Last weekend we got four days off to celebrate Purim. Purim is the Jewish holiday that commemorates when the evil Haman was outsmarted in his attempt to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire who had survived the Babylonian captivity. There is a theme of disguise and the blending of good and evil, which translates into people dressing in bizarre costumes, drinking to incoherance, and eating these amazing pastries called Homentashen, shaped like Haman's ears and stuffed with prunes, fig, or chocolate to resemble bugs. Tasty.
We started celebrating Wednesday when the University threw us a huge outdoor party in our apartment complex. One whole room had hookahs and cushions on the floor, there was a good DJ, pizza and beer, and a funny costume party- a very convincing Edward Scissor Hands took home first prize. We didn't stay at the party the whole time, choosing to set out for our favorite bar, Yankees. My friend Lana has done such a superb job seducing the bartender that our drinks are always cheap, on top of the half price for students that we get before 11. We always have fun there because they have pretty good music, it's really small, and we always get to dominate the place with a huge table.
On Thursday, friends and I took a bus across town with some other Hebrew U kids and went to a low income neighborhood where we put on a Purim carnival in the community center. There were IDF soldiers, police officers, and Israeli Scouts all there to lend a hand as well, and we set up stations where kids could come and have help making costumes. The kids were mostly Ethiopian immigrants, and most were under 10. A reggae band came and sang and let the kids play the instruments, and there was a guy making balloon animals and lots of sweets. My friends and I were supposed to specialize in clown constumes, but a police officer made one kid a ninja turtle costume and we were doomed to spend the rest of the night re-creating it. By the end of the night there were about a dozen ninja turtles. I guess some things are universally cool.
Friday I got up early with Lana and Molly and we went costume shopping. I decided to be a cat, and Lana and Molly found these awesome cow girl costumes with chaps. We went to the shuk next to buy supplies for Shabbat dinner and Lana and Molly wore their hats while I donned my ears. All of the merchants were wearing wigs and costumes and it was the busiest I have ever seen. Everyone was buying these special gift baskets you exchange for Purim, challah, and wine. We narrowly escaped the crazy mix and got intensely flirted with by the man we bought homentashen from.
That night Lana and I made dinner for our friends. She cooked salmon and we made this delicious rice with a spice mix from the best spice shop at the end of the shuk. We also had plenty of veggies, and challah. We finished off the evening by drinking wine and smoking Sam's hookah.
Saturday Lana and I made brunch for everyone. Lana took the leftover challah and made this delicious french toast and I made the famous potatoes. We all hung around in our pajamas forever, finally splitting up to change, but reconvening to walk to the Old City. This time, Sam lead and we took a direct path, which only took about 45 minutes. We headed to the Kotel and then had dinner on Emick, in the German Quarter at this cool restaurant called Soya that Molly found.
The next day we walked back to the Old City to check out this famous silver store. Everyone buys silver jewelery from this tiny, tiny store in the Cardo. They have huge books full of Torah verses and quotes in Hebrew. After a long time deciding, I chose a ring that reads "A little light banishes a lot of Darkness" in Hebrew. The inside of the ring has the date, my name, and the skyline of Jerusalem. I knew it would be one of the most meaningful things I could buy here, and something I can wear for the rest of my life to remind me of this experience. I was also glad to find a quote using my Hebrew name, Ora, which means "light". I get to pick it up tomorrow!
That night we took a taxi back to the Old City for a Chabad (orthodox) reading of the Megillah, the story of Purim. It was held in this old, old room and segregatd by gender. Many of the women and their children were in funny costumes. The best part is that you bring noisemakers, called groggers, and every time the name "Haman" is read from the huge Hebrew text, everyone gets to yell "boo!" and spin their groggers. It was so much fun, and definitely the most rousing religious service I have ever attended.
We rushed back home and put on our costumes- everyone looked so great! At around 11 we too a cab out of town to a Kibbutz that had a huge party. There were hundreds of people, many of our classmates, and we danced and marveled at the costumes until the wee hours.
Needless to say, most of Monday was spent recovering and doing all of the homework we had neglected for the four days. We had Indian food at this cool little place in the shuk where you sit on pillows, and then Lana and I got the most rich hot chocolate ever at Cafe Hillel, where we ended up talking under the pretense of studying.
Purim is my new favorite holiday.
We started celebrating Wednesday when the University threw us a huge outdoor party in our apartment complex. One whole room had hookahs and cushions on the floor, there was a good DJ, pizza and beer, and a funny costume party- a very convincing Edward Scissor Hands took home first prize. We didn't stay at the party the whole time, choosing to set out for our favorite bar, Yankees. My friend Lana has done such a superb job seducing the bartender that our drinks are always cheap, on top of the half price for students that we get before 11. We always have fun there because they have pretty good music, it's really small, and we always get to dominate the place with a huge table.
On Thursday, friends and I took a bus across town with some other Hebrew U kids and went to a low income neighborhood where we put on a Purim carnival in the community center. There were IDF soldiers, police officers, and Israeli Scouts all there to lend a hand as well, and we set up stations where kids could come and have help making costumes. The kids were mostly Ethiopian immigrants, and most were under 10. A reggae band came and sang and let the kids play the instruments, and there was a guy making balloon animals and lots of sweets. My friends and I were supposed to specialize in clown constumes, but a police officer made one kid a ninja turtle costume and we were doomed to spend the rest of the night re-creating it. By the end of the night there were about a dozen ninja turtles. I guess some things are universally cool.
Friday I got up early with Lana and Molly and we went costume shopping. I decided to be a cat, and Lana and Molly found these awesome cow girl costumes with chaps. We went to the shuk next to buy supplies for Shabbat dinner and Lana and Molly wore their hats while I donned my ears. All of the merchants were wearing wigs and costumes and it was the busiest I have ever seen. Everyone was buying these special gift baskets you exchange for Purim, challah, and wine. We narrowly escaped the crazy mix and got intensely flirted with by the man we bought homentashen from.
That night Lana and I made dinner for our friends. She cooked salmon and we made this delicious rice with a spice mix from the best spice shop at the end of the shuk. We also had plenty of veggies, and challah. We finished off the evening by drinking wine and smoking Sam's hookah.
Saturday Lana and I made brunch for everyone. Lana took the leftover challah and made this delicious french toast and I made the famous potatoes. We all hung around in our pajamas forever, finally splitting up to change, but reconvening to walk to the Old City. This time, Sam lead and we took a direct path, which only took about 45 minutes. We headed to the Kotel and then had dinner on Emick, in the German Quarter at this cool restaurant called Soya that Molly found.
The next day we walked back to the Old City to check out this famous silver store. Everyone buys silver jewelery from this tiny, tiny store in the Cardo. They have huge books full of Torah verses and quotes in Hebrew. After a long time deciding, I chose a ring that reads "A little light banishes a lot of Darkness" in Hebrew. The inside of the ring has the date, my name, and the skyline of Jerusalem. I knew it would be one of the most meaningful things I could buy here, and something I can wear for the rest of my life to remind me of this experience. I was also glad to find a quote using my Hebrew name, Ora, which means "light". I get to pick it up tomorrow!
That night we took a taxi back to the Old City for a Chabad (orthodox) reading of the Megillah, the story of Purim. It was held in this old, old room and segregatd by gender. Many of the women and their children were in funny costumes. The best part is that you bring noisemakers, called groggers, and every time the name "Haman" is read from the huge Hebrew text, everyone gets to yell "boo!" and spin their groggers. It was so much fun, and definitely the most rousing religious service I have ever attended.
We rushed back home and put on our costumes- everyone looked so great! At around 11 we too a cab out of town to a Kibbutz that had a huge party. There were hundreds of people, many of our classmates, and we danced and marveled at the costumes until the wee hours.
Needless to say, most of Monday was spent recovering and doing all of the homework we had neglected for the four days. We had Indian food at this cool little place in the shuk where you sit on pillows, and then Lana and I got the most rich hot chocolate ever at Cafe Hillel, where we ended up talking under the pretense of studying.
Purim is my new favorite holiday.
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