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Purim
From: Mike Freedman
[mfreedman@portables1.ngfl.gov.uk] Hi folks! Several people commented favourably on my Chanukah messages a couple of months ago and I said I would.... Next Tuesday is the Jewish festival of Purim, which celebrates a long ago victory over bigotry, oppression and potential genocide. You can read all about it in the Bible in the Book of Esther. Purim is a bit of a wild time because it is the only time of the year when Jewish tradition recommends drinking to excess. There are fancy dress parties (including a tradition of cross dressing) and mockery of those who at other times are much respected. The Book of Esther is read in the synagogue and whenever the villain of the piece is mentioned his name is drowned out by stamping, shouting and other noises. (Like all Jewish festivals the celebration begins at nightfall of the previous evening and it is on Monday evening that all the festivities will take place. Purim has a serious side. It celebrates freedom from oppression and, because the hero is actually a herione, Purim also celebrates the importance of women. If you want to know more why not drop in to Purim on the Net at www.holidays.net/purim
Hard on the heels of this message there followed another to which I attached the text of an assembly that I did a couple of years ago in case it was of any use to anyone - feel free to use any of it (or, of couse, none of it). You can download it here. It is a zip file (12K) containing the assembly in both plain text and rich text formats.
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Welcome to Mike's Jewish Pages
This
is a noisemaker (you can get a .wav file to go with it from the site mentioned). We call
it gregger (sometimes gragger). You probably know it as a football rattle.
