Purim Party

Dear Pali Pres,

This past Tuesday my family and I did something a bit out of the ordinary (at least for us) - we celebrated Purim! If you are not familiar with Purim, you can read all about it here. To summarize, Purim is a Jewish holiday celebrating the saving of the Jewish people from a plot to exterminate them by the Persian Empire official, Haman. The story is narrated in the Book of Esther.

The story of Esther and her heroic efforts to save the Jewish people is full of surprises and intrigue, and contains important lessons about courage, loyalty, and faithfulness. However, one thing the book of Esther does NOT contain, at all, is mention of God. Fun biblical fact: Esther is the only book in our entire Bible that doesn’t mention or even reference God - not once! How then can Esther be included as a book in the Bible, you ask?

Well, that’s a topic for a different blog (or maybe even an upcoming sermon). Anyway, Jews (and some of us Christians) all over the world celebrate Purim as a way to remember God’s faithfulness to his people. Purim celebrations are marked by festive feasting, gift giving, wearing of costumes, and the public recitation of the Esther story.

Mary, Joshua, Luke and I went to the Chabad Jewish Community Center, just down Sunset Boulevard, to join their Purim festivities. Their theme this year was “Purim in New York City” which meant the festivities included New York City inspired deli food, bouncy houses, New York City “street artists”, and some really good cookies!

All in all, it was a fun way for us as a family to learn more about the important story of Esther and share in fellowship with our Jewish sisters and brothers.

Shalom,

Pastor Matt