Esther – the Persian Version
The book of Esther is a strange bird in the biblical zoo: God is totally absent, at least in name; assimilation is never vilified, and much of the story takes place around Passover, though the...
Tag Archives: Purim
Haman’s Pockets
Purim Powidl The triangular pastries that developed in Central Europe and spread eastward beyond the Carpathian Mountains have in recent generations become a central Purim motif. Known in Hebrew as oznei haman, or Haman’s ears,...
Topsy Turvy
Unwanted Guests Reb Yeshaya Priwes was not enamored of the Purim players, or of their plays. He had no liking for simple people, and theater was certainly not his scene. When Purim came, however, he...
Megilla with a Secular Twist
The Megilla’s Darker Side Itzik Manger was born in 1901 in Czernowitz, although one version of the biography he invented for himself claimed that his tailor father had migrated from Romania, and that he himself...
