Purim!!

Everyone's favorite holiday came and went; who doesn't love Purim??!!  For those of you who don't know, Purim is the day Jews celebrate the historical liberation from a death decree that occured thousands of years ago in Persia.  The story is a lot more interesting than I am making it out to be, which is why each year we read the story twice, once by night and then again by day.  We prepare weeks in advance, shopping for costumes and buying the vessels and fillers for our mishloach manot, the little packages that we deliver to friends and family on Purim day. 

 This year our preparations began weeks in advance with the ordering of costumes online.  While our children decided to be a tiger, a soldier, Thor, and John Lennon, my husband and I decided to dress up as Waldo and Wenda from the "Where's Waldo?" book series.  Our presentation didn't stop at the costumes though; in fact, they were just the beginning.  We shipped red and white striped gift bags from the US and filled them with red licorice, red and white candy dog bones (Waldo owns a dog who dons and red and white striped sweater), cola, and a few other assorted goodies.  We threw in our homemade cherry hamantashen, special three-pointed cookies symbolic for the holiday.  We finished it off with a tag that read "Hope you FIND your Purim to be joyful!!" We were pleased with the outcome; thematic projects are favorites of ours.

There is another custom on Purim that is a bit lesser known:  It is a tradition to imbibe in wine and other spirits to capture the essence of the holiday, as Queen Esther of Persia plied the king with alcohol before attempting to plead for the lives of her people, the Jewish people.  Of course, this custom is one that is taken quite seriously.  We do what we must........

If you are living up to tradition you probably don't want to find yourself in the company of my son, who decided to film various individuals observing the holiday to the fullest.  Luckily, the gentleman he was filming had the good sense to swearing my son against posting the video on Facebook.  YouTube, however, is a distinct possibility.

One important part of the holiday is giving to the poor.  Some give to organizations who distribute the money to needy families while others give directly to the needy.  In Israel it is not difficult to find families in dire need of help in providing basic necessities.  In America we made our rounds delivering packages to friends and teachers, each package more fancy than the last.  Truly there was little thought given to the poor, as there were rarely any living in close proximity in our affluent neighborhood.  In Israel the focus is more centered on the deed, as the needy live among us.  They are our friends and our neighbors.  

In the middle of this happy time, amidst the celebrations of the Jewish people, there are occasional moments of fear, of sorrow.  During the past two weeks, the funeral of a friend, the young mother of two of my children's friends, was a sharp contrast to the building joy.  Another young mother with a new baby faced brain surgery to remove a tumor which is yet to be diagnosed.  The community rallies together to face the joys and the sorrows of life, a blessing to behold.  Communal unity can make one's spirit soar, brotherly love the sweetest glue that holds our collective heart together.

Our counters are piled high with treats from the packages we received.  The magical day will become a blur soon as life returns to normal.  Our Passover preparations begin now, as the house will be cleaned from top to bottom, every corner purged of leavened bread products, before we sit down to our seder meal one month from now.  In the meantime, my family glows in the aftermath of the crazy yet loving Purim festivities.  

How we will ever finish up all these goodies by Passover, I just don't know........