Hamantashen are divisive cookies. Named after the Purim story’s villain, Haman, the triangle confections are supposed to resemble either his hat or his ears, depending who you ask — and many consider the often dry and crumbly cookie about as appetizing. Defending their honor is even part of the famed Latke-Hamantash Debate. (The Forward staff…
Ever wonder what Ashkenazi Jews baked for Purim, aside from homentashen? Learn about it in this special Purim edition of “Yiddish Word of the Day” by Forverts editor Rukhl Schaechter. You’ll also hear how to pronounce the names of the characters in the megillah, the story of Purim, in Yiddish, as well as a couple…
Funny. Musical. Irreverent. These aren’t words we typically associate with synagogue, but Purim isn’t your typical holiday. Don’t call it “Jewish Halloween.” It’s not. Just because we wear costumes on both holidays doesn’t mean one has anything to do with the other. For centuries, theater has been used as satire and political commentary. The Purim…
For many Jews, Purim may be the holiday when five-year-olds dress up like Queen Esther and 25-year-olds drink “until they can’t tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman,” but in recent years, the holiday has taken on a new meaning. For some, the story of Purim has come to embody the potential of the Jewish…
The Jewish holidays remind me of my old vinyl records: They have an A-side and a B-side. The origin of the holiday and the rituals for observing it, as I imagine it, are on the A-side. On the B-side is my personal relationship with the holiday. For example, the A-side of Sukkot is found in…
Purim has often been dubbed the “Jewish Halloween.” For Jeremy Sarnat, last year’s holiday was particularly scary. Friends in his Atlanta neighborhood were delivering the traditional festive food baskets and he was afraid to open them. It was in the very early days of the pandemic when epidemiologists were still honing in on how the…
Purim 2021 will be a tamer affair than what we’re used to. While 2020’s festival was the last dangerous gasp of the old normal — replete with mixed drinks and droplets for many — we now know what we’re dealing with. COVID is determined to put a damper on our typical revels. But then, we’ve…
Our Purim plans are hanging in mid-air right now, thanks to coronavirus. Our school’s Purim carnival was canceled, and while services are still on and school is open — the anxiety is high. Definitely no bobbing for apples this year. With some New York-area Jewish day schools closing in recent days, there’s a lot of…
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