The one where the family celebrates the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Listen to the episode
Join hosts Merav and Batya as they delve into all things All-of-a-Kind Family. Today we are joined by Dr. Miriam Mora, who has a deep knowledge of Jewish history, alongside holocaust studies and immigration patterns. Together we’ll wind through dos and don’t of making hamentaschen, how the organ became part of Jewish worship, gender-bending costumes, the anatomy of an American synagogue and so much more.
Our chapter in summary
On Purim day the girls accompany Papa to synagogue, and return home for special holiday treats at lunch, like hamantashen and teiglach. Then they dress up in costume to deliver Purim baskets to their relatives and friends and get a chance to show off their costumes. Back at home, the front room is full of many of the same relatives and friends, and the girls get to show off their musical talents in performance, with Ella singing to great acclaim and even praise from Charlie.
No time to listen?
We understand that podcasts aren’t always going to be a good fit for your schedule, but you don’t have to miss out.
Catch up on all the latest episodes from the All-of-a-Kind Podcast starting with this full transcript of the episode one.
Check out the index page for season one to get all of your favorite episodes and transcript in one place.
Show Notes:
Meet our guest, Dr. Miriam Eve Mora!
Dr. Miriam Eve Mora is a historian of American immigration and ethnic history. She is the Managing Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute at the University of Michigan. She’s also the co-founder of JEWCE, the Jewish Comics Experience, a small comic convention in New York City. Read her book Carrying a Big Schtick: Jewish Acculturation and Masculinity in the Twentieth Century!
Purim
The festival of Purim is named for the lots that were drawn by the story’s villain Haman, to pick the day on which to slaughter the Jewish population of Persia. As told in Megilat Esther, the Book of Esther, a massive reversal takes the Jews out of danger and into a position to defend themselves. As a result, reversals and changes to the rule of law are a common way to celebrate Purim.
Evening-into-morning holidays
Most Jewish holidays are celebrated beginning on the evening of the previous day, and the celebration continues until dusk on the next day. On some major holidays like Passover these days are joined up to form a longer holiday, but Purim is a standalone holiday, celebrated for just one “day”.
Pale of Settlement
The “Pale of Settlement” was an area in Western Russia designated for “undesirables,” specifically Jews. Under Catherine the Great, Jews were forcibly moved from their homes, and unless someone was extremely well-connected or very wealthy, resettlement in the Pale was inevitable. Relocation and ghettoization was ongoing from 1791 until the Russian revolution in 1917, so it was still happening during our narrative.
There’s even a Toronto-based Klezmer band called Beyond the Pale, playing on both uses of the well-known phrase. (The origin of this phrase is uncertain, but is held by some to be derived from the Pale of Settlement or the English Pale in Ireland.)
Dressing up for Purim
The children avail themselves of the rag bag to construct costume pieces, and a lot of families keep a costume bin, or a bag with old clothes, like coats, hats, nightgowns, gloves, robes and other paraphernalia suitable to creating the subversive costumes that Purim tradition encourages. There’s lots of exaggeration, gender bending, color, and creativity that goes into making your Purim costume interesting — and if you’re lucky, you might get noticed at the costume contest at synagogue or your Jewish community center.
Hamentaschen and Teiglach
Hamentaschen (sometimes spelled Hamantaschen) are a three-cornered pastry, said to resemble the ears or the three-cornered hat of Haman, the main villain of the Purim story. Teiglach are a honey-based sweet treat popularly made for both Purim and the Jewish new year, Rosh Hashanah, on which honey is traditional.
Gragger, a rattle-wheel noisemaker
The gragger is a commonly used noisemaker that Jewish children and adults use in synagogue in another reversal, where the children are allowed, nay, encouraged to make extra noise in synagogue to drown out the name of Haman, the main villain of the Purim story. Graggers are operated by hand, by twirling the instrument in the air by its handle and pumping the wrist to get the rattle going.
Torah reading with Trop, a form of cantillation
When Jews read the Torah aloud in synagogue, we use a specific set of cantillation marks that indicate the notes to be used in chanting the reading. These notes are not present in the Torah scroll, so the person chanting the reading can either memorize the sequence of notes, or be fed a reminder by a person standing next to them who uses a system of hand symbols to indicate what’s coming next. A third person will check that the reading of both the words and the cantillation are correct, and the reader may need to repeat a section if they have voiced it incorrectly. For different readings, like a megillah or a selection from the Prophets, the same marks will be used, but they will indicate a different set of notes. You can learn to read Megilat Esther for Purim here.
Mishloach Manot / Shalach Manot and Matanot L’Evyonim
Mishloach Manot is a custom with many names. We exchange presents of food with our friends, family and those in our neighborhood who may not be able to afford nice things for Purim. In both sharing the wealth and sending a plethora of nice things, everyone can equally enjoy the holiday.
Purim Shpiel
Purim is often celebrated with shtick, a form of humor that uses cleverness, wordplay, parodies of modern culture, music, dancing, and sometimes cartoon violence. This often takes the form of a “shpiel”, an organized play or performance. Every Purim shpiel is unique. Some follow the story of the Book of Esther, and some tell different stories. They are all done to celebrate the holiday and bring joy to the community. The concert the girls give in the front room is a form of Purim shpiel.