The Message, Volume 20, Number 8, February 1993 Page: 3 of 10
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PURIM
S.O.S.!
S.O.S.!
S.O.S.!
Yes, we’re sending out the signal
to all those interested in turning
Friday night into Shabbat Eve!
Friday, March 5 - 7:00 p.m.
You’re invited to our S.O.S....
Seudah On Shabbat
The Beth Yeshurun Shabbat meal
which follows the E.S.P. service.
Come as you are...S.O.S. is strictly informal. Bring your fami-
ly and friends and celebrate Shabbat the traditional way...with
spirit, feeling, emotion and neshamahl
We’ll be having an S.O.S. once a month for a maximum of 60
people each evening just to keep the Shabbat meal cozy and
casual. Featured will be a chicken dinner, dessert and your
favorite drink, plus, of course, such Shabbat joys as Kiddush, the
blessing of the children, the Hamotzee, the singing of Zemirot,
and the Birkat Hamazone. But make your reservations NOW! As
we said, space is limited.
For more information or to make reservations, call Rabbi Segal’s
office at 666-1881.
between them, since numerically they are identical. The Purim
carnival Adloyada, which has been extended in Tel Aviv to three
days, derives its name from the just quoted talmudic pleasantry in
Megillah 7b, where the phrase “Ad delo yada” (till he does not
know the difference) is used.
$7.00 per adult — $4.00 per child (12 and under)
Deadline for reservations: Tuesday, March 2.
Soviet Immigrant Store
Changes Hours of Operation
More Volunteers Needed
The Jewish Federation’s Soviet Immigrant Store, located at
6571 West Bellfort (off Fondren in the shopping center with the
Black-Eyed Pea Restaurant), is changing its hours of operation
to accomodate more of its “customers.” Beginning Tuesday,
February 9, 1993, the new hours for “customers” and donations
will be: Tuesdays, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.; Thursdays, 10:00 a.m.
-12:00 noon; and Sundays, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon.
The store needs more volunteers at each of these times to
help customers and sort merchandise. Volunteers not only
manage the store, but also enjoy meeting and interacting with
New American friends!
Established to help ease the financial burden of the New
Americans, the Soviet Immigrant Store accepts donations of
clean clothing, small household items, books, toys, shoes, and
other accesories. Clothing should be brought on hangers and all
donated merchandise should be in good condition. The Jewish
Federation of Greater Houston wants to express its tremendous
appreciation to those of you who have generously donated mer-
chandise to the store and to the dedicated volunteers, whose on-
going commitment of time and energy make the store such a suc-
cess.
Our volunteers and donors are helping to provide a service
much desired by our newly arrived emigres.
For more information or to volunteer to be a part of this ex-
citing project, please call the store (723-1785) during its hours of
operation or Marsha Schooler at the Jewish Federation
(729-7000).
Saturday evening, March 6
Sunday, March 7
In its main outlines, the story of Purim is typical of the long
chain of persecutions to which the Jewish people in the Diaspora
have been subjected. Because of a grudge against Mordecai the
Jew, Haman presents the Jewish people as a whole to king
Ahasuerus as a dangerous people, “scattered and dispersed
throughout the empire...refusing to obey the king’s laws.” A lot
(pur) is cast, and the day of the massacre is set for the thirteenth
of Adar. After the intervention of queen Esther, a cousin of
Mordecai, a new act is promulgated by the king, giving the Jews
the right to organize for self-defense.
The festival of Purim was instituted in commemoration of this
event. It derives its name from the word “Pur” (lot) and is
celebrated on the fourteenth day of Adar, following the fast of
Esther which is observed on the thirteenth day when the Jews had
to fight for their lives. The annual celebration of Purim helped
the Jewish people, during the dark days of their history, to main-
tain their trust in the ultimate deliverance from the dangers and
difficulties besetting them. The merrymaking, feasting and mas-
querading, characteristic of Purim, have served a much needed
relief from the serious life led during the greater part of the year.
It has been supposed that the origin of masquerading is to be view-
ed as a means of disguise from the evil and coping with it. At the
mention of Haman during the public reading of the Megillah or the
scroll of Esther in the synagogue, it has been customary to stamp
with vigor on the floor, thus symbolically erasing the name of
Haman. Some would knock two sticks on which the name of
Haman was written against one another until it disappeared.
The noise-making instruments, used to blot out the name of
Haman, are reminiscent of Deuteronomy 25:19 concerning the
merciless Amalekites: “You shall blot out the memory of Amalek
from under the heavens.” Some were accustomed to have
Haman’s name written on the soles of their shoes, so that it was
worn away through stamping their feet whenever it was
mentioned during the reading of the Megillah.
The Megillah is read aloud in the synagogue at the beginning of
the festival in connection with the evening service, and again dur-
ing the morning service. The names of Haman’s ten sons are read
in one breath in order to lessen the appearance of gloating over
their deserved execution, in keeping with the biblical warning:
“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, do not exult when he is
overthrown, lest the Lord seeing it will be displeased...”
(Proverbs 24:17-18).
The special talmudic tractate named Megillah fully discusses
all the features of the joyous Purim festival, on which the follow-
ing seven mitzvoth are observed. 1) Megillah reading, 2) exchange
of gifts, 3) distribution of charity, 4) Torah reading, 5) recital of Al
ha-Nissim in the Amidah and in the grace after meals, 6) the
festive meal of Purim, 7) restraint of all mourning or fasting.
The Hallel, however, is not chanted on Purim because, unlike
Hanukkah, the miracle of Purim occurred outside Eretz Yisrael.
The festival meal of Purim, reminiscent of Esther’s banquet, is
begun in the afternoon and carried on well into the night. The day
succeeding Purim (fifteenth of Adar) is regarded as a minor holi-
day, called Shushan Purim, referred to in the book of Esther
(9:18) as the day when the Jews of Shusan, capital of Persia,
celebrated their triumph. No hesped (funeral oration), or mourn-
ing, is allowed even on Shushan Purim.
The two Hebrew phases, “Baruch Mordecai” (blessed be
Mordecai) and “Arur Haman” (cursed be Haman) have numerical-
ly the same value, 502. Hence the talmudic statement that, on
Purim, a man should drink till he cannot distinguish
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Congregation Beth Yeshurun (Houston, Tex.). The Message, Volume 20, Number 8, February 1993, periodical, February 19, 1993; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1298734/m1/3/: accessed June 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.