Purim on the Hill
I don’t even remember what I used to do on Purim in London. It all seems so long ago. I think I went to a largely unmemorable megillah reading. The odd rubbish party. I remember having fun shpieling (aka door-to-door chugging) as a teenager in Golders Green. One especially memorable year we dressed up as muggers in balaclavas and held a gun to a friends head, requiring people to part with their cash. That was quite fun. (My friend shoving people’s silverware into a black sack. Shocked faces on the religious community of princess park avenue.) My cousins held an annual Purim seudah which was quite wild. Other than that Purim was a chag that usually just sort of passed by.
Not so here.
This year Purim fell on a Sunday which basically gave people a licence to party all weekend. And party they did. 😉 The adults had their fun on Thursday night at the annual Eshchar Purim bash. Strictly adults only. The party is laid on by the yeshuv culture committee and always has a theme. This year it was a beach party. Invitations were sent out in the form of tiny umbrellas with save-the-dates on them. A few weeks before giant sunshades started appearing near the gate of the yeshuv, along with a dummy lifeguard and ocean waves painted over the gate itself. Signs went up with the Israelis equivalent of “be there or be square” (in care you are curious, it’s מי שלא בא קובייה). Bless. Don’t they realise no one has said that since the 80’s??? Anyway it was quite a build-up.
Husband sneaked into the moadon (community centre/club) the night before the event and hinted that they had gone to town. A few hints were dropped but nobody realised they had completely turned that crappy little hall into a proper beach. They actually imported sand for the floor. It was like dancing on a real beach! (most of us haven’t done that since having kids) two of my friends (since disowned by their wives) dressed up as extremely convincing gays and hosted the evening. They called people up to model their costumes, cracked “in” jokes about the yeshuv and danced for us. (I am still having nightmares about their hairy legs). I kindly donated my smallest denim-miniskirt for a boys beach scene (you don’t want to know).
Around 23:30 I nipped home to feed the baby so I am not sure how the show ended but by the time I got back half the yeshuv was totally rat-arsed and dancing wildly. Great fun. I lasted til around 1 but I am told the hard core clubbers went on til half 3. God bless em. You haven’t lived until you’ve had a 6 foot 5 Israeli bloke in a blonde hula girl outfit crash land off the catwalk onto your leg. In fact some of the costumes were truly inspired. My neighbours were Medusa & Perseus. Another neighbour was a scarily convincing beach prostitute who ambled on stage to the horror of some of our older community members. (let’s hope there were no pacemakers). One couple dressed as jellyfish. Then there were the druzim who set up their coffee pot and picnic blanket on the catwalk. There were a few costumes that went completely over my head (Israeli Humour I suppose). There was a couple dressed collectively as a bikini (I can’t even describe to you how they did that but if you imagine 2 people wrapped up in pink material with white polka dots you may be able to imagine it) Plus a sprinkling of pirates and a few tarts like myself in beach dresses. Except they all had tights and boots on and I was the crazy English girl who thought it was perfectly normal to go out in skimpy dress and flip flops (what our mums would refer to as “next to nothing”) on a cold rainy night. People were horrified.
They say you can tell a lot about a culture by how they treat their women. I say you can tell a lot by how they party. And these people know how to party. So don’t ever let anyone tell you its boring living on a yeshuv! Load of old nonsense.
Then on Friday the kids have a fancy dress parade in gan (cancelled this year because of a bit of rain. The one thing that sends even the toughest Israelis running for cover) but they had a party in gan instead. Shabbat everyone sleeps in prep for more partying. Megillah on Saturday night (more dressing up) and on Sunday they have various readings (including a women’s megillah) followed by a mini carnival – which basically involves a parade through the main street of the yeshuv with the little kids on Ziad-the-gardeners tractor, and a fun-fair created by the teenagers. Then people deliver their mishloach manot in a mad frenzy before they go off to their seudot (feasts). Last year the yeshuv held a communal bar-b-q which was a great option for us with a brand new baby and a new house. In short it’s a non-stop weekend.
All in all, as an ex-Londoner, and someone who has lived in both worlds, I can tell you that all the posh clubs and trendy restaurants in the world can’t compare to home-made yeshuv fun.
Oh, and just in case you are wondering about our kids costumes, we had one Naturalist, one dolphin and one baby lion.