Purim Pandemonium

I’ve never celebrated purim in Israel and I can sum up the festivities as nothing short of spectacular. From the most secular to the most stringently Ultra-Orthodox, Jews all across Israel donned their craziest costumes to commemorate the deliverance of the Jews of Persia from the evil that was Haman (BOO!!! BOO!!!). Jews traditionally eat Oznei Haman (aka Hamantashen), which literally translates to Haman’s ears: Children in Israel are told that these delicious cookies are the ears of Haman.

Yana breaks open the oznei Haman

Anyway, as Purim approached, my program made sure to squeeze in some last minute ulpan classes. Yana (our amazing Hebrew teacher) let us have class outside in Tel Aviv’s HaYarkon Park. What a beautiful place to learn Hebrew!

One of the most hilarious aspects of Purim is that people dress up (like Halloween in the U.S.). My apartment mates and I decided to dress up as Beatles songs. I was “Bungalow Bill.”

Sumiko (Lady Madonna) and I (The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill)

Here’s a shot of a street party in the Florentin neighborhood of Tel Aviv:

The Purim festivities continued into the weekend, as I made my way to Jerusalem for “Shushan Purim.” Shushan Purim is a special extra day of Purim that is only celebrated in walled cities (i.e. Jerusalem). While in Jerusalem, I traveled through secular and religious areas alike. The city bristled with holiday pandemonium all over, even into the upscale Mamilla Mall, where this green trickster wreaked havoc in cafes:

I passed into the most religious neighborhood in the city, Mea Shearim, which more or less resembles a European shtetl. Residents in this neighborhood live strictly according to Jewish law and enforce strict modesty codes on all passersby.

Costumed Ultra-Orthodox Jew in Mea Shearim

My weekend concluded with some time in the Old City of Jerusalem.

At the Kotel (Western Wall)

The Western Wall tunnels, which run underneath the Muslim Quarter of the Old City

Below is a picture of the “Museum on the Seam,” which displays socially conscious artwork. Many of the pieces are by Israeli and Palestinian artists alike and poignantly portray the realities experienced in this region of the world.  The museum is located on the former seam zone between Israel and Jordan (1948-1967), when Jerusalem was still divided.

Museum on the Seam.

Purim still rings relevant to me today. With Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (BOO!) threatening to “wipe Israel off the map,” and the ever present precariousness of living in Israel, the parallels are evident.

With that in mind, I started my first week of volunteering on Wednesday, March 3. I have selected my places, which are:

Givon Prison – working with child refugees from Africa (especially Sudan and Eritrea).

Ironi Chet High School – teaching English and Spanish to low-income youth from south Tel Aviv.

Neve Ofer community center – mentoring underprivileged youth in south Tel Aviv. Most of them are from the Bukharan Diaspora and are experiencing a severe education gap.

Partnership 2000 – speaking at Israeli schools to youth about Judaism in the U.S. before the children visit the U.S. on exchange programs.

I tried to be as holistic as possible with my choice of volunteer programs to make sure that I would work with diverse groups of youth in different areas of the city. There’s a lot of work to be done in Israel and I’m excited to finally be taking a part in it.