BRJC celebrates Purim with party

Put your party hats on for Purim!

The Bay Ridge Jewish Center hosted its annual Purim Party on Wednesday, March 4 and celebrated  with costumes, arts and crafts, sing-alongs, and the telling of the full story behind the holiday—a day that commemorates the survival of the Jewish people in Persia.

“During the Purim holiday, which is a very festive celebration, we celebrate the time that the Jewish people survived because of what the young Queen Esther did,” explained Ruth Masyr, president of BRJC.  “It’s a time that we read the story that is called the Megillah – which means a long story – [and] Rabbi Rosenberg put together a wonderful multimedia presentation.”

According to the Book of Esther, a Jewish girl in Persia became queen by keeping her nationality a secret and eventually stopped her husband, a king with an anti-Semitic advisor, from killing all of the Jews in the Persian Empire.

“People of all ages were engaged,” continued Masyr. “The kids liked it, the adults liked it. The weather kept some people away, but we still had a very good turnout. We had all the children and half the adults in costume, [and] games and lots of things for all ages to participate in.”

The multimedia presentation was projected onto a screen in Hebrew and English, according to Masyr, and featured “pop-cultural” characters to help entertain the children during the 10-chapter story.

“When we do events, we like to have them multi-generational,” said Masyr about the over 90-person turnout.  “We welcome our community and we open our doors to the entire Bay Ridge community.”