Purim in Jerusalem – a phenomenon that can’t be explained

March 27, 2008 - 3:38 PM by

Purim in Jerusalem has to be one of the new wonders of the world. It should be up there with ancient Rome as a phenomenon that cannot be explained.

Imagine for one second that you are surrounded by a never-ending mob of hot, smelly, loud, and outrageously drunk people and you can start to wrap your mind around what Purim in downtown Jerusalem is like.

This year Purim was extended by an extra day. So just in case you weren’t hammered enough Thursday night…you had until Sunday to make amends.

Thursday started Purim off amazingly, me and a friend waited until sundown to go to the old city and listen to the story of Esther being read at the Western Wall. There were hundreds of people walking in and out of the area while different groups of Jewish men read the Megilah (scroll) of Queen Esther.

It was similar on Friday morning downtown. Religious people tried to hoard as many poor tourists as possible into small rooms in cramped buildings on Ben Yehuda St. so that they could have a minyan (the 10 people needed to read a holy book) to listen to Megilat Esther, again.

The Sabbath was relatively quiet. The real craziness was Saturday night and Sunday morning. In the middle of downtown Jerusalem, lies Kikar Zion or Zion Square. Saturday night there were hundreds upon hundreds of people waving flags, spraying each other with silly string, getting highly intoxicated, and my personal favorite, singing songs.

Other than the occasional stupid kid who thought it would be hilarious to throw those loud and scary firecrackers, the night was pretty amazing. I had goose bumps from all the excitement.

Trying to find a way out of there though was nearly impossible. Sunday morning there was this concert for children in the same square. It was a huge contrast to the night before. Saturday night was crazy older people who were passing around vodka bottles. On Sunday there were crazy little kids running around, laughing, and frustrating their parents no end.

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