Home » Israel » MARCHing forward!

Well, the beginning of March was Purim. Purim is a big party. It is similar to Halloween, in that everyone dresses up in crazy costumes, and there are parties, but that is where the similarities end. Purim is actually a religious holiday. Traditionally, you go to synagogue to hear the reading of the “Megillah”, the scroll telling the story of Purim, the defeat of our enemy Haman, and the victory of the Jews. Other than this, Purim is essentially a big party. You are supposed to celebrate life, and it is actually a “mitzvah” (good deed) to get drunk on Purim. I went to a party with some of my friends. Everyone was dressed up in outrageous costumes, and there was live music, and it was a lot of fun. Some of my other friends went into Tel Aviv for Purim, and I wish I had as well. They said that people were just partying in the streets, on the bus, everywhere you went. This didn’t surprise me, since Tel Aviv is a party city, but I am sorry I missed it. Next year!

MARCHing forward!

Leah Schneier
2007-04-21 21:48:43

Displayed times (last time: )

First, was on Saturday at the Synagogue, and its called the Uf-roof, or something like that, in Yiddish. Basically, the whole family comes to synagogue, and the groom and all the men in the family are called up to the Torah, and say a bunch of prayers and stuff. We then went to the mother of the groom's house for lunch. The whole family was there, and of course we had lots of great food, as we always do. I got to spend more time with my religious and non religious cousins, and even met yet another cousin I hadn't met before. Ironically, she lives in NY, but I had never met her before, and she was just in for the wedding. Then, the official part of the wedding was on Monday night. It was at this beautiful reception hall/indoor garden place. The "chupa" (wedding canopy) was outside, and traditional. My most religious cousin, who is a rabbi, performed the ceremony, and the bride and groom were beautiful and happy. Israeli weddings seem to be a little bit more low key then the typical wedding in the US, but the party was certainly a good time. There was even more amazing food. There was lots of dancing, and it was great to have some party time with my cousins, and see how much fun they can be, even the religious ones! I had such a great time, and was so glad I could be part of the night.

My birthday! Well, very early morning, on March 24,
my 24th Birthday, I went to the airport to pick up my cousin Lisa (from the US), who was traveling from her semester abroad in Denmark, to come visit me! She arrived at 4:30am, after successfully having her luggage lost by Lufthansa (it seems to be a normal occurence with them, they lost mine last year too!). We went back to my friends house and went right to sleep, seeing how it was 6am, and neither of us had really slept that night. When we woke up in the afternoon, we walked all over town until the end of Shabbat. Then we bused it to Tel Aviv, where we had a great birthday dinner! Also, the ...