Nostalgia Sunday – Purim Parties Past
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Holidays, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
One of the hard truths of life in Israel is that it always rains on Purim. It is as if the weather conspires to prove that we Jews can never hold a joyous celebration without breaking a glass or making a little baby boy cry.
And events conspire as well. A few days ago, Magen David Adom issued a stern directive against dangerous masks and costumes, in particular warning against Avatar-wannabes who might paint their bodies using blue chalk or charcoal. Spoilsports. And just today, the Homefront Command announced that the new gas mask distribution project has commenced. What impeccable timing.
Today is particularly stormy which makes it that much harder to get into a festive mood. But party we must! Even under the most difficult of conditions, Purim has been celebrated and documented — just see Yad VaShem’s online exhibition Purim – Before, During, and After the Holocaust) which is historic, not nostalgic, but important to know. And check out these photos of Purim kindergartens from the pre and post-State period, courtesy of the PikiWiki Israel project. (Click images for large version).
Kibbutz Sarid kindergarten – 1930s
Szold kindergarten, Netanya – 1935
Kindergarten in Tel Aviv’s Montefiore neighborhood – 1941
Purim celebration on Moshav Beit Itzhak – 1956
And check out these mini-hippies from Quneitra-Merom Golan, circa 1967!
Purim 2010
Filed under: Food, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life, design
If I had my act together, would be delivering the Indian mishloach manot in tiffin boxes, but it'll have to be alternative packaging
I tend to focus on mishoach manot on Purim, rather than a specific costume or a Purim seudah, the festive meal that’s served on the day of Purim, which is more of an Israel thing, given that the whole country has the day off. (Even the banks are closed, which has my mother wondering if her automatic payments for various bills will happen tomorrow, March 1, or on Tuesday, when the banks reopen.) Anyway, I’ve had a wide variety of themes over the years, from homemade gnocchi and sauce, which I prepared with my friend Clare to molten chocolate cakes and whipped cream or homemade Devil Dogs, painstakingly prepared with my stepdaughters. It’s also always fun to see what everyone else is delivering, and we’ve gotten some great selections, from chocolate milk and rolls at six a.m., bagels, lox and OJ to, one of my personal faves, a container of a very special cucumber salad made by one of my sister’s good friends and for which I had repeatedly requested the recipe from my sister, but never received. Needless to say, I now have the recipe.
I’m on my own this year — Daniel tends to focus more on costumes, less on mishloach manot (except for handling most of the deliveries) — as the girls are older and doing their own thing, and I’ve decided to go with an Indian theme, given our newfound love for cooking Indian food this year.
Without revealing everything, I’ll just say that each mishloach manot package will contain three Indian meal elements, including chapati, which are flatbreads made with whole wheat flour and fried — without oil or butter — in a griddle pan. They don’t necessarily come out perfectly round the first few times you make them, but they are incredibly easy to make. Really.
Here’s one recipe, and I’m adding a note at the bottom:
Whole Wheat Flat Breads
Mix together:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
about 3/4 cup warm water (enough for a kneadable dough)Knead the dough, cover, and leave aside for at least 1/2 hour or, ideally, up to 2 hours. After about 1 hour (or right before rolling out), punch the dough and knead again without any more water.
Make 10-12 1 1/2″ balls and roll out into thin, 6″ circles. Place a flat, ungreased griddle on the stove at medium-high heat. When hot, place a rolled-out chapati “right side” down on the griddle. (The “right side” is the one facing you when you roll it.) When bubbles are visible, turn over and cook until tiny brown spots appear on the side facing the griddle.
If you have a gas stove, hold the chapati with a pair of tongs, and place it directly over the burner flame for a few seconds, until the chapati puffs up. Turn and repeat on the other side. (NOTE: This is much easier than it sounds, and offers the right finishing touch. — JS)
If you have an electric stove, keep the chapati on the griddle. With a wadded up paper towel to protect your fingers, press gently all around the chapati. Flip the chapati and press gently around the other side. This procedure should make the chapati puff up. (If you press too hard, the chapati will become too crunchy.)
Remove the chapati from the heat, and buter with ghee on the “right side.” (NOTE: Tastes great, but you don’t have to add the butter.)
Purim costumes
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Holidays, Life, Religion, coexistence
Purim is here, and amid the remains of a lightning-filled 48 hour winter storm, we’re headed out to hear the Megilla at our local havurah gathering.
It’s interesting to be part of – and the instigators – behind an egalitatrian minyan in a community where most people are either secular or orthodox, and where the chief rabbi of the city is a Conservative and Reform-hating Jew. We sort of have to keep things under the radar and it’s a little paradoxical that the religious pluralism American Jews – for instance – enjoy as a matter of fact is not available without a fight in the Jewish state.
Costumes, as usual, are last-minute. The young son is going as a Man-in-black Secret Service type, the teenage son was going to go as a soldier until he decided to stay home instead.
My wife chose a mix and match American football player motif, while I decided to be somewhat timely. I’m wearing a tennis outfit with tennis raquet and sunglasses. Can anybody guess who I am?
I guess the ‘Dubai’ sign sort of gives it away…
Happy Purim!
Foto Friday – Ancient Masks and Rattle Relics
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Holidays
Growing up as daughters of a rabbi, biblical scholar and part-time archeologist, my sisters and I never questioned the historical roots of Purim. So, I find it both amusing and disturbing that most people regard the Purim story as a myth or fairytale when it really is a docu-drama. Or, as my father put it, it is the story of a clash of empires that actually occurred and in which the Jews played a pivotal role.
Here is what Dr. David Neiman z”l thought: “The story of Purim is an account of the historical events related in the Scroll of Esther. Biblical scholars have always had a problem with this story and other biblical narratives which are beautifully written. It is as if the perfection of the literary work leads them to doubt its historical accuracy.” A portion of his audio lecture, The Politics of Purim is available online.
Our Purim traditions — masquerading, using noisemakers and getting drunk — are rooted in pre-Biblical pagan rites and our region’s archeological sites yield historical proof. In honor of the Purim holiday, the Israel Antiquities Authority has posted an online exhibition of ancient masks and rattles.
There is no clear historical moment that divides between the use of masks for ritual and for theater. But given their era, the masks presented by the IAA were definitely intended for ritual use.
Mask – image of a man, from Akhziv. Photograph: Miki Koren, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Mask from Nahal Hemer cave. Photograph: Nahum Selpak, courtesy of the Israel Museum.
Grotesque mask from Akhziv. Photograph: Miki Koren, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Ancient rattles are known from the third millennium BCE to the first century BCE. It is believed they were used primarily for ritual purposes. Clay rattles that contain small stones or other materials for making noise have been found in archaeological excavations all over the country.
Rattle from the City of David. Photograph: Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Rattle from Hazor. Photograph: Clara Amit, courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
For more on the historical background of the Jews of Persia, The Book of Esther and life in ancient Persia – including the best pony express in the ancient world:
My first Adloyada
Earlier in the week I attended my local Purim Parade (Adloyada – See Rachel’s always excellent and entertaining Nostalgia Sunday piece here). I don’t like parades. Never got them and standing on the side of the road, often in extreme weather, as sub-mediocre bands and masses of children waving walk by isn’t exactly how I like to spend my mornings. Yes, I’m a cynic. Have been for quite some time now. But I am willing to concede that witnessing life through my young daughter’s eyes is starting to lift the veil a bit and is having, ahem, a somewhat profound effect on me.
As we approached the crowd my daughter, dressed as a bumblebee, grew visibly excited with a highly curious “I don’t know what’s going on here” look. My city’s parade is not a glamorous affair. Most of the marchers are from local schools, clubs and sports teams. This didn’t stop her from demonstrating her excitement. “Boys!” she exclaimed as a group of young basketball players ran by dribbling. “Dancing!” she screamed as one of the local dance troupes pranced along as she did a little spin of her own. “Mah Zeh! (Hebrew for “what’s that?”) she asked as a guy dressed in a horrible Shrek costume with his underwear hanging out walked bye.
The Democratic School of Modi’in marched in Gilad Shalit t-shirts and carried banners promoting awareness that even on this happy and celebratory day, Shilat is still in captivity. Thankfully, my little bumblebee didn’t ask about them, because honestly, I wouldn’t know what to say.
Nostalgia Sunday on Tuesday – Adloyada
Filed under: Art, General, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture
Apologies for the delay in posting; this was due to circumstances far beyond my control. Whew. Okay. A moment before the Purim holiday ends, let’s take a look at days gone by, in particular the Adloyada parade.
“Adloyada” is a bastardization of the phrase “ad lo yada” or “unable to differentiate”, referring to the Purim tradition of drinking until one is unable to tell the difference between evil Haman and good Mordechai. The parade was instituted in 1912, in Tel Aviv, the first modern Jewish city, by a teacher at the Herzliya Gymnasium high school and became the stomping ground for Hevre Trask (“the noisy folks”), a band of merrymaking bohemians.
In the 1920s, the event had its profile raised by dancer-choreographer and bon vivant Baruch Agadati. Here he is, the crown prince of of Tel Aviv night life in the 1920s, pictured with Zippora Zabari, winner of the “Queen Esther” beauty contest for 1928.
And another Purim lovely:
And here’s a picture of the parade itself, which was famous for its floats.
It had the support of Mayor Meir Dizengoff. This costume parodied his well-known penchant for riding around town on a horse.
At the end of the 1920s, a committee of artists, poets, architects and theater people was established with the stated goal of giving the Adloyada a higher educational and artistic tone, and it became something of an establishment tool.
Adloyada floats never shied away from politics, such as the 1926 coffin burying the British Mandate, and the 1934 anti-Nazism float. The event ceased activity in 1936 but after it was reestablished in the 1950s, the topical subjects continued. Here’s Egypt’s Gamal Abdul Nasser and David Ben-Gurion, acting out a prime ministerial summit that never happened in reality… as far as we know…
The Adloyada shut down, once again, in the 1970s and was revived, once again in the early 1980s by the Sheinkin avant garde, led by a stellar performance artist, the late Danny Zakheim. This time, the tone was different and probably more like that of the original Adloyada of the 1920s – a punk street fair bacchanal that went on for days. Here’s Mayor Shlomo Lahat venturing into unknown territory.
There are a few parades today calling themselves Adloyada. Holon – a sleepy suburb with ambitions to become Israel’s new center of the visual arts – has apparently been deemed the location for the national Adloyada. But the real deal has been and always will be Tel Aviv. It’s only a matter of time before the Adloyada comes back home.
Celebrating Purim
Filed under: Food, History and Culture, Holidays, Israeliness, Life
It’s Purim time, and here’s a couple photos from our annual Megilla reading. My family belongs to an egalitarian ‘havura’ – one of dozens around the country connected to the Masorti Movement (Conservative in the US).
About 50 revelrers gathered to hear the mitzvah of the reading, which was shared this year by Rachel, a member of our congregation who learned how to read the Megillah for the first time, and by Liron, a rabbinical student from the Conservative seminary – Neve Shechter – in Jerusalem. There was a lively Purim quiz in between chapters for the children, and some major nosh time after with oznei haman (Hamentuschen) and drinks.
These days, with Iran and Hamas and Hizbullah breathing down our shoulders, it’s always reassuring to hear the story of how an enemy of the Jewish people got his just rewards. Happy Purim to all.
A green Purim (not what you think)
The holiday of Purim for me was once synonymous with debauchery, chaos and wilding. Obviously as I matured in the thirtysomething adult that I am today getting rip roaring drunk until I was unable to distinguish between good and evil became a less of a priority. I was thinking last night about my previous Purim celebrations and experiences.
Back in the spring of 2005 (right on Purim) roughly 3000 thousand of Irish football fans (that’s soccer to you Americans) fell in one big swoop on Tel Aviv. The Israel-Ireland World Cup qualifying match was held in Tel Aviv. The Irish football fans are known for their undying dedication to their team and will follow them anywhere to support them. Tel Aviv, to their credit, welcomed the Irish with open arms. I recall the weather being beautiful and the beach and promenade was packed with Israelis and Irishmen alike (way too easy telling them apart). The cultural differences were apparent though. The Israelis were enjoying coffee in the cafes that line the beach while the pubs across the treat were filled to the brim with the Irish with glasses…well..for a lack of better expression…filled to the brim. But it wasn’t a completely segregated scene. I saw many Israelis reveling and shmoozing with the Irish folk in the bars and one too many pasty Irishman soaking in the sun’s rays on the beach. I also witnessed random Israelis approaching green-clad Irishmen and striking up conversations. The vibes and the atmosphere were terrific.
The Irish in Tel Aviv seemed to really be enjoying Purim. Purim celebrates the foiling of a plot against the Jews by the wicked Haman. Most Jewish holidays have the same theme. They tried to kill us all, let’s eat. The Irish are equally consistent. It’s a holiday, let’s drink.
Happy Purim to all
It’s Purim tomorrow, and the mayhem has already begun. Kids across the country dressed up this morning ready to take to school in whatever outfits they had dreamed up – anything from male tooth fairies, to hippies, football stars, or dinosaurs.
After a wild weekend of raiding cupboards, empty toy shops, and friends’ homes, we were up at 6am, brushing wigs, combing out beards, and drawing wrinkles with my best eye liner on one child, and nuclear disarmament symbols on another. Ah, I love this holiday.
So in honor of Purim, here’s a video ISRAEL21c took last year, which gives you a flavor of what this whacky holiday is about.
Foto Friday – Paws for Purim
Filed under: Foto Friday, General, Holidays, Pop Culture
Dogs never demand to be put in a Purim costume. And yet, since dog owners persist in dressing up their four-legged friends, Israeli pet-owner portal Hav-Hav has decided to put them on show. (“Hav-hav”, by the way, is the Hebrew equivalent of “bow-wow”). The fourth annual Hapess Ta’Kelev competition will be held on March 11th, at the Renanim Mall in Ra’anana. That gives Fido a few more days to come up with a costume idea. It’s definitely worthwhile, because the prize is a year’s worth of gear and food from pet store chain Jungle.
But you have to register by submitting photos – and here’s some of the competition. More can be found here.
This royal fellow is a winner from a few years back.
Another winner from previous years… clearly channeling “I Dream of Jeanie”…
Okay, this one may be bordering on the inhumane.
The competition name, by the way, Hapess Ta’Kelev is a play on words with one meaning being something like “dress up yer dog” and the other being “go find yer dog.” Take my word for it – the pun works in Hebrew. And hav-hav a happy Purim, everyone!
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