Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Purim
Hag Sameach (happy holiday)! We just celebrated the most fun holiday - Purim. Purim is sort of like a Jewish Halloween with costumes, but it's more joyous with less horror. In America, Purim has become a children's holiday with cute costumes, story telling, cookies and home in time for bedtime. Here in Israel, everyone celebrates. Adults were more dressed up than their children and there were activities, both religious and secular, all over the city. This has been my absolute favorite part of Israel.
The holiday is two days long, but here in Israel, they celebrate for many days. Here are some pictures of the shuk (market behind our house) 2 days before Purim:
Here are our costumes. I dressed as Rosie the Riveter and got LOTS of compliments. You can also see our soon-to-be-married friends Donna and Josh (can you tell which one is the actual woman?). Jamie is a Magic 8 Ball.
It is traditional to put on a funny play for Purim called a Schpiel. It is also traditional to make fun of the characters in the Purim story and any leaders and just about anyone (often lots of jokes about the president, teachers, rabbis, etc). Here is a scene from the play with Jamie and Josh. They are being the orthodox version of the Roxbury Brothers from Saturday Night Live.
After the show, we hit the street to see what was going on. The bars and streets were packed. Here's a picture of some friends at a pizza joint and of Ben Yehuda Street (a main nightlife point) around midnight. Look at the back and you can see how many people are out.
Purim is two days long. On the second day, we hit a night time street fair, full of costumes, music, food and of course beer. The highlight of the evening was a free concert by Hadag Nahash (if you've been following along with our blog, you may remember this band from when I went to the Gay Pride Festival).
The holiday is two days long, but here in Israel, they celebrate for many days. Here are some pictures of the shuk (market behind our house) 2 days before Purim:
Here are our costumes. I dressed as Rosie the Riveter and got LOTS of compliments. You can also see our soon-to-be-married friends Donna and Josh (can you tell which one is the actual woman?). Jamie is a Magic 8 Ball.
It is traditional to put on a funny play for Purim called a Schpiel. It is also traditional to make fun of the characters in the Purim story and any leaders and just about anyone (often lots of jokes about the president, teachers, rabbis, etc). Here is a scene from the play with Jamie and Josh. They are being the orthodox version of the Roxbury Brothers from Saturday Night Live.
After the show, we hit the street to see what was going on. The bars and streets were packed. Here's a picture of some friends at a pizza joint and of Ben Yehuda Street (a main nightlife point) around midnight. Look at the back and you can see how many people are out.
Purim is two days long. On the second day, we hit a night time street fair, full of costumes, music, food and of course beer. The highlight of the evening was a free concert by Hadag Nahash (if you've been following along with our blog, you may remember this band from when I went to the Gay Pride Festival).
