"Squeeze the World"
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
hkag purim sameahk
Today I shall leave my charges and take leave to Zion. I love how romantic that sounds. “Today I shall stand on God's holy mountain.” Anyway, it should be a fun trip and a nice break from the constant responsibility I've had over the last month. I'm also traveling to Bersheva soon, so I don't know when I'll be able to update again. So as a gift, I give you a summary of the latest Jewish Holy Day!
Purim is the celebration of Esther saving the Jewish people from massive genocide while under Persian rule. If you need to know more about the story, I suggest the VeggieTales movie based on it, or you can read it for yourself. It's in the book called “Esther” in the Bible. Fun fact! Madonna, who claims she's into Kabala (Jewish mysticism), has taken on the name Esther. Apparently she doesn't realize that that is a Persian name. Esther's Jewish name is Hadassah, which is much less flashy and Madonna-esque. I find this very appropriate.
Purim is celebrated much in the way of most Jewish holidays, large gatherings with big meals, but this has a special twist. We Americans refer to it as a Jewish Halloween. Every little shop I walk by has loads of little princess dresses hanging up everywhere with scandalous adult costumes on the side. It's kind of odd, really. One person joked that American distributors send all the unsold Halloween gear to Israel.
Also, they have a special cookie for the season, “haman's hashan” or something like that. Literally it means Haman's ear, but I've heard that it's supposed to look like Haman's hat. If that was true, why would it be called an ear? It still confuses me. Also, for those unfamiliar with the story, Haman was the antagonist who was very evil and sneaky, but got what he deserved in the end.
So, there's your latest Jewish Holy Day for the season. I hope you enjoyed it, and here are some pictures for reference:
store
cookies!
Purim is the celebration of Esther saving the Jewish people from massive genocide while under Persian rule. If you need to know more about the story, I suggest the VeggieTales movie based on it, or you can read it for yourself. It's in the book called “Esther” in the Bible. Fun fact! Madonna, who claims she's into Kabala (Jewish mysticism), has taken on the name Esther. Apparently she doesn't realize that that is a Persian name. Esther's Jewish name is Hadassah, which is much less flashy and Madonna-esque. I find this very appropriate.
Purim is celebrated much in the way of most Jewish holidays, large gatherings with big meals, but this has a special twist. We Americans refer to it as a Jewish Halloween. Every little shop I walk by has loads of little princess dresses hanging up everywhere with scandalous adult costumes on the side. It's kind of odd, really. One person joked that American distributors send all the unsold Halloween gear to Israel.
Also, they have a special cookie for the season, “haman's hashan” or something like that. Literally it means Haman's ear, but I've heard that it's supposed to look like Haman's hat. If that was true, why would it be called an ear? It still confuses me. Also, for those unfamiliar with the story, Haman was the antagonist who was very evil and sneaky, but got what he deserved in the end.
So, there's your latest Jewish Holy Day for the season. I hope you enjoyed it, and here are some pictures for reference:
store
cookies!
A, 11:14 PM
1 Comments:
Another great option is to watch "One Night with the King" - just released on DVD. It was in the theaters in December. It was well done and has great scenery and costumes.
