Primary News
Hagit Bar-on Head of Hebrew K-6 and Jewish Studies Coordinator K-2
They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!
Shalom everyone,
This week was an exciting one as it is the happiest time in the Jewish Calendar. We celebrated Purim at school on Thursday.
All students were thrilled to show off their fancy dresses and delighted to engage in face-to-face activities.
We planned a busy active and engaging day which started with a Fashion Parade, continued with some Purim related workshops, and included an extravaganza of a Purim play performed by the Hebrew teachers and conducted by our talented drama expert: Anna Maylis.
Purim was very special this year, as it was the first Jewish Festival that we could celebrate face to face after two years of Covid.
If you wonder what the story of Purim is all about, I have included the story below ( in a nutshell).
However, as it is with every Jewish Festival and as Alan King once said:
A summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!
I hope you will have many celebrations this weekend, eat lots of Oznei Haman (Hamantaschen) and enjoy each other in various feasts. Donāt forget the two of the most important Mitsvot in Purim are to listen to the Megilah reading and being Happy.
Happy Purim everyone (Purim Sameach)
The story of Purim in a nutshell
begins when King Ahasuerus (also spelled Achashverosh, ××ש××Ø×ש) commands his wife, Queen Vashti, to appear before him and his party guests. She refuses and, as a result, King Ahasuerus decides to find another queen. Esther, a young Jewish girl, is selected to be the new queen.
Esther is portrayed as an orphan belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, and she lives with her cousin Mordechai as a member of the Jewish exiles in Persia. At her cousin’s behest, Esther conceals her Jewish identity from the king.
Not long after Esther becomes queen, Mordechai offends the grand vizier, Haman, by refusing to bow down to him. Haman decides to punish not only Mordechai but all Jews for this slight. He informs King Ahasuerus that if the Jews do not obey the king’s laws, it would be in the kingdom’s best interest to get rid of them. He asks for permission to destroy them, which the king grants.Ā
Mordechai urges Esther to take action saying that perhaps she become queen so that she could save her people. Esther decides to fast before taking action and requests that her fellow Jews fast along with her, and this is where the minor Fast of EstherĀ comes from.
After fasting for three days, Esther puts on her finest clothes and appears before the king. He is pleased to see her and asks what she desires. She replies that she would like the king and Haman to join her at a banquet.
At the banquet, King Ahasuerus asks his wife again, what does she desire? She answers:
“If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life ā this is my petition. And spare my people ā this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated” (Esther 7:3).
The king is outraged that anyone would dare threaten his queen and when he asks who has done such a thing, Esther declares that Haman is to blame.
Mordecai declares that the victory is remembered every year, and the celebration is called Purim because Haman cast theĀ purĀ (meaning “lot”) against the Jews, yet failed to destroy them.
Thank you to Sharon Arnott for these photographs!
