Purim Hub

Our Purim Hub is the perfect place to learn about and be inspired with kid-friendly activities all about the holiday of Purim! Purim is a joyful holiday commemorating how Esther saved the Jews of Persia. Purim takes place on the 14^th of Adar. It’s a story about bravery and courage, hiding and revealing, good guys and bad guys. My kids love it because one of the main celebrations is often a Purim Carnival. I love making mishloach manot (Purim baskets). And everyone enjoys being loud and shaking groggers! We dress up in costumes, eat triangle shaped cookies called hamantaschen, often participate or watch a special play called a Purim shpiel, give gift baskets to friends and family, read the Book of Esther, give tzedakah to the needy and have a festive meal.

My Learning Goals for this Holiday

My learning goals for this holiday are for my kiddos to know the story of Purim, the characters of the Purim story and the symbols related to the holiday.

The characters of the Purim story are:

Queen Esther (thought of as a symbol of courage and bravery)
Mordecai (also a symbol of bravery and doing what is right)
King Ahashverosh (usually described as not good or evil, but just someone who doesn’t think deeply about things, not a good quality in a king!)
Haman (he is thought of as evil and every time we hear his name we are supposed to “boo!” or make noise to drown out his name).
Queen Vashti is also an important character of the story, but not one that we will probably focus on for this age group.

The symbols of Purim are:

the four mitzvot of Purim: tzedakah (giving charity to the needy), listening to the Megillah (the Scroll of Esther in which this story of Purim is written), giving mishloach manot (special baskets of ready-made food that are given to friends so that they can celebrate Purim), and enjoying a festive meal;
hamantaschen (special triangle shaped Purim cookies, which are said to remind us of Haman’s hat);
crowns (symbolize Queen Esther and King Ahashverosh);
jewels (symbolizes Queen Esther);
horse (symbolizes Mordecai);
groggers (the noisemakers we use to drown out Haman’s name);
masks (symbolizes the costumes people dress up in for the holiday and that Queen Esther had masked her true identity then revealed it)