Ma Koreh

Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Life Primary

Primary Purim celebrations

When everyone arrived at school it was like a Purim dressing-up blessing had been put upon Emanuel. People were dressed as presents, cavemen, pop stars, story characters, as angels and devils and much, much more. We all had a chance to parade our costumes, sing Purim songs and dance to songs like I Got This Feeling and Bills.

Everyone had the chance to make their own oznai haman. After being instructed by Morah Erika on how to make them, we were all so excited to grab a spot on the table with a friend and start making them, with chocolate inside. Yum!

Students in Years 1-6 participated in a Purim Adventure that required them to work as groups to solve puzzles and complete challenges, earning pieces of the Megillah puzzle and eventually solve the Purim mystery. With our teacher mentor, we worked collaboratively to complete fun activities that taught us more about Purim whilst trying to defeat Haman and spoil his evil plan.

The activities were really fun as we learnt a lot more about Purim and each other. It is a mitzvah to hear the Megillah and Purim story and we enjoyed a Purim play and megillah reading performed by the Jewish Life teachers. The performance included a slideshow, images from the Purim story, sections of Megillah text and a great soundtrack. Morah Gaida chanted parts of the Megillah and the teachers had fun dressing up and performing a humorous interpretation of the story. There was great audience participation with students singing, dancing and interacting with the actors, with everyone singing and dancing when the song Another One Bites the Dust played at the end to represent Haman’s grudge against Mordechai and the Jewish people.

Year 6 leaders helped the little ones in Years K-2 with some of their Purim activities, folding the JCA mishloach boxes, making ra’ashanim and helping make their masks. We also got to play Purim Bingo, sing Purim songs and dance. It was lots of fun being with the students, helping them and seeing them in their cute costumes.