Jewish Reconstructionist Federation

Purim falls this year on Thursday night March 20 to Friday, March 21, 2008. This is a leap year in the Jewish calendar and the extra month is "Adar I" and Purim gets pushed back to Adar II.

Enjoy these articles. When you see the upside down, "It's Adar" logo please be suspect of any facts in the article!

Don't miss out on the great offerings of Purim resources from our resources library!

Rabbi Kevin Hale laying out the Megillat Esther scroll

An Unusual Megillah
By Marissa Brostoff

This article originally appeared in The Forward and is reprinted with permission.

The Scroll of Esther is getting a makeover from several kids in Pennsylvania, a Reconstructionist scribe and a computer graphics program.

Congregation Or Hadash, a small Reconstructionist synagogue located in the Philadelphia suburb of Fort Washington, has commissioned a sofer to create a megillah that incorporates drawings by students in its religious school.

Future King Witnesses Megillah ReadingI had a great time at Purim this year where the Reconstructionist Dorshei Derekh minyan celebrated together with Minyan Masorti which is Conservative.

I took some pics. I'm sharing some of them here. Please share your pics here as well. You need to be logged in to this site in order to do so.

Make sure it's okay with the person you photographed for you to submit their photo.

Once logged in click the Add Content or create content links. Select "Image" and then make sure to select "Purim 5767/2007" from the drop down menu when you are filling in the form. E-mail me if you are having any trouble. I can't wait to see your pics.

Inspired by two recent New York Times stories, in my never-ending quest to be of service to the JRF, I arranged for two teams of crack researchers in New York, one from Mt. Sinai Hospital and the other from Columbia-Presbyterian, to study DNA samples obtained from Mordecai Kaplan’s tallit katan. The results are now in, and I am proud to announce that they prove, within the usual bounds of statistical certainty, that Kaplan was in fact a direct descendant of Jesus of Nazareth.

Dr. Carl Sheingold Informing JRF Staff of Upcoming Changes[This is a work of fiction and is presented with great respect for all the streams within Judaism. Ed.] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported today that leaders from the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation and Chabad Lubavitch will be announcing the merger of their movements in a press conference scheduled for this Sunday, March 4, the 15th of Adar.

Sources close to the negotiations were amazed by the exuberance, nay euphoria, expressed by professionals and lay people of the two organizations.

"No one is going to believe this!" giggled JRF's Executive Vice President Dr. Carl Sheingold. Negotiators from Chabad's international headquarters reportedly led all the negotiators in raucous song and dance. One said, "To bring liberal Jews under the wings of halacha (Jewish law) is definite proof that the Moshiach (messiah) is coming soon!"

Dr. Carl Sheingold explaining to JRF staff some of the practical issues relating to the impending merger with Chabad. Isaac Saposnik appears to be eating quickly to finish up some food that, though vegetarian, was not under kosher supervision and therefore won't be allowed in the new era. Rabbi Nancy Epstein is taking notes diligently. She was reported as saying, "I like trying new things." Rabbi Shawn Zevit was enthusiastic about the collaborations that might be possible. He was looking forward to bringing his "Values-baseed Decision Making" toolbox from Chabad house to Chabad house. Read the news article.

The Slow of Esther (One)

Esther was preparing to become a hero.
Esther was becoming a hero.
And she did this by not eating for three days??

That doesn’t quite sit right with me.

Esther was getting in touch with herself, her voice, her power.

Maybe she had to take time for herself, to grow into herself. Maybe formal palace meals were big occasions, and she stayed away from them for a few days while she gathered her courage and formulated her plan. Maybe that's what "fasting" meant.

In this teaching Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Congregation B'nai Keshet in Montclair, NJ teaches about our need to acknowledge the limits of our control:

Purim reminds us that much in life is a matter of chance. Where we are born, who our parents are, the friends we meet, what we look like, etc. are all things that are either completely or mostly out of our control. We work hard to exert control in those areas that we can but it is just as important to learn how to roll with the punches and how to accept our blessings.

Read more about this lesson and three others!

This short article is reported to have been written by the wife of King Ahasuerus’ Chamberlain Hatach, food editor of the The Persian Village Voice. Unfortunately we were only able to obtain an excerpt and not the whole megillah.

(10 Adar, Shushan) The Kingdom is still abuzz with the news of the delectable two-night private banquet commissioned by Queen Esther of Shushan for her husband, King Ahasuerus of Persia. Word has it that the idea for the feast came to the Queen while donning her royal apparel in the inner court of the palace: "I thought, heck--why not have a wine feast? The King drinks an awful lot of wine and it's been forever since I've gotten to entertain in my own house."

Rabbi Brant Rosen
[Note about Purim and the traditions of humor in the weeks leading up to it. Ed.]

Though we Jews do alright in the moral exemplar department, it must be admitted that we’ve been known to induce wincing on occasion. Yes, it’s time for:

Rabbi Rosen’s “Shandeh for the Goyim Awards” (aka “Jews Behaving Badly”)