By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO– Gosh, I never felt better while lunching on a hamburger and a Coke.
You see, I was at the Temple Emanu-El Purim Carnival, and any profits from that quick lunch—as well as from any other food sold on Sunday, March 8 — were to be donated to the Reform congregation’s campership fund.
Rabbi Devorah Marcus, who was dressed up as a hamantasch, told me that a typical week at an overnight camp costs $1,000, and that there are many Jewish families who just can’t afford that much. So, she said, the fund will be used to help defray the costs for families who send their children to any Jewish camp, not only those sponsored by the Reform movement.
Every tasty morsel could help send a child to such summer time venues as Camp Hess Kramer, Camp Ramah, Camp Mountain Chai, or some other Jewish camp. If that were the only reason to enjoy the Purim carnival, to borrow a phrase from the upcoming holiday of Passover, it would have been enough – dayenu!
However, in addition to helping young campers, attendees could sit in the shade and listen to klezmer music played by a Temple Emanu-El based band, the Honorable Menschen, who are available for gigs. They were accompanied by Karla Ober, a flutist and vocalist, who recently migrated to San Diego from Orange County, where she had worked as a cantorial soloist. She sings beautifully, by the way, so if any congregation is looking, send me an email and I’ll pass on her contact information.
Being able to help campers and to hear a fine band and vocalist – all of whom, by the way, were dressed in costumes befitting Purim, — well dayenu!
However, because I was sitting in the shade, I was joined at a table near the band by different members of the congregation, who began to discuss some of the points Rabbi Marcus had made about the Purim story on Saturday morning, March 7, during the Torah study session she conducts prior to morning Shabbat services.
One paraphrased the rabbi as saying that Vashti was an early feminist, because she refused to dance before drunken King Ahashuerus and his besotted friends. In modern parlance, she objected to being objectified.
The opinions at the shaded table were not unanimous. One neighbor suggested that because the king was the absolute ruler, Vashti should have danced. Besides, he was her husband and she should have honored him, this lady asserted.
However, she added after a moment reflection, had Vashti not refused, Esther never would have been chosen as the queen and she would not have had been able to thwart the evil plans of Haman to annihilate the Jews. So probably Vashti’s independent spirt was part of God’s plan.
As we spoke, a man costumed as Darth Haman walked by our table and took a seat near the band. Eery!
How much we had to be thankful for! A meal that supported campers. A fine band featuring a talented vocalist. And a discussion about the pros and cons of Vashti’s self-assertion. Dayenu, indeed.
But still there was more for which to be thankful.
Inside Temple Emanu-El’s building were numerous carnival games, one of which featured a map of Israel into which a player could putt a golf ball, which might land in holes representing Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv or other venues inside and outside that country There are not many golf courses in Israel—I can think of one near Caesarea—so this game, in itself, was a novelty, not unlike the year some entrepreneurs tried to popularize professional baseball in Israel.
There were many costumes to see, including that of Rabbi Emeritus Martin S. Lawson, whom I took to be King Ahashuerus because of his royal robe, and on second thought, a jester, because of his hat! There also were any number of little girls dressed up as Queen Esther, and I’m sure among the boys, there was a Mordechai or two.
Dayenu! Dayenu! Dayenu!
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Your comment may be sent to him at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com, or posted publicly, per below.
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