Registration closed on March 1st! Join us next year! <3
what we're planning:
FRIDAY, MARCH 3rd:
7pm Tish: community table at Temple Shalom in Auburn, singing nigunim - traditional Jewish melodies. Masks optional at this event. |
SATURDAY, MARCH 4th
10:30am - 9pm
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SUNDAY, MARCH 5th
11am - 9:30pm
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For those new to Purim: check out our glossary of Jewish & Purim-related terms below!
PurimFest! is sponsored by:
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COVID Policy: We're still here! And unfortunately covid is, too. Here are our covid protocols: we're asking that everyone mask at all times while inside the JCA building unless eating or drinking. We are also asking that everyone take a covid test and have a negative result each day of the festival. We know this can be a lot for some folks, but we are hoping it allows everyone, including community members with compromised immune systems, to feel safe attending the festivals. We will have covid tests and masks available for those who don't have them.
Purim & Jewish word glossary:
Jewish Holiday: In our case, think cultural party! Sometimes people associate pomp and circumstance with 'religion.' Jewishness is a culture, a practice, a religion, an ethnic identity, and a community. Jewishness also often tends in the direction of extremely irreverent. Our holidays offer great opportunities to bring new life into ancient traditions with each year we celebrate. This festival will be a great place to explore, be silly, be sexy, tell bad jokes, and generally be yourself. Come and make yourself at home!
Purim: Oh, so you wanted to know what Purim is before you come to a Purim festival? Ok, ok. Purim is an ancient Jewish celebration where we tell the story of the Book of Esther (a pretty good story, apparently we're not tired of it!), wear costumes, drink, and enjoy ourselves! Traditionally, you're supposed to get so drunk you can't tell the difference between Mordechai (good guy) and Haman (bad guy) in the story - so it's a good set up for a very topsy-turvy-gender-bendy-undermine-the-system kind of time!
Purimshpiel: a dramatized telling of the story of Purim - usually as a play or performance. In our case, anyone can sign up during the weekend for a role, and we'll have a community-made set, group participation and singing, and lots of space for dreaming and laughing and irreverent silliness.
Shvitz: Yiddish for "sweat." We hope you'll be shvitzing up a storm at the SHVITZ dance party on Sunday night!
Megillah (Book) of Esther: Megillah means "scroll", and THIS scroll is the story the whole holiday is based on. It's something like this: in the land of Shushan, there was a young Jewish woman (and heroine-to-be), Esther. She lived with her uncle Mordechai. King Achashverosh, the ruler of the land, was looking for a new queen because his previous queen, Vashti, didn't want to dance in front of him and all his pals, and left him. Esther, in need of some extra cash and stability, went for her audition and became the new queen! Around the same time, Haman (BOO), the king's advisor, told the king that the Jews were ruining things (surprise!), and tried to convince the king to have them all killed. Esther risked her life to plead with the king not to kill the Jews (and to kill Haman instead), and succeeded in saving all the Jews! And so we say, "they tried to kill us, we survived, let's EAT!"
Mizrahi, Sephardi, Ashkenazi: these terms apply to Jews with origins in different areas of the world. Our people have common beginnings and common ancestors, but we are diasporic and have lived all over! Mizrahi Jews are Jews with origins in the Middle East and North Africa. Sephardic Jews have roots in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal). Ashkenazi Jews have origins in Northwest and Eastern Europe. There has been a fair amount of cross-over between these groups, especially between Sephardic and Mizrahi people and cultures.
Shabbat & Havdallah: the Jewish day of rest, which takes place from sundown on Friday night to sundown on Saturday. Folks who are observing Shabbat have various practices, including not working, not using electronics or cars, not traveling long distances, and others, to maintain the anti-capitalistic practice of REST. We encourage folks to come on Shabbat if it fits within their practice, and to let us know what we can do to make that possible. When Shabbat is over, we do a Havdallah ritual to close out our day of rest and welcome the new week.
Tish: Yiddish for "table," a tish is a gathering around a table to sing wordless Jewish melodies, called niggunim. The practice of having a tish originated with chasidic Jews in Eastern Europe, where they wanted to bring the transcendental and divine around our kitchen tables.
Knish: GOOD JEWISH FOOD! (a yummy sweet or savory pastry, to be precise, AND Saturday's lunch at PurimFest!)
And, in case you're new to Jewish spaces, a few terms to think before you say (or just not say):
"You don't look Jewish!": Who are you to say!? Jews look alllllllllll different kinds of ways. This is also one way that racism & antisemitism often come out at Black, Indigenous, Mizrahi, Sephardi and Jews of Color (from gentiles and white Jews alike), by assuming that all Jews look like a white Ashkenazi Jew. Don't assume someone is or isn't Jewish from how they look.
Judeo-Christian: this phrase arbitrarily lumps Jews and Jewish practice in with our number one oppressor over the years - Christian hegemony! No problem to note that Christian practices use an interpretation of our Torah, and that we have some relationship because of that. But Jewish and Christian identity and practice are very, very different, and this term isn't great for most of us.
"You don't look Jewish!": Who are you to say!? Jews look alllllllllll different kinds of ways. This is also one way that racism & antisemitism often come out at Black, Indigenous, Mizrahi, Sephardi and Jews of Color (from gentiles and white Jews alike), by assuming that all Jews look like a white Ashkenazi Jew. Don't assume someone is or isn't Jewish from how they look.
Judeo-Christian: this phrase arbitrarily lumps Jews and Jewish practice in with our number one oppressor over the years - Christian hegemony! No problem to note that Christian practices use an interpretation of our Torah, and that we have some relationship because of that. But Jewish and Christian identity and practice are very, very different, and this term isn't great for most of us.
