if they'd be on my committee they were already busy so I have a committee of one and it hasn't been easy.
Coming early this year but seeming far enough away was the holiday called Purim which observes the time in Persia when the king needed a new wife and ended up with Esther and there was this plot to kill the king and it was foiled and then there was this plot to kill all the Jews and eventually that was foiled and then everyone ate pastries and was happy. So happy that they had a party.
In modern Jewry we review the story, eat pastry and have a party. There are a couple of other commandments - some of which are very interesting - and this year, in our synagogue, the gig was mine.
My father's Hebrew name happens to be Mordechai. The funniest thing happened 10 years ago when my parents moved to upstate New York. The town next to the one they moved to is called Shushan. Shushan is the name of the city in Persia (also called Susa) in which the whole story of Esther and the king (and her uncle, Mordechai) takes place.
My dad lamented that he lived in Cambridge, NY and not Shushan. One day a postal delivery person came by and told my dad that if he wanted to move his mailbox to the side of the street in front of the house and not across the street he could do that - but he'd have to change his address to Shushan. What do *you* think he did. So my dad, Mordechai, lives in Shushan.
In a seemingly unrelated turn of events my father took up watercolor painting after he retired. One day he painted something that looked vaguely like a long view of a desert city. Quick minds were thinking.
Fast forwarding to this year, my dad re-created the city picture and sent it to me. We scanned it and added the words "Greetings from Shushan" to it and had it duplicated in color on postcard stock. We sold postcards from Mordechai of Shushan to be sent to the recipient of one's choice with a handwritten greeting on the back. I will never forget how to write "Purim sam-a-ach, b'ahava Mordechai" as long as I live. I addressed 88 cards and sent them to the postmaster in Shushan who stamped and canceled them by hand and mailed them out.
We made mishloach manot bags to share with our community and 10% of our net will go to Mazon, a jewish food bank. Today we heard the story of Esther read and shared a festive meal with our congregation. So we fulfilled the four commandments or mitzvot that are associated with Purim.
There were activities. The kids in the Children's Learning Center put on a play - Dr. Seuss inspired and then there was face painting, mask making, a bean bag toss (hamantaschen shaped bean bags), and a relay race.
Then there was exhaustion.
Ask me about Shabbat across America (actually, no- really. This coming Friday night. Find a synagogue participating and go. There'll be a blessings, songs, food and Friday night services.) After that I think I'll take a little rest.