Purim: The Jewish Holiday You Probably Don’t Know About

Who knew Judaism had so many holidays! My favorite newly discovered holiday—Purim. Purim is something like a cross between Halloween, Easter, and Mardi Gras. Sounds like fun? It is!

When I started the Intro to Judaism class, I decided to try everything related to Judaism during my journey. With that in mind, I purchased two tickets to “The Greatest Purim,” sponsored by Chabad of Downtown Seattle and Chabad of Young Professionals Seattle. I probably should’ve looked up what Chabad was before I purchased the tickets. But I am always happy to try new things, so off my husband Marcus I went.

Purim falls sometime in March or April, I’ll have to write about the Jewish calendar sometime soon as it can be confusing to newcomers. In a nutshell, the holiday celebrates the saving of the Jews from the Persians and the continued fight against anti-Semitism. Like all biblical stories, Purim is filled with lots of intrigue and violence.

King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) of Persia kills his first wife Vashti and then has a beauty contest to find her successor. Enter Esther, a secret Jew. Mordechai (Esther’s cousin) tells the king of an evil plot to murder his Royalness but then refuses to bow before Haman, the King’s most important advisor. The affront and the “differentness” of the Mordechai and the Jews leads Haman to condemn all Jews in the kingdom to death. At a banquet, Esther pleads for the life of her people before the King who grants her wish and then sentences Haman to die for ogling her.

The holiday is a day of pure joy to celebrate being Jewish—a day to let go. Everyone reads the Megillah (scroll of the Story of Esther) to commemorate the day. Some temples also do a parody reenactment of the story. During the reading, whenever the evil Haman’s name is mentioned, everyone users groggers (noisemakers) to drown out his name. People, not just the kids, dress in costumes ranging from biblical characters to Batman to pirates. All Jews should attend a party, a feast (all Jewish holidays have food), and drink enough so you can’t tell the difference between good and evil (Mordechai and Haman). Finally, it’s also customary to give gifts of at least two different foods to friends and donate twice to charity.

This is the holiday for merrymaking, singing, drinking, and laughing together. With that kind of a description, who wouldn’t want to get a first-hand sample of the holiday? While we didn’t dress up for our first Purim celebration, next year, it was with excitement we set off for the Jewelbox Theater.  The tiny theater was filled with loud music; costumed adults; and tables of hotdogs, popcorn, and hamantaschen cookies (triangle shaped cookies filled with fruit made to look like Haman’s hat). We ordered drinks, I mean it was Purim after all, and sat down. A few moments later, a tall woman with dark short hair who was also not in costume, a minority of the guests, asked to join us.

“Hi, I’m Shani.” She said with a thick accent as she slid in next Marcus.

We exchanged names and I decided to have my face painted, which took a lot longer than I thought. When I returned to the table 20 minutes later, Marcus had told her my entire NPE story and how I was on a quest to learn about my Jewish heritage. It turns out Shani was from Israel. She’d been living in the Seattle area for a number of years but returned often to her home country. We sat and chatted for most of the night interrupted by an incredibly fast, Alvin and the Chipmunks fast, reading of the Megillah accompanied by a YouTube video of a sand art rendition of the story of Esther.

“Kara,” she tells me late in the evening, “I think Chabad would be a better place for you to learn about being Jewish rather than the Reform temple.”

“Oh,” I responded, “Why do you think that?”

“I think they’ll be very welcoming! Let me reach out to a Rabbi and set up a meeting,” She answered standing and reaching out for my hand. “Let’s dance.”

I joined her on the dancefloor where Israeli pop music blared. On the edges of the packed stage, men clapped and danced while the women formed a circle in the center holding hands and dancing together. To my left I held hands with a woman in a nurse’s costume and a blonde wig and on my right was a construction worker with a red wig.

Here’s where you need to know what Chabad means. Chabad is an Orthodox Jewish movement known for its outreach activities. Note “Orthodox.” Orthodox Jews keep Kosher, follow matrilineal descent (more on this later), and follow strict observance of Jewish laws (Halakha). Under Halakhic law, men and women generally do not touch unless married and women are supposed to cover their hair, hence the wigs. Chabad’s goal is to empower Jews worldwide with more knowledge and connectivity to their Jewish faith. A lofty goal indeed for which it seems they do a great job.

We had a fun evening. I eagerly awaited a call from Shani to meet with the Chabad rabbi. After a couple of weeks, I started to think I was being rejected again. My Jewish and NPE journey thus far has taught me rejection was quickly becoming a norm for me.  About a month after Purim, Shani did reach out to tell me she’d contacted three different Chabad rabbis, all of whom refused to meet with me. She told me in Israel, she believed the response would’ve been quite different. I loved her for trying and welcoming me. 

One of the Chabad websites says, “No Jew should ever be lost to the Jewish people, no Jew must ever be lonely.” I completely agree! But I’m beginning to understand the real issue is how one defines who is a Jew. In the aftermath of all of my Purim fun, I started to wonder, will I ever be Jewish enough for the Jewish community.

Purim Song
Esther was the lovely queen 
Of King Ahasuerus
He tried and tried to kill us all 
But all he did was scare us.
Oh today we’ll merry merry be
Oh today we’ll merry merry be
Oh today we’ll merry merry be
And nosh some hamantaschen.

Hamantaschen Cookie Recipe