A Time Of Frivolity And Kindness
PEOPLE WHO NEED PURIM from page
7
BEYOND MORDECHAI from page 7
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10
Specializing in Alzheimers f Dementia,
Frail Elderly and Mentally Alert
Adat Shalom Nursery student
Samantha Dean, 5, of. West Bloomfield
selects one of many sweet treats for
the Purim parcel she is creating.
have suffered economic losses or ill-
nesses. Neither the donor nor the -
recipient knows the other's identity, to
protect the dignity of all concerned.
"A lot of times people don't know
who are the really needy people in the
community," said supporter Rabbi
Avraham Jacobovitz of Machon
L'Torah. "So here is an organization
that provides that service. You give it
to them either before or on the day of
Purim, appointing them as a messen-
ger to fulfill that obligation for you."
The fund run by Rabbi Eric
Greenbaum dispensed more than
$40,000 last year. For information,
call him at (248) 968-1892.
"It is in the merit of one Jew caring
for another that the Talmud says unity
will bring redemption to the Jewish
people," said Rabbi Jacobovitz.
Rabbi Weil, while acknowledging
the special Purim mitzvot of giving to
others, said the spirit of Jewish unity
should be year-round.
"There's no such thing as a celebra-
tion where it's just you and your fami-
ly and you're happy and satisfied," he
said. "You have to take care of the
downtrodden — people who are psy-
chologically downtrodden, financially
downtrodden, or people who spiritual-
ly can't appreciate a nice holiday expe-
rience because they just don't know
how to create one.
"You have a responsibility to share
with your fellow Jew." LI
David Sachs can be reached at (248)
354-6060, ext. 262, or by e-mail at
dsachs@thejewishnews.com
Judaism or Haman's mistaken belief
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for him are among the theories.
"In the Purim story, we acknowl-
edge,
e e, that what seemed to be a reali-
ty in Persia, was really masked," says
Steven Weil of Young Israel of
Oak Park. “Twelve-thousand Jews in
Shushan wined and dined and con-
demned to genocide Haman, who
looked like the most powerful man
and then was executed."
Cantor Chaim Najman of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek describes
the Purim costume as originating
from 9th- and 10th-century Purim
shpiels (plays). Not actually held dur-
ing Purim, the performances depicted
the Purim story, as a release, with its
theme of "defiance and Jewish resolve
over persecution, representing Jews
enemy,"
Purim story eventually evolved into
holiday
to
any possible guise.
Rabbi
own Purim \pcegarb his
the past, he has dressed as Cuba's
Fidel Castro, accentuating the fact
John Wayne, harking back to his
`coi*liti! growing up on a farm
e: ew York. "The rest of the
as a rabbi,” he says.
e' long
a be i d ,
a beard,
1 e r R Bb
„
,,,
says
'lls
Aittri.;- he says he
essed as a
a htreimel (a
at, trimmed in
velvet or
ne year he dyed
his beard bghtecl with paprika to
look like a man 20 years younger.
"The whole idea of putting on a
costume is to be what you think you
would like to be, and ro be how you
would like people to think of you."
A member of the Chabad
Lubavitch movement, Rabbi
Bergstein says their leader, the late
Rabbi Menachem Mendel
Schneerson, "was very much against
children dressing as Haman."
"They should not identify with
his traits, but should dress in cos-
.