פורימ!

god, i love holidays. not only does school shut down but there are seasonal/holiday goodies that are super delicious and addictive. purim is a celebration of the liberation of jews from the evil emperor haman, who wanted to decimate them and picked a day by drawing lots. this story comes from the book of esther, which is read as a part of the celebration (מגילה). during the reading, children and adults alike hold noisemakers so when the name haman is read, the audience shakes the noisemakers, stomp their feet, or hiss.

in the story, king ahasuerus throws a drinking festival for his provinces. he gets so drunk that he demands his wife, queen vashti to display her beauty for everyone to see. when she refuses, she is beheaded and king ahasuerus orders all the young women to be presented to him so he may pick another wife. among the women was esther, a jewish orphan, who changes her name to disguise her jewish ancestry. the king finds her favorable and picks her to be his wife. soon after, the king appoints haman as his prime minister. when mordechai, esther's cousin, refuse to show him respect, haman plans to kill not just mordechai but every jewish person in the empire. haman receives permission from the king and draws lots to decide on the day. when queen esther hears of this, she throws a party for haman with the king present. they are invited to a subsequent party the next night. that night, the king can't fall asleep and learns that mordechai had saved his life before and wasn't properly awarded. haman enters and the king asks what he should do to honor a man. thinking that the man is the king himself, haman replies that the man should be dressed in the finest clothes and paraded around on the king's horse. haman is furious when he learns the man is mordechai. at the second party, esther reveals to the king and haman that she is jewish and that haman is planning to exterminate her people. haman is hanged and esther and mordechai write a decree in which the jews can defend themselves in an attack. as a result, many attackers and ten of haman's sons were killed.

purim is also considered by some to be the jewish halloween. during the holidays, which can span from 2-4 days depending on the jewish calendar, everybody dresses up and parade around the city center and anywhere. the holiday consists of the megilla reading, sending food gifts to friends, charity for the poor, and a celebration dinner. there is also a saying that 'on purim everything is allowed.' there is also a considerable amount of drinking as one should imbibe until one cannot tell the difference between two sayings in the talmud... or even until one cannot recognize the other.

my favorite party of purim is the hamentaschens. they are these triangular buttery cookies with hidden fillings inside. they are supposed to resemble haman's hat or his ears. people aren't sure which it is. nevertheless, they are yummy and i will be indulging in these for purim!

EDIT: i went to the bezalel's jungle party in some parking lot by givat ram. holy crap, israelis are crazy. i told my suitemate's friend and he told me that what i experienced was not a good israeli party/club scene. i saw lots of guys dressed in womans' clothing and the music sucked. after 00:30, the party turned into some nightmarish trance club with many people in masks. several grabbed me and screamed in my ear. wtf? and i came home smelling like cigarettes and semi-covered in spilt beer. how lovely.