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Hi Sheree,
Sounds like you had a great Purim! I feel like sharing a bit of Israeli Purim
tradition with you... so I'll tell a bit of my side of Purim.
In lugnet.people, Sheree Rosenkrantz writes:
> It does have that aspect to it with the costumes and all. The book of
> Esther is the story of Purim. It centers on the plot of Haman, prime
> minister of King Ahasueros of Persia to massacre the Jews of the country.
> Haman's plan failed because of Mordecai and his cousin (niece?)
Yep, niece.
[...]
> People bake and eat Hamantaschen, equilateral
> triangle shaped pastries filled with fruit, cheese or poppy seed.
Don't forgot chocolate and peanut butter! (icky, sticky! ;-)
> The
> triangular shape is said to be because of the type of hat worn by Haman or
> to be "ears" of Haman because it was once the practice to to cut off the
> ears of criminals before hanging them.
In hebrew we call them "Oznei Haman" which literally means "Haman's ears".
> We are joyful and thankful because
> a day of doom was turned into a day of gladness.
Also, the name "Purim" originates from the fact that Haman had thrown
a "raffle" and randomly chose a date to kill the Jews, it fell on the 15th of
Adar (hebrew month) on which the holiday is now celebrated.
"Pur" in older hebrew means a lottery type of thing - a raffle of some sort.
Purim is just the plural form of pur.
> It is tradition to send gifts of food to friends and to give to the poor.
In Israel this tradition has mutated into "swap mishlohei manot full of candy
and Hamantaschen with other kids in class". The teacher (usually) throws a
raffle of some sort and the kids each get someone else's candy.
[...]
> Purim is a minor Jewish holiday.
Well... minor in religious aspects, but not social ;-)
In Israel it is one of the favored holidays, especially by children. Even many
secular believers celebrate the holiday, because it's so much fun... :-)
Compared to many american Jews, I'm pretty secular myself. I don't go to
synagoge (not anymore), even on holidays. I do celebrate the holidays and I
fast on Yom Kippur. I believe in god, in my own way - not exactly like the
rabbis interpret the bible, that's for sure.
> My community also holds a carnival the Sunday after Purim where the children
> (& adults) can wear their costumes yet one more time and celebrate together.
> The children go to different booths and play games to win little prizes and
> have fun. More hamentashen...
Yeah! This is one of the best parts of the holiday, our scouts group in Israel
(*very* different type of scouts than american :-) always holds these,
called "Purimon"s. Each scouts group runs one booth...
Thanks for reminding me this! Suddenly sweet fourt-grade memories are coming
back to me... back when my sister was my scouts counselor, now that was fun ;-)
> This is a very simplified explanation and
> I've left bunches out but I hope this makes it a little clearer...
I think it did, I probably just made it more complicated ;-)
-Shiri
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Purimish fun
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| Shiri Dori <shirid@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:FrwrCw.7H2@lugnet.com... (...) Purim (...) I have been know to make some filled with chocolate chips, others with pecan pie filling and still others with marzipan/almond paste and slivered (...) (25 years ago, 24-Mar-00, to lugnet.people, lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Purimish fun
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| ravi <helixwolf2000@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:FrwnvH.GwE@lugnet.com... (...) felt (...) haloween (...) Mon. (...) and (...) costumes. (...) Purim (...) fun (...) Reminds (...) holoween???? (...) It does have that aspect to it with the (...) (25 years ago, 24-Mar-00, to lugnet.people, lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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