F7: Purim

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The Story

Depending on how much you think your audience knows, you may want to tell the story of Purim. You could do it as a simple play rather than just reading it out. Your characters can be funny caricatures with basic costumes or masks. You could over stress all the coincidences and irony to use in a later discussion. This can also make the play rather amusing.

Searching questions

The searching questions (on page one) are useful in finding out the underlying message of Purim. To make it more fun you could pretend to be an art critic who is giving their biased opinion on the Purim story and brings up these questions as criticisms. e.g. "This new play is weak on plot and has simplistic characterisations. It's a triumph of style over content! It's a joke!" etc. Alternatively, you could get your audience to come up with their own questions.

Behind the mask

The issue of random coincidence in life makes for a great discussion. Should we believe in coincidence? Is Haman's choice of the 13th day of Adar for killing the Jews the origin of the unlucky number 13? Do playing the national lottery or buying scratch cards encourage us to believe in luck? How does belief in God affect all this?

You should explain how the Purim story reflects these questions. It says in the Talmud: One who reads the Scroll of Esther out of sequence does not fulfil the mitzvah (commandment) of reading it. Ask you audience why they think this is so. Explain that it is the sequence of the story that really reveals what's going on. The story is like an elaborate jigsaw puzzle with all the right pieces gradually being put into place. The pieces might look random at first, but when interlinked they reveal a complete picture. Another analogy comes from those "MagicEye" or "Stereogram" pictures that reveal 3D images. Like the Purim story, when you focus beyond the image, you can see the real picture emerge. If you have any, you may want to use them to enhance your explanation.

Amalek

Rabbi Matis Weinberg writes: "A terrorist organisation may take enormous risks to carry out an operation whose only strategic value is to damage the Government's aura of invincibility. The Amalekites are the same, they are image breakers." The terrorist analogy is a powerful way of explaining the Amalekite approach in modern terms.

Life's a joke!

Cynicism is so ingrained in our society that we don't realise how much we are effected by it. Act out a few typical scenes where people are cynical and sarcastic to each other. Ask how this makes people feel.

Talk about how pupils can wind up a teacher without really participating in the class. Do we wind up teachers for any particular reason? Is it just a laugh, or just to make the lesson time pass quicker?

Debate: Can cynicism ever be used constructively? Don't confuse it with criticism which does have its positive points. Discuss how cynicism is so destructive to belief in anything.

Why is sarcasm the lowest form of wit? Response: Ah, but it's the highest form of intelligence! This response is sarcastic in itself! Intelligence is often used as an excuse for cynicism or sarcasm, but how clever is it really?

You'll know the kind of language and phrases that are used in your school to hurt, embarrass or put people down. Challenge your audience on the use of these words. How badly can they harm people?

Healing laughter

Why is humour so important to us? Why are there so many Jewish comedians? You could tell a few Jewish jokes and talk about the value of laughter. Explain how laughing at yourself takes true confidence.

Purim is fun for young children but teenagers often get cynical about it. Ask your audience how they feel about Purim, dressing up and acting the fool. The embarrassment and silliness that they may mention is exactly what Purim is all about! See if you can get that message across. It is unbelievably healthy to not always try and be cool and in control of a situation.

Remember, Don't forget!

Imagine what it would be like to have no memory. Ask the audience for comments on this. Ask them if the study of Jewish history helps them be Jews today. All the festivals commemorate and try to relive historic events. No memories means no festivals. No history means no past and nothing to build on. Memory lets us re-member. i.e. to become a member of the Jewish people with a shared history.

Purim = Batman + Joker

How do the heroes and villains of our culture compare to those in our Jewish traditions? Why is it that nasty villains always seem to laugh wildly? What is demonic humour? Use whatever part of culture you are into to delve into these points and their similarity to the Purim characters.

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