MOLLY MONTGOMERY PHOTO
Some people dressed as fruit. Men showed up as women. Old danced with young.
That was the scene at Bregamos Community Theater Saturday night, at a belated community celebration of the identity-bending Jewish holiday of Purim.
Members of Mending Minyan, a new progressive intergenerational prayer community in town, organized the party, which was open to the public. Donations collected at the door were given to Bregamos, a space for diverse community theater about New Haven, and Sex Workers & Allies Network (SWAN), an organization dedicated to harm reduction for sex workers.
“Parties are a really great way to build community,” said Ariana Shapiro (pictured at center in photo), who planned the event with Diane Litwin (left) and David Weinreb (right).
Purim, which took place ten days earlier on March 20 – 21, celebrates the apocryphal story told in the Book of Esther, in which a young Jewish woman (that’s Esther), persuades the king of Persia to prevent the extermination of the Jewish people –– thwarting the genocidal plan of the king’s advisor Haman. Often, Purim celebrations take the form of carnivals and costume parties.
“It’s such a fun holiday,” said Litwin. “It’s very inclusive, because the holiday doesn’t mention God in the whole story, and you’re just supposed to dance and drink with the community.”
Purim is also seen as a celebration of the power of women. The story begins with Vashti, a member of the king’s harem whom he favors with the crown and the title “queen.” After Vashti refuses to appear before him when he summons her, he banishes her. He selects (seemingly) docile Esther to take her place. (Modern celebrations of Purim have resurrected Vashti as a feminist heroine.)
Esther’s cousin Mordecai learns that Haman is planning to kill all Jews, and he asks Esther to appear before the king to beg for the prevention of these deaths, even though appearing unsummoned could lead to Esther’s execution. She defies both Mordecai’s demands, agreeing to his plan but accomplishing it on her own terms, and the king’s orders that she appear before him only when he summons her. She appears before him unsummoned and convinces him to prevent Haman’s scheme. With these acts of courage, she saves the Jewish people. The Purim holiday features a reading of that story as well as costumed (and sometimes drunken) merrymaking and distribution of food baskets to friends and to the needy. (Sopa! New Haven, Aminah’s Cuisine, and Elm City Roasters provided food at Saturday’s event.)
Saturday evening’s celebration started with study of this story. Gathered in a circle, attendees took turns reading out paragraphs from a summary of the story and then paused to comment on what they had read. As per tradition, each time attendees spoke Haman’s name, they blotted out the sound with rattling noise makers called graggers.
When readers arrived at the passage in which the king decides to kill Haman and his ten sons, and the Jewish people kill 75,000 Persians to protect themselves, Tagan Engel asked everyone to think about the danger of blotting out anyone’s name, even a villain’s like Haman, “this year in particular.”
“The dynamic of hating anyone is dangerous, particularly in this era,” she said.
Shannon Raider-Ginsburg nodded.
“We don’t celebrate the death and the suffering of other people. We don’t delight in it. If we were to do it over, forgiveness would be a better way forward,” she said.
Beatrice Codianni (pictured), founder and executive director of SWAN, an organization that advocates for the rights of sex workers, highlighted the role of trafficking in the story. She discussed the importance of treating sex workers with dignity.
“The women in Esther’s story – they were trafficked,” she said. “The people who are doing [sex work], not because they want to but just to survive, are ignored. We want people to recognize that they’re human.”
She added, “When you’re reading about the virgin parading before the king, I was thinking about a woman in Ferry Street, parading.”
The commentary also took a mystical turn.
“The veils are lifted between universes, and we put on masks,” said Judy Sirota Rosenthal. “What really are masks? Do we wear our masks every day?”
Then the dancing began. To the music of Nu Haven Kapelye, attendees danced in a circle …
… and in a line …
… until formations and divisions dissolved.