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magidpurim is traditionally one of my favorite holidays - dressing up, giving food, making noise - what could be better?
in past years, i've burned through 3 or 4 costumes over the course of the day: a new costume at night; top hat and tails for the morning megillah (book of esther) reading, then one or two others from years past over the course of the day, depending on my schedule of mishloach manot delivery and purim seudah(s).
(note 1: mishloach manot are portions of food sent to a friend (or 2 or 3 or... the social implications can mean making dozens. at my worst, i made at least 50 packages, and was a basket case, schlepping it all to shul in the morning to give them all out. in recent years, in a burst of sanity, i decided to deliver mine after shul. if i don't know where you live, or if you're in a big building and i can't get to your door, well, sorry. this cut my list down considerably. last year, maybe 10. this year, i think 6-8 will do.
(the minimum is 2 kinds of food (as determined by the blessing before eating that food, ie 2 different blessings) to 1 person.))
(note 2: purim seudah = purim festive meal. this is frequently marked by excessive drinking, though this is not a requirement.)
this year, i find myself completely uninspired for a costume. it's depressing to think that this will be the first time i just grab a silly hat from the bin of silly hats and let it go at that. but nothing has popped into my mind.
(previous costumes have included:
* dressing up as the chapter of tractate sanhedrin i was learning: the 4 types of death the court can mete out, and kippa (really, if you want to know, i'd rather do it in person. it'll be easier, trust me).
* being a "purim math" teacher, with a 10-question quiz of math questions i gave out, all based on the numbers given in the megillah. (amazingly, no one did the quiz...)
* wearing a crown, and holding a koosh ball in one hand, a picture of a turkey in the other (for a really bad bilingual pun, about ruling from "hodu" (turkey) to "kush" (ethiopia)...).
and there have been others less idea-based, more for visual effect.)
then there's a purim meal. i'd planned, in absence of invitations, to take myself out to lunch, bringing a funny book along to read. which i may still do, since the invitation i just got today is for a meal starting while i'm planning on being at the diesel.
(really, it's becoming a bit more of a nuisance than i'd thought that i'm looking after z's baby from 2-3. otherwise, i'd go to the diesel earlier than usual, then go on to the seudah when it starts. but i don't want to skip going to the diesel at all...)
i just hope i get cheerier at the megillah reading tonight. i have the gragger (noise-maker) i made at the worcester jcc when i was about 8 :-).
and i'm thinking of going to the women's megillah reading, a first for me.
so, really, as long as i focus on the positives, it looks like it'll be good, though different than usual.
(and i have to start making for for the mishloach manot! i haven't done anything yet! eek!)
in past years, i've burned through 3 or 4 costumes over the course of the day: a new costume at night; top hat and tails for the morning megillah (book of esther) reading, then one or two others from years past over the course of the day, depending on my schedule of mishloach manot delivery and purim seudah(s).
(note 1: mishloach manot are portions of food sent to a friend (or 2 or 3 or... the social implications can mean making dozens. at my worst, i made at least 50 packages, and was a basket case, schlepping it all to shul in the morning to give them all out. in recent years, in a burst of sanity, i decided to deliver mine after shul. if i don't know where you live, or if you're in a big building and i can't get to your door, well, sorry. this cut my list down considerably. last year, maybe 10. this year, i think 6-8 will do.
(the minimum is 2 kinds of food (as determined by the blessing before eating that food, ie 2 different blessings) to 1 person.))
(note 2: purim seudah = purim festive meal. this is frequently marked by excessive drinking, though this is not a requirement.)
this year, i find myself completely uninspired for a costume. it's depressing to think that this will be the first time i just grab a silly hat from the bin of silly hats and let it go at that. but nothing has popped into my mind.
(previous costumes have included:
* dressing up as the chapter of tractate sanhedrin i was learning: the 4 types of death the court can mete out, and kippa (really, if you want to know, i'd rather do it in person. it'll be easier, trust me).
* being a "purim math" teacher, with a 10-question quiz of math questions i gave out, all based on the numbers given in the megillah. (amazingly, no one did the quiz...)
* wearing a crown, and holding a koosh ball in one hand, a picture of a turkey in the other (for a really bad bilingual pun, about ruling from "hodu" (turkey) to "kush" (ethiopia)...).
and there have been others less idea-based, more for visual effect.)
then there's a purim meal. i'd planned, in absence of invitations, to take myself out to lunch, bringing a funny book along to read. which i may still do, since the invitation i just got today is for a meal starting while i'm planning on being at the diesel.
(really, it's becoming a bit more of a nuisance than i'd thought that i'm looking after z's baby from 2-3. otherwise, i'd go to the diesel earlier than usual, then go on to the seudah when it starts. but i don't want to skip going to the diesel at all...)
i just hope i get cheerier at the megillah reading tonight. i have the gragger (noise-maker) i made at the worcester jcc when i was about 8 :-).
and i'm thinking of going to the women's megillah reading, a first for me.
so, really, as long as i focus on the positives, it looks like it'll be good, though different than usual.
(and i have to start making for for the mishloach manot! i haven't done anything yet! eek!)
no subject
Date: 2002-02-25 11:34 am (UTC)It saddens me that my most concrete memory of Judaism is that conservative shabbat services were 4-hour endurance trials.
no subject
Date: 2002-02-25 11:45 am (UTC)but i think i tend to block those memories in favor of the fewer good ones: the purim ones, the simchat torah ones, the bat mitzvah ones (amazingly, what i remember most strongly is working with my mom on the menu (aka The Quest for Water-based Sherbet), not the day itself.), stuff like that.
i know the good ones are not the preponderance at all (notice i still don't like to go to conservative shuls... it's not just a halacha thing...), but there are at least some...
(there's a bunch of megillah readings at harvard hillel tonight if you want to come...)