|Vol. 41, No. 3
Adar l-Adar II 5779
March 2019
Jewish Federation
OF GREATER CHARLOTTE
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rT],
FEDERATION 2019 CAMPAIGN IN FULL SWING
A crowd of more than 600 people packed the sanctuary at Temple Israel for the Jewish Federation’s 2019 Main
Event! Co-ChaIrs Sam and Emily ZImmern & BIN and Angle ZImmern told their personal stories about family,
becoming Involved In Federation and other Jewish organizations. They spoke passionately about the power
to sustain and create Jewish life, to ensure a safety net locally and globally for Jews In need, and to create a
positive Jewish future here In Charlotte.
Every dollar and every gift make a difference. Just as generations before you built the community we benefit
from today. It’s up to you to create the Jewish world we wish to pass along to our children and grandchildren.
Giving generously to our community Is at the core of how we accomplish this together.
Special thanks to The Leon Levine Foundation for their generous commitment of $800,000 to the 2019
Campaign! PLUS $50,000 of their gift Is a match to help Inspire YOU, our donors In making a new or Increased
gift to the Federation. To learn more about how you can take advantage of this Incredible opportunity, please
call Jason Pressberg, Chief Development Officer, at 704.944.6758.
The extraordinary Impact of Federation can be felt throughout the community and around the world.
Join us by making your gift to the annual campaign today! www.jewishcharlotte.org
DONATE. VOLUNTEER. MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
How Purim is a Call to Leadership
By Abigail Pogrebin
(JTA) — Purim is a dark sto
ry marked by a crazy party. Fm
still unsure why a close brash
with extermination became, in
the Middle Ages, an opportunity
for costumes and farce, but there
you have it.
It’s the fifth century BCE,
about a hundred years after the
First Temple’s destruction. The
Jews who were exiled to Babylon
are now ruled by the Persian king
Ahaseuras, who thinks highly of
himself. In the city of Shushan,
the king’s adviser, Haman, is a
cruel Jew-hater. He hatches apian
to kill all the Jews and draws lots
(“purim”) to pick the day it will
happen, persuading Ahaseuras to
go along.
A proclamation is made
throughout the kingdom: On that
day, all Jews shall be killed. A
Jew named Mordechai entreats
his cousin, the gorgeous Queen
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Esther, to prevent it by pleading
for mercy with her husband the
king.
Esther was married to
Ahaseuras essentially against her
will. He chose her ont of a bevy
of prospective wives at a banquet
after banishing his then-wife,
Vashti, who refused to display
her beauty for his guests. (Some
say she refused to dance naked.)
Esther’s Jewish roots were kept
secret when she married the king,
so for her to now entreat her hus
band wonld mean exposing her
Jndaism — not to mention that in
those days it was life threatening
to approach the king withont hav
ing been snmmoned.
Nevertheless, she plncks np
the conrage, snccessfully appeals
to her husband and foils the mas
sacre. The king kills Haman and
his sons, and then, becanse the
proclamation conld not officially
be canceled according to Persian
law, the Jews can only defend
themselves with a preemptive
strike. Some say they took
self-defense too far, slanghtering
75,000.
Pnrim’s modem observance, at
least in Reform synagognes I’ve
visited, does not focns on that
brutal coda, highlighting instead
the reenactment of cruel Haman
and comageons Esther. The ritnal
is to read alond the story from a
scroll of parchment known as the
Megillah, which has the biblical
book of Esther inscribed on it.
The narrative is then often
theatricalized with wacky cos-
tnmes in a play called a spiel —
prononnced “shpeel.” Whenever
Haman is mentioned dnring the
satire, people “boo” vigoronsly
or spin noisemakers, called grog-
gers, to drown ont his name.
Purim is, hands down, the
biggest party of the Jewish year.
Simchat Torah pales by compar
ison, with its sips of single malt.
This is the Big Megillah (word
play intended), and we’re snp-
posed to get so trashed that we
can’t tell the difference between
Mordechai (good gny) and Ha
man (really bad).
1 decide to sample some of the
elaborate spiel-prep nnder way
in New York City, so 1 spend
an evening watching rehearsals
at the Stephen Wise Synagogne
on the Upper West Side of New
York City, where congregant
Norman Roth, 76, a retired ac-
conntant, has been writing and
directing the shul’s spiel for the
I
past three decades.
Some of his past triumphs line
the stairway in colorful, theatri
cal show posters with titles like
“Michael Jackson’s The Thrill
er Megiller,” “Les Mis — Les
Me-gillah,” and “Oh What a Spiel
— The Jersey Boys Megill^.”
This year’s theme is Elvis. One
of Roth’s lyrics riffs on “Blue
Suede Shoes,” when the king tells
Haman, “Don’t yon step on my
Shushan Jews.”
Roth takes great pride in his
spiel scripts. And he points ont
that in his librettos, Haman never
dies.
“We have very few men in the
show, so we need Haman for the
closing number. We never kill
him off,” he says.
1 ask Roth if it gives him panse
to know he’s leaving ont the real
bloody end of the story — the
75,000 slain.
(Continued on page 31)
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