Purim

PunkTorah’s Virtual Mishloach Manot

March 3, 2015 By punktorah

Every Purim we give mishloach manot, little goodie bags filled with cookies, candies, airplane bottles of booze…you know, whatever you are into.

Unfortunately, an online community doesn’t have virtual mishloach manot. And while 3D printers can do amazing things, we haven’t managed to find one that can bake the perfect poppyseed hamentaschen from digital schematics.

So instead, we offer you this grab bag of of favorite Purim treats on PunkTorah. And since giving tzedakah is part of the Purim experience, we hope you’ll give a suggested $18.00 donation to support all our hard work providing Jewish community to over 300,000 people every year.

Recipes

Almond Hamentaschen Recipe

Learning

Kid Friendly Feminist Purim Lesson Plan

Adar: Food As Transformation

For Kids

Paper Plate Hamentaschen and Purim Masks

Other Fun Stuff

Purim Shpiel with Ketzirah

If You Only Come To Shul Twice A Year

Adar: Food as Transformation

March 3, 2015 By Ketzirah

What so many of us know about the holiday of Purim is what we can remember from the reading of the Megilah, getting to scream and yell in Synagogue, and, well, getting really…really….lit. Nothing like a Jewish holiday where we are actually supposed to get drunk and party. Yes. It’s the Jewish Mardi Gras.

All of that is amazing, fun and good.

But there is another tradition of Purim that I think we should all be talking about and more importantly DOING: Mishloach Manot (aka Shalach Manot).

Simply, this mitzvah is about the giving of two kinds of food gifts to someone. Mostly now it seems to be about giving a couple of kinds of hamentaschen to your grandmother. But there is such a clearer, deeper reason for this. Purim falls just as the winter is coming to an end. The time when in another era, in [Read more…]

Adar: Enter the Purim Shpiel

March 3, 2015 By Ketzirah

Yes — it’s time for Purim! Who doesn’t love Purim? They tried to kill us, they failed, we kicked their @$$ to the 7th generation — LET’S PARTY!!!!

Over on my own site, I waxed poetic (and ritual) about the hamantaschen. Over at , you can find some great hamantaschen recipe. Here at PunkTorah — I want to talk Purim Shpiel. Next to Passover, Purim is one of our most accessible and fun holidays and like Passover, it’s also serious. The Purim Shpiel is the tradition of doing a humorous play that mocks our enemies. Jews do love comedy, after all.

For years, I threw a killer Purim Shpiel at my house. I just called it a Purim party — but it was all the same. It’s amazing how awesome a party where everyone gets lit and acts out the bible while I read it can be. It was also always a huge opportunity for learning. I always read the JPS translation — and all the way through.

When we hit the end one year, my sister started to yell that I was making up the part where we slaughter Haman’s extended family. She didn’t remember that from Purim as a child. A HUGE debate ensued about this and whether or not they actually read the whole Megillah at our childhood synagogue and how this changed our impression of the holiday.

But seriously — when can you read the bible to people without seeming creepy? It’s awesome!

Here’s how I do it. I have some props that are for each main character and either asked friends who wanted to be whom, or in the true spirit of Purim, had them draw lots for parts. If people were unfamiliar with the characters, I would do a quick explanation. Everyone who didn’t play a part, had groggers and other noise makers — plus they got to drink.

Then I just start reading, and my friends act out any interpretation of what I’m saying they like. I can assure you, we had some fascinating interpretations going. I remember a prissy, pissy french Haman. One time it turned out the hidden story was that Haman was jealous of Vashti’s awesome gold/velvet stole. And well, Esther bowing before the King’s “golden scepter” lead to a not so family friendly interpretation of how Esther saved her people….

This year — invite your friends over and read the bible to them. Read the whole Megillah — word for word. Drink — you are obligated by Jewish law to eat, drink and be merry. Seriously — this is the only holiday where you are obligated to have fun. Take the opportunity to see what you can learn from the reveling and topsy-turvy experience of Purim.

———–

Ketzirah is a Kohenet, Celebrant, and Artist. She works with individuals and groups to explore, discover, and create meaningful rituals and ritual artwork to mark moments in life.

If You Only Come to Shul Twice a Year…

March 2, 2015 By Leon Adato

Editor’s note: while High Holidays are nowhere near our calendar right now, this old piece is important because it showcases what Purim means, as well as some timely advice for Jews who are unaffiliated.

Looking ahead toward the High Holidays, I imagine many Jews are considering (and perhaps dreading) what is – for them – a rare visit to synagogue. Arriving to find a large, anxious and somewhat impatient crowd (and on Yom Kippur add in “cranky from lack of food”), the entire experience justifies why one would want to stay away as much as possible.

If that’s your experience, then take my advice and do yourself a favor.

Don’t Go.

How can I say that? Isn’t it a sin to tell another Jew NOT to attend synagogue on the holiest days of the year? Stick with me, because I have a nefarious ulterior motive.

As you fight your way to an unfamiliar seat, I’ll be in that same crowd with you. I will be looking at the unfamiliar faces this year and feeling sorry for the experience they (ie: you) are having.

Trapped in a room where no amount of air conditioning could combat the heat of hundreds of bodies, sitting (and standing, and sitting again over and over seemingly without end or reason) through a service that may or may not be familiar, reading liturgy that is often humbling if not downright accusatory (“we have sinned” and “we are not worthy”). It’s easily enough to send anyone out of the building and straight to the nearest house of pancakes.

I want to stop the service for just a minute, and explain to the beleaguered visitors that on most weeks, there is room enough for people to change seats during the service so they can sit nearer (or further) from the action, or to just sit with friends and enjoy their closeness during prayer; On most Shabbats, the service clips along and the text is one of unbridled joy and peace and renewal; During the year, there is a “relaxed formality” in the room, where we are cognizant of the prayers we are saying, but laid back about kids coming and going, people coming in wearing shorts or sandals, and so on.

But it’s Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur. There is no realistic way to do that. I wonder if it would help even if I could.

I am reminded, however, of a quote by Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf, in his book “The One Hour Purim Primer.”.

The upshot is: if you are going to be a twice a year Jew, please please PLEASE make those two times a year be Purim and Simchat Torah. Come when there is joy, and celebration; when you are likely to walk away with a positive experience that will make you want to return more often.

“For Jewish kids whose parents only take them to synagogue twice a year, I would like to cast a vote in favor of those two days being Purim and Simchat Torah, not Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. When children – and adults – immerse themselves in the celebration of Purim one of the most important lessons they learn is that Jewish life incorporates the gamut of human emotional experience. Singing and dancing, costumes, fun and all around merrymaking are as integral to Judaism as charity, prayer and fasting. “

You can read the quote in its original context here.

(My nefarious ulterior motive exposed:) I want you to come at a time when you have such an amazing, engaging, interactive experience that you will WANT to come back again. And by the time next year rolls around and the High Holidays are upon us, you too will know that these two moments in time are not emblematic of the entire year. At that point you will understand that there is a beautiful rhythm – each point on the calendar flowing with unique levels of emotion, spirituality and effort; where some days (like Yom Kippur) are long and intense and require mental preparation. But others are so easy and fast that you feel a pang of regret when they are over. I want you to have a chance to see both ends of that spectrum, and everything in-between.

So if you are planning to be a “twice a year Jew“, please mark your calendars and I’ll plan to see you on the nights of October 20 (Simchat Torah) and March 7 (Purim). You can find me at the door, wearing the chicken costume (on Purim, at least) and pointing newcomers toward the cookies, schnaps and dancing.

(originally posted on The EdibleTorah)

Purim Lesson Plan: “That Vashti Thinks She’s the Queen of the Neighborhood” and Other Hot Purim Topics

February 21, 2013 By punktorah

This Purim, consider using the amazing lesson plan designed by Ariana Katz for PunkTorah. Download the PDF here.

Purim combines ritual, costume, profanity, silliness, community, and wildness that speaks to people of all ages. I often introduce Purim to people who are learning about it for the first time as “Jewish Halloween.” While that is in part true, there are so many different directions you can go in when studying Purim, that it expands far beyond that. The Jewish calendar provides so many rich opportunities to pray with our feet, to learn by doing, to follow in the path of the Israelites who say to Moses about God’s laws, “we will do and we will hear” (Exodus 23:7), and learn about tradition and values as we enact those very values. In a roundup of the values we’re learning as we celebrate Purim, I’ve thought about some of the different lenses we may [Read more…]

Contact info

Connect with us