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PunkTorah’s Virtual Mishloach Manot

March 3, 2015 by Patrick Beaulier

hamentashen

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

Filed Under: Purim, Rants Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, hamentaschen, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, Purim, purim kids, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

Adar: Food as Transformation

March 3, 2015 by Ketzirah

fruit-basket-free-picture

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…]

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Judaism & Belief, Purim Tagged With: adar, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, food, ketzirah, kohenet, mishloach manot, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, peelapom, punktorah, Purim, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, shalach manot, social justice

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.

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Judaism & Belief, Purim, Shabbat & Holidays Tagged With: convert to judaism, darshan yeshiva, drinking, embodied practices, Esther, food, haman, hamantaschen, kohenet, Mordechai, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, Purim, purim shpiel, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, ritual, talmud, traditions

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

February 21, 2013 by Patrick Beaulier

Masks-masquerade-8146658-1024-768.jpeg

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…]

Filed Under: Jewish Kids, Purim Tagged With: children purim, childrens purim, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, kids purim, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, Purim, purim costumes, purim for kids, purim lesson plan, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

Paper Plate Purim Masks

February 5, 2013 by Patrick Beaulier

picture 1

Purim is all about dressing up and having fun!
These fun masks are easy for children to customise themselves and with a bit of imagination you can dress up as absolutely anyone!

You will need:

  • A paper plate
  • scissors
  • ribbons
  • crayons
  • sticky gems or buttons

picture 2

Cut a mask shape into your paper plate. We left space for the nose and later added holes for the eyes.

Cut the top of the mask into the right shape for your costume. Rivka wanted to dress up as Queen Esther so we cut a crown shape into the top of the mask, but you can add horns or antennae, too..

picture 4

Now you just have to fill in the details and decorate your mask, we added shiny gems, eyebrows, eyelashes and a crown, but you could add an eyepatch, spots or glitter and feathers, too! Have fun! Chag Purim Sameach!

Miri is a joyfully Jewish homeschooling mother of three and lives with her husband and children [Read more…]

Filed Under: Jewish Kids, Purim Tagged With: childrens purim costume, convert to judaism, darshan yeshiva, how to make a mask, how to make a purim mask, jewish crafts, kids purim costume, kids purim crafts, paper plate mask, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, Purim, purim costume, purim crafts, purim for kids, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier

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