Jewish Halloween

March 6, 2007 at 11:28 am | In Face to Face, Lifestyle, Pop Culture, Religion |  |  2 Comments

This last weekend marked the Jewish festival of Purim. So naturally, I spent the weekend explaining the story behind Purim (or, Jewish Halloween) to people who had never heard of it.

And since I can be a bit of a geek, I chose to delve into the biblical significance, rather than the cultural.

I explained:

“It was the story of an ancient attempt at Jewish genocide in Persia. A king being advised by an evil man was going to kill all the Jews, but then he married a beautiful girl named Esther, whose uncle was a Jewish leader. Using her charisma, Esther managed to persuade the king to hang the evil advisor, instead of all the Jews. And so we eat this triangular pastry which represents the evil advisor’s ears, called Oznei Haman (or hamentaschen, in Yiddish).”

Of course, this was the explanation I was taught year after year in Hebrew School as a child.

Ask an Israeli, and they will probably tell you it’s one of their favorite holidays. They dress up in outlandish style, go to crazy parties and swap sweet treats with friends.

As for the American traditions, who better to get into the spirit than Madonna, or should I say Esther — the famous Purim Queen!

This year, Madonna (I mean, Esther) dressed as a flapper, while husband Guy Ritchie hammed it up as a 70s style mustachioed policeman. Someone arrest him, please!

Check out the pictures from TMZ.