Purim is about costumes, outrageous Purim spiels and drinking until you can’t tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman, the hero and villain of the Purim story.
Or is it?
A number of American synagogues and Jewish organizations are eschewing, or at least downplaying, the drunken revelry to focus more on the socially conscious aspects of the holiday, which begins the night of March 19.
“I’ve always hated the drunken side of Purim,” said rabbinical student Ilan Glazer, spiritual leader of Conservative Temple Beth El of North Bergen, N.J., which will hold an alcohol-free Jewish comedy festival this year on Purim afternoon. “It seems counter to what we try to teach our children about the Jewish tradition.”
The most widespread alternatives involve mishloach manot, giving food baskets to friends, and matanot l’evyonim, giving to the needy.
At Kehilla Community Synagogue in Piedmont, three congregations — Kehilla, the Aquarian Minyan and Chochmat HaLev — join together to celebrate Purim with boxes of macaroni and cheese as graggers, which are donated to a food bank after the festival.
In New York, the Israeli Consulate is teaming up with City Meals on Wheels and the Netanya Foundation to deliver meals to the homebound elderly, complete with “Happy Purim” cards decorated by children in Netanya, Israel.
Ahavat Olam, a progressive synagogue in Vancouver, B.C., is joining with local Muslims to prepare a meal for 300 to 500 hungry and homeless people as part of its ongoing Muslim-Jewish Feed the Hungry Project.
The Jewish Renewal Congregation Nevei Kodesh in Boulder, Colo., is among the many synagogues nationwide that ask worshippers to use boxes of dried beans, cereal or pasta as noisemakers instead of plastic graggers during the reading of the Megillah. Afterward, the food is donated to food pantries.
“While we still have a party, we don’t do much drinking, and we use all compostable goods so that there is no real waste,” said the synagogue’s executive director, Dena Gitterman.
Some congregations go beyond collecting food.
The Reform movement’s Religious Action Center has an online social action guide to Purim that takes the holiday’s theme of turning things upside-down and depicts Purim as a time to overturn social inequalities through tzedakah projects.
In keeping with that idea, Reform Temple Beth El in Huntington, N.Y., held a Purim baby clothing drive this year, asking congregants to bring new or gently used clothing and accessories, including strollers and car seats, for a “Purim baby boutique” held at the temple.
IKAR, an independent minyan in Los Angeles, is one of several congregations across the United States that puts on a Purim Justice Carnival. The minyan decorates the room and runs games focused on the work of local service and advocacy groups, such as “bowling to end hunger and homelessness,” where people win “tzedakah coins” that are put toward an anti-hunger agency.
“The deepest message of Purim is that life is capricious and everything can turn on its head in an instant,” said IKAR’s rabbi, Sharon Brous. “The only response to the uncertainty of life is to give love and do justice.”
Some congregations, however, don’t want to give up the party entirely.
This year, Reform Temple Micah in Washington is using boxes of macaroni and cheese as graggers. Like elsewhere, the food will be donated afterward. But assistant Rabbi Esther Lederman said they’ll also have the drinking and the costume party.
“So many of our holidays are so serious,” Lederman said. “I don’t think Purim should turn into public drunkenness. But we want people to be able to let go in a way that’s safe. This is our one time to be ridiculous, to let down our guard, and there’s something to be said for that.”