Not Just for the Beach: Spring Break Parties Happen in Temple Too

"It's like the Jewish Halloween," said Marissa Brodney, CC '09, as she explained Purim in perhaps the simplest terms for a newcomer to understand. The scene in the Kraft Center's Rennert Hall on March 2 fit her description to a tee. Donning a series of imaginative and zany costumes, members of Columbia's Jewish community gathered to partake in activities such as a falafel toss, finger-painting, a pie-eating contest, and Dance Dance Revolution.

But Purim is a holiday with more underlying gravitas than Halloween. As the story goes, Persian king Ahasuerus's prime minister, Haman, hatched a plot to exterminate all of the Jews. He didn't realize, however, that the king's wife, Esther, was herself Jewish. When Esther learned of the plot, she risked her own life by addressing her husband directly, alerting him of Haman's intentions. The king responded by hanging Haman and promoting Mordecai, Esther's cousin, to be prime minister in his stead.

Of course, the story still doesn't explain how an aborted genocide turned into a celebration that rivals Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day, two holidays which often fall close to Purim, in sheer enthusiasm.

"A lot of it comes out of a closer reading of the Book of Esther, that so many things that happened in the Book of Esther are reversals. [The Jewish people went] from being marked for death to their fortunes being reversed, to Haman's fortunes being reversed. All these types of reversals created this sense of an ironic atmosphere. It's also a holiday that very clearly states that there were great festivities" said Rabbi David Almog, a member of the United Campus Ministries of Columbia University.

Part of this ironic atmosphere includes dressing up in costume. But you don't have to stock up on fake blood to party down Purim-style. "People dress up, but it's more wacky and less Dawn of the Dead," said Sarah Peaceman, BC/JTS '08, who dressed up as a flamingo for Purim this year. "The main theme is that everything is turned upside down, very topsy-turvy."

All the religiously encouraged drunkenness helps keep Purim pretty fun, too. "The idea is that it's the one day where we recognize the fact that things aren't necessarily so clear cut, so we say we get so drunk we can't tell the difference between the blessedness of Mordecai and the cursedness of Haman," Almog said.

It's hard to argue with that logic.

This year Purim fell on March 15, right in the middle of spring break, thereby preventing Hillel from hosting its annual party on the holiday itself. But despite the evening's rainy weather, the looming threat of mid-terms, and the fact that Purim was still a week and a half away, Hillel's Pre-Purim Party enjoyed a good turnout.

"Everybody's looking for reasons to not do their homework and party with their Columbia friends," Samara Rudolph, BC '07, said. Rudolph and Mackenzie Haberman, BC '07, were dressed as a Good Lung and a Bad Lung to demonstrate the effects of smoking and to promote the upcoming Columbia Relay For Life for the American Cancer Society.

Neither of the event chairs-Rachel Lipsky, GS/JTS '08, and Mahala Glazer, BC '08-seemed overly disappointed with the event's attendance. "It could have been a little bit stronger, but I'm really happy with the turnout," said Lipsky, who planned on spending Purim going to synagogue and hearing a reading of the Megillah. Like Lipsky, most of the attendees interviewed said they planned on going to synagogue and hanging out with their friends, regardless of where they would be during spring break. As it turns out, location doesn't matter because, as Glazer put it, Purim is always "a good excuse to have a lot of fun."

But Purim isn't all silly costumes and public inebriation. Almog pointed out the holiday's wholesome aspects as well: "It's kind of the inverse of Halloween. Instead of getting dressed up and going from house to house to get candy and to get food, we dress up and go from house to house giving food. It's a way of building relationships. We're supposed to give to the poor very specifically, so they can celebrate Purim, enough so they can buy food."

Celebrating the holiday also includes a trip to the synagogue to hear a reading of the Megillah. Even the reading is spirited, though, with parts often acted out, and the evil Haman's name being drowned out by the clacking of special noisemakers called groggers. "Some Jewish holidays are more solemn. This one is more fun," Brodney said.

So swing that grogger, but do so carefully. Deborah Plum, CC '07, pointed out that those happy noisemakers aren't always as harmless as they look: "I wound up slitting my finger open on one of them."

"They're made of, like, plastic!" interjected Nir Mandelker, who was visiting Plum from Israel.

"I know! I don't know how I did it!" Plum said.

She could always blame the holiday's requisite booze.