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Choosing Your Purim Costume: How to Avoid Cultural Appropriation, Stereotypes, and Racism
Purim approaches, and like every other holiday we've observed during the pandemic, it will look and be different.
When You Make People Laugh, You Make People Listen
Today, comedy is a national vernacular, a social and cultural force. We communicate in memes. We look to late night to process the news. Good (and even dumb) comedy challenges and connects, activates and affirms.
Royal Fashion: Esther Edition
Clothes may not make the woman, but there is no doubt that there are times when the clothes we wear make a difference. Clothes can help define us; think of a doctor donning their long white coat for the first time. Clothes can also help others identify us; a firefighter or an EMT arriving in uniform tells me that help has arrived. Sometimes, the clothes we wear help us imagine a different future for ourselves. Organizations that provide people with affordable business attire for interviews, such as Bottomless Closet or Dress for Success, have long understood that first impressions matter.
For Small Congregations: Adult Learning and Purim Celebration
Is your small congregation looking for a way to engage adults in a meaningful observance of Purim? The URJ is partnering with Reform rabbis from small congregations to offer a new opportunity for adult congregants to study the Book of Esther.
The Story of Esther, The Story of Us
Over the past few years, I’ve found that parts of the Purim story parallel parts of my own life. I’m a big believer in the power of stories to help build communities of belonging.
Purim Resources for Congregations to Use
We’re delighted to offer this roundup of digital resources you can share with your community – embed these resources on your website, include in your e-newsletter, or share on social media.
Facing the Foolish King: How Queen Esther Vanquished Misinformation
Whispering into the ears of the foolish king, our calculating villain puts his fiendish plan into action. This is the moment he has been waiting for. Nothing less than perfect acceptance can launch his heinous plot.
Lessons from Megillat Esther: The Need for Study and Action
When I was a child, I remember saying to my mother about the Purim story, "Maybe Haman wouldn't have done anything if he'd known Queen Esther was Jewish." King Ahasuerus' easily manipulated nature laid the foundations for the story, while Haman's vociferous antisemitism drove the story forward.
When the Queen Says No
I had been wanting to write about Queen Vashti for a while. A big part of my rabbinate and my writing focuses on uplifting the stories of women in the biblical narrative, especially those who do not get enough attention.