Pre-Purim Preparations

Being in a Jewish country means that people's lives are surrounded by and governed by the Jewish Calendar with its multitude of holidays, memorials, and special days.  For the five months of this Ulpan, we will celebrate five holidays (four Jewish, one Israeli), and that's still less than what the Ulpan in the other half of the year celebrates.  I've gotta admit, Judaism's got at least one thing right:  we know how to party!

And come Saturday night, party we shall!

Saturday night/Sunday is the Jewish holiday of Purim, one of the craziest and most fun holidays in our calendar.  As with most of our other holidays, the theme is "They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat," but this one has the added benefit of giving everyone an excuse to dress up in fancy outfits and costumes and give gifts of candy and sometimes money.  Oh, and we're actually supposed to get drunk, to the point that we don't know the difference between the protagonist and the antagonist in the story of the holiday.  (I, however, do not intend to take part in that particular mitzvah.)

Quick story of the holiday:  In Persia (modern-day Iran) in about 350 B.C.E., King Achashverosh ruled over 100 provinces with Vashti as his queen.  At a grand party, the thoroughly drunken men requested to see Vashti, but she refused and so Haman, the King's vizier, told him he should not put up with such disobedience.  So the King was forced to look for a new wife by means of a beauty pageant where Esther, a young, beautiful Jewish woman, was chosen (though the king did not know she was Jewish).  Her uncle Mordechai wanted her to become queen so that the many Jewish people living in Persia might have a better outlook.  When Mordechai heard that Haman wanted to kill all the Jews of Persia and that Achashverosh agreed to it, he told Esther to approach the king and tell him of her origins.  Mordechai also heard of Haman's plot to kill the king, and certainly with that knowledge the king would not dismiss Esther.  Well, happy ending, the Jews were allowed to defend themselves on the day when they were supposed to be killed (because the king couldn't reverse his own decree), and Haman was hanged, along with his wife and ten sons.  Like I said: They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat!

Even though it's a few days before Purim, I'm already seeing little girls dressed as princesses and boys dressed as superheros, enjoying the pre-Purim parties at school and the like.  Shops are selling mishloach manot, the gift baskets of sweets and treats sent to friends on the holiday.  The triangular cookies filled with jam or chocolate, called Hamantaschen (Yiddish)/Oznei Haman (Hebrew) are found at every bakery, and plastic masks like those found at Mardi Gras are easy to find.

Even though Purim isn't a religious holiday that calls for a day of rest (like the Sabbath or other Holy Days), the Ulpan is giving us Sunday off, perhaps with some people's hangovers in mind.  We have all been encouraged to leave the kibbutz and travel a bit, so I'm planning on going to Jerusalem.  I know the big parties are in Tel Aviv this weekend, but as I'm sure you know I'm not a big party kind of person, and I also happen to have a coupon for two nights free at a hostel in the Old City.  Perfect, no?  I'm hoping to get to Jerusalem early enough to go to the shook (market) at Machaneh Yehudah on Friday afternoon before going to the Old City, and then I'll wander around Jerusalem for two days.  I'm thoroughly looking forward to it.

I don't have a costume or anything, but I'm sure I'll find a mask and a funny hat somewhere between now and whatever party I do attend.  And regardless of what I end up doing, I'm sure it will be a wonderful time!