Purim! Israel! A formula for madness of national proportion.
A few details of the holiday. It's not one commanded in the Torah. Therefore, there are no prohibitions against using cars and cameras. A real dream come true. Also, in almost the entire world, it took place this past Tuesday. However, in Jerusalem and Iran, where the story took place, the holiday is celebrated on Wednesday and called Shushan Purim, reminiscent of the walled cities of the time. To me, that means Mardi Gras spills over. Tuesday I went to a city south of Tel Aviv called Holon for an annual parade called Adloyada (English translation ). In Hebrew it's a group of three words bunched together, meaning "until you can't know," because one of the practices on Purim is to take certain measures to ensure you can't tell the difference between good guys and bad guys. The parade consisted of members of local schools, all sharing in the theme of water conservation and environmental awareness. I took a load of pictures , and put all the clips of video together for ya.
Then, Wednesday night, I went to an underground hole in the wall synagogue, where I heard the Scroll of Esther like never before. It was like listening to a Harry Potter audio book, where the reader would speak in different voices depending on the character. There was also this rule, that apparently is very serious, where you're supposed to hear every single word, otherwise you have to say it to yourself. Therefore, it was dead silent for the duration of the reading. I still took pictures and video.
Afterward, I went around town exploring the alleyways where people were dancing and drinking and drinking and dancing. I even found my first waffles in Israel, covered in hot chocolate sauce. Then Wednesday, I went into the Old City, where there were costume competitions for children, Israeli soldiers dancing, and more drinking. It all wrapped up with meeting up with my dad who had just arrived (he missed a good day of partying). He's living in the Center of town for a few weeks, and already has a long list of activities planned.
Overall, not much needs to be told. See for yourself. Just know that it's something special to spend two days in a country where everybody wishes you happy holidays and hugs you, and the families spare no expenses on costumes for themselves and their children. The weather was perfect, so everything seemed brighter. The Shuk had a more distinctive aroma of spices and leather, and the rhythms of the drums on the street corners carried past the dance circles, only until it was blown away by the blasts of firecrackers at night. I thought a lot about how it compared to the Phillies Championship Parade I attended, interestingly, last Halloween.
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