Purim Lessons

Happy Purim to my fellow Yids and Happy Thursday to you all! If you aren't familiar with this awesome Jewish holiday, allow me to enlighten you a bit. Purim (pronounced Poo-rEEm) is yet another story of someone who wanted to kill the Jews. In brief, way back in Persia, a great king had a horrible adviser who set out to destroy the Jews. A brave young woman named Esther came in, the king fell in love with her, and she asked the king to save the Jews... which he did. And they all lived happily after... except the evil guy. You can easily find out more about the story of Purim - it actually makes for a great bed time story for kids!

I LOVE Purim! You get to dress up and act like a fool for a day! It's a fun holiday here in Israel and can be seen as the Jewish version of Halloween... but that stops at the costumes and candy. We don't trick or treat. We don't decorate our homes with pumpkins. Instead, we go to the synagogue to listen to Megilat Esther (the scroll of Esther). It's considered a great honor and good deed to listen to Esther's story. Adults are commanded to drink alcohol to the point where they can't tell the difference between the handsome king and the evil Hamman. I'm not exactly sure but when I was younger, I was all about this aspect. As a new Mom, I have a hard enough time staying awake... I don't need the extra help.

Anyway, part of why I LOVE this holiday is because it's the story of survival. It's also the story of how one woman changed the world. How f*cking awesome is that?? Women are powerful creatures and I really like how this story celebrates that!

Since we dress up on Purim, here is what Yoav dressed up as ... until he threw up all over his dinosaur costume.

As with nearly every Jewish holiday, this is also time for family and I miss mine greatly!

Happy Purim to you!!