Purim's A-Comin'!

Each successive Sunday during this month of Adar Bet, we've been working hard to get sillier and sillier in preparation for that silliest of Jewish holidays - Purim. Last week we had a crazy hair day, and yesterday we had a crazy hat/pajama day. Our Edot students also had a chance to act "out of the ordinary" by breaking out into silly walks (a la Monty Python!).

While working on some very serious posters relating to the Jewish values which Roman-era Rabbis determined were present in the Book of Esther, the children began to exhibit "silly walk" tendencies whenever a Purim song began to play. As soon as the music stopped, they went right back to working in a very serious manner on the posters.  Check it out:

 

In between the silly walk episodes (and there were several during each session!), the students worked diligently on their posters, with (as always!) amazing results. During the previous weekday sessions, we had discussed why scholars were puzzled as to why the Book of Esther was included as one of the 39 books in the Hebrew Bible (Tana'ch), while the Books of the Maccabees, detailing the history of the Hanuka story, were not. While the Books of the Maccabees share (for the most part) historical events which took place in the Land of Israel, and refer to God countless times, most scholars agree that the events detailed in the Book of Esther did not occur, the story doesn't take place even partially in the Land of Israel, and the name of God does not appear even once in the entire story. On top of that, the names of the major characters, Esther and Mordechai, are directly related to the names of the chief Babylonian god and his consort - Marduk and Astarte (also known as Ishtar). The story itself is reminiscent of the Thousand and One Arabian Nights tales, most of which find their roots in ancient Mesopotamian and Persian mythology, as well as from during the Muslim Caliphate era. And the Book of Esther is the only Biblical book not found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (at least not yet!).

What very likely helped the Roman era Rabbis decide to include the story, was the fact that it reflects very important Jewish ideas which helped the nation to maintain its identity and to thrive, even during times of persecution. 

Below are photos of the students working on the posters, along with photos of  the completed posters hanging on the bulletin board in the hallway.

As always, starting out with a blank "canvass"

Brainstorming ideas

Josh in his "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" crazy hat

I'll never get over the amazing view we have from our window!

It's hard to see from this angle, but that's a Persian cat on the tree limb!

 Stay tuned for the photo of the finished product below to see what this material turns into under Spencer's magic fingers!

Am I the only one who notices the color coordination between Mia's pj's and the poster?

And between Stephen's pj bottoms and his sneakers?

Lots and lots of materials to use

And finally, the finished posters:

Though God's Name is never mentioned in the story, the Rabbis believed God was "behind the scenes."