A Time Of Frivolity And Kindness PEOPLE WHO NEED PURIM from page 7 BEYOND MORDECHAI from page 7 — Assisted Living facilities are NOT required to be licensed? Courtyard Manor — is licensed by the State of Michigan. —Most Assisted Livings will discharge your loved one if they need more care? Courtyard Manor — provides care throughout the aging process, - meeting even the most difficult needs. —Assisted Living facilities dre NOT required to have nurses on staff? Courtyard Manor — has full-time, licensed nurses at every location. —Most Assisted Livings combine residents with various mental capacities in the same unit? Courtyard Manor — provides 4 specialized buildings at each location to meet individual needs. COURTYARD MANOR AulnirpHag 800-756-9199 Livonia 800-7362325 Farmington Hills 800-998-0787 Wixom S terling Heights 800 753 1046 800 807 8337 - - - - Courtyard Management Company 800-486-9039 3/17 2000 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 ot that h a wa p a n f tc i huhp rth tbeeiauti o s b s hi Tsfsiiki nw ei t gg siw_ ri n eg , a e r . i. r . e 0 e e d ieist r . w cdvd he n a r was ce, s firh f, n u rs h planned p od ed afr al y ia 04 a ac ea oy s m u e nio l se as e. m o .)t hnom oh sei rst. 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- .