Temple El Emeth hosts P.J. Library Purim Bash
Temple El Emeth hosts P.J. Library holiday event
By LINDA M. LINONIS
LIBERTY
Kids did what kids do ... they had fun and ran around. In between doing what they wanted to do, they did what adults had planned for them.
The children filled dough to make Hamantaschen, a cookie; adhered stickers and sequins on plastic cups that were glued together by adults to make groggers — or noisemakers — then they sat (for the most part) to listen to a story of the “Five Little Gefiltes” read by Rabbi Joseph Schonberger.
The event was the P.J. Library Purim Bash on Wednesday night at Temple El Emeth, 3970 Logan Way. About 20 children and their parents attended the activity before the actual observance. Purim begins at sundown Wednesday and continues through next Thursday.
Emily Collins, youth and family coordinator and camp director at the Jewish Community Center, coordinates the P.J. Library events that take place at the JCC and Valley synagogues. She said the P.J.
Library program is for infants to 8-year-olds whose families receive free books monthly about Jewish holidays and traditions.
“It’s about educating children in Jewish traditions,” she said.
Rabbi Schonberger said Purim celebrates the story of courage and survival chronicled in the Book of Esther. The story recounts how Esther, a Jew, had been made queen by Ahasuerus, king of ancient Persia, and her cousin, Mordecai. Haman was the king’s adviser and hated Mordecai. Haman, the rabbi said, wanted to exterminate the Jews. But the king “empowers the Jewish people to defend themselves,” the rabbi said.
The Megillah is the reading from the Book of Esther recounting the events.
Adult helpers made the dough for the Haman-taschen, and the children added fillings of their choice, which included apricot, chocolate and raspberry. As the children participated in crafts and story time, the cookies were baked for them to take home. “It’s fun to see young people having a good time at the temple,” said Lenore Ackerman, a temple member assisting with the cookies. Some children wore costumes, which is a Purim tradition.
The youngsters also made groggers out of plastic cups filled with beans. They decorated them with stickers and sequins. The groggers are shaken to make a racket whenever Haman’s name is mentioned. The rabbi said Haman wore a three-cornered hat, and the Hamantaschen cookies are folded with three “corners.”
Rabbi Schonberger then read the story of “Five Little Gefiltes” by David Horowicz; the story played on the song, “Five Little Ducks.” The rabbi said he was using a violin to attract the children’s interest but said it was the “Henny Youngman” version of playing the instrument. The rabbi engaged the children in the story of the five gefiltes who visited the movie theater, deli, market, cab and park and one by one disappeared. Momma gefilte fish cried and said “oy veh.”
The sad momma gefilte fish went to the park and “kvetched” (complained) the whole way, noting her children “didn’t write, didn’t call.”
As she sat on a bench crying, her five gefilte children appeared, and the family was reunited. Each was a “mensch,” the rabbi said, that is, a good person who loved his or her mother.
Ronna Marlin, co-president of the temple, assisted the rabbi in telling the story along with her husband, Rick.
Maayan and Kobie Sigler, who are from Israel and are teaching Hebrew at the Akiva School, attended with their son, Roei, 21/2. “It’s nice to participate in this Jewish activity,” she said.
Randall and Bethany Goldberg brought their 22-month-old son, Asa. “We like the P.J. Library program. It’s entertaining and educational and is helping Asa learn about Judaism,” he said.
Next week, Temple El Emeth and Congregation Ohev Tzedek in Boardman will celebrate Purim jointly at Temple El Elmeth. There will be a minyan, a brief service; Megillah reading, dinner, balloon artist Joe Sullivan, music by Goldberg and the TEE/OT Band and “Slash the Stache” fundraiser to see if Mark Perlman’s moustache of 44 years will be saved or shaved. Costumes are encouraged.