Hello my dawlinks! I was in the kitchen for several hours today making Hamantashen for the neighborhood, since Purim is this weekend, and it occured to me that my mishpokhe (family) on here (that would be you) might not know about things such as Purim, or Hamantashen, or why we celebrate this holiday.
Far be it for me to assume you know everything, so I'll explain it to you. First, go to the kitchen and grab a snack and something to drink; then get your blanket and a comfortable pillow; we're going to be here for a bit. Trust me, it's worth your time. You'll like it.
Before we begin there are a few rules you need to follow. When you read the name Haman you are to yell "BOO!" or "HISS". When you see the name Esther, you say, "You Go Girl!" When you read Mordechai, you say, "You da man!", and if you read it out loud to someone, they do as well.
In the Megillat Esther (The Book of Esther), the Jewish people were in exile in Babylon for some reason (we're always making someone angry about something). King Ahashverosh (say like a sneeze, it's much easier that way) wanting to display his great wealth and power, decided to have a feast. At the same time, Queen Vashti initiated a celebration for the women of the realm. On the seventh day, the King, being drunk out of his mind, summoned Vashti and ordered her to demonstrate her beauty for for the King's officials.
Vashti refused to put herself on display and was struck down by G-d, it is said in the Talmud (one of our Books), with leprosy. This caused her downfall and Esther's (You go girl) rise. Incensed, the King sought the advice of his officers for a suitable punishment. One advisor, Memuchan, who was actually Haman (BOO!) argued that Vashti should be killed for her disobedience, and the King followed his advice. Evidently the King wasn't too bright.
So you know how it goes, time passes and the King regretted his action on Vashti and wanted to remarry. This time he followed a servant's advice and held a contest for all the eligible women in his kingdom. (I'm telling you, this guy didn't have a brain in his head!) And guess who was in his kingdom? You got it! Esther! (You go girl!)
But she did NOT tell anyone she was Jewish or that she was raised by Mordechai (You da man) upon her parents' death. Oh, did I tell you -- the servant that advised the King was Mordechai? (You da man) My bad. Soon, Esther (You go girl!) had impressed everyone, including the King, and taken as the Queen in Vashti's place. Wait, conflict is coming.
A few years went by and Haman (BOO!), who was a descendent of Amalek, the traditional enemy of the Jews, was elevated to a position above all other officials. Everyone had to bow down before him, and they did except Mordechai (You da man!). He refused to bow because, according to Midrash (another one of our books), there is no bowing before idols, which Haman (BOO!) wore around his neck. Haman (BOO!) wouldn't be content with just punishing Mordechai (You da man), but wanted to destroy the entire Jewish people, and he cast lots to determine the day of annihilation. Now why are people always looking to wipe us off the face of the Earth?
Esther (You go girl!) sent a messenger to Mordechai (You da man!) to find out what was going on, and upon finding out, she sent a message back to him instructing that all Jews perform a three day fast on her behalf while she goes before the King. Esther (You go girl!) invited the King and Haman (BOO!) to a banquet.
At the feast, they were both invited back for the next night, and Haman (HISS!) left full of importance and pride but these feelings were transformed into anger when he saw Mordechai (You da man!). Upon returning home, Haman's (HISS!) wife instructed him to build a gallows fifty cubits high to hang Mordechai (You da man!), and Haman (HISS!) joyously acted upon the suggestion.
The part I had forgotten to tell you was that Mordechai had thwarted an assassination attempt on the King. The evening the King could not sleep he ordered his servants to read from the book of chronicles, whereupon Ahashverosh discovered that Mordechai (You da man!) had never been rewarded for saving him from the assassination plot of two servants.
Haman (HISS!), appeared in the court, and the King decided that his trusted servant should determine Mordechai's (You da man!) compensation. Haman (HISS!), intending to obtain the King's permission to hang Mordechai (You da man!) unwittingly answered the King's questions. The King asked Haman (HISS!) "What should be done for the man the King wishes to reward?"
Haman (BOO!), believing that Ahashverosh intended to reward him, replied that the honoree should be dressed in royal clothing, ride upon a royal horse, and be led through the city streets by a government official proclaiming, "This is what is done to the man the King wishes to honor." Ahashverosh agreed, and instructed Haman (BOO!) to carry it out for Mordechai (You da man!).
Crestfallen, Haman followed the King's orders. While leading Mordechai (You da man!) around on the horse, garbage was thrown on Haman (BOO!) by his own daughter who had mistaken him for Mordechai (You da man!). Haman (BOO!) was whisked away to Esther (You go girl!) and a second banquet, where his downfall continued.
Speaking poetically, Esther (You go girl!) asked the King to "grant me my soul and my people," and she revealed Hamdan's (BOO!) villainous plot. Consumed with anger, Ahashverosh ordered that Haman (HISS!) be hanged on the gallows intended for Mordechai (You da man!). Thereupon, the King elevated Mordechai (You da man!) to a position of great influence and allowed him to issue edicts permitting the Jews to fight their enemies.
And that, bubbelehs, is the story of Purim. Believe it or not, THAT'S the short version! The part I didn't tell you about is that when we read the Megillat, it is required we drink every time we read a name. By the time we're done, everyone is shiker (drunk). This is the one time I'm not going to tell you that "it couldn't hurt". This time it might! Although, I suppose it would be adaptable to having something else besides alcohol, no? That part I'll leave up to you, Kindeleh.
What I am going to tell you, however, is that I'm going to put the recipe for Hamantashen in the recipe area in case you want to make it. Now THAT couldn't hurt!
Your
Yenta
Well, now that I'm learning more about foods and inflammation, maybe it could! Agin, I'll leave that part up to you, Kindeleh. The stories of each of our lives has much to do with circumstances, combined with what we each do every moment of every day.
Yenta Tellabenta is truly a 'creation' for outreach and education with Lumigrate.com through storytelling and reinforcement of key concepts related to body, mind, spirit. Written by a very talented and somewhat mysterious younger wise woman who found her way to Lumigrate the summer of 2009, we hope you enjoy having your own Yenta with us at Lumigrate! Yenta (meaning 'town gossip' or 'connector') has a dedicated Forum at Lumigrate at http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibro... [1] and can also be found on facebook.
Links:
[1] http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibromyalgia-chronic-pain-and-chronic-fatigueexhaustion/it-cant-hurt-o
[2] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/purim-aka-story-esther#comment-493
[3] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/purim-aka-story-esther#top
[4] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/login?destination=node/332%23comment-form
[5] http://www.lumigrate.com/user/register?destination=node/332%23comment-form
[6] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/purim-aka-story-esther#comment-495
[7] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/purim-aka-story-esther#comment-496
[8] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/purim-aka-story-esther#comment-1059
[9] http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/648312/jewish/Purim-2011-Guide.htm
[10] http://judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/Purim.htm
[11] http://twitter.com/lumigrate
[12] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/purim-aka-story-esther#comment-2522
[13] http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/fix-your-broken-brain-healing-your-body-first-gut-key-ultra-mind-solution-mark-hyman-md
[14] http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/preventive-medicine-concepts/nutrition/food
Comments
Dearest Yenta,
Might I make a suggestion? I suggest that you take two aspirin before reading or hearing the Purim Story so that you might just nip a hangover in the bud.
Now that won't hurt!
I LOVE reading/hearing the story of Esther...I will have to find out what the book is that we used to read at our Celebrations. I have to call Gramma Bonnie for that one.
Enjoy your celebrations, don't drink too much...okay...go ahead...I know that this is the one time it is excusable.
Love You...Tammy
The book of Esther is one of my favorite books of the Bible. My grandmother and my sister were named after this queen. I have to say, this is the most colorful rendition of the telling of that story I have ever read. At times I really did LOL (laugh out loud). Great job there, Yenta.
Alice Franklin was raised on a sandy beach in Point Clear, AL and lived along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Alabama in her youth, graduating from Fairhope High School on Mobile Bay. Prior to becoming disabled due to severe spine problems, she worked her way into management and purchasing positions in industrial manufacturing and art industries. She worked her way into Lumigrate unknowingly by impressively writing at Lent 2010 about utilizing her religious and spiritual beliefs with chronic pain/disease management (she has had fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain for decades); it turns out she holds the priesthood office of elder in her church and became active again in this office in May 2010 and has been pastor or copastor in previous churches. We are so very proud to have her words and thoughts gracing our 'pages' of this website and look forward to what the future holds for her.
Thank you my dawlinks! It's one of my favorites too. And it's not because of the drinking, Tammy bubbeleh, which I don't do much of, by the way. It's because it has all the elements of a good story, a good moral, and it was written by the ONE that really knows how to write! Who could ask for more? And by the way Alice, my Bubbie was also Esther. A great lady!
I'm glad you liked it. You should see it acted out, it's a fun time!
Your Yenta
Yenta Tellabenta is truly a 'creation' for outreach and education with Lumigrate.com through storytelling and reinforcement of key concepts related to body, mind, spirit. Written by a very talented and somewhat mysterious younger wise woman who found her way to Lumigrate the summer of 2009, we hope you enjoy having your own Yenta with us at Lumigrate! Yenta (meaning 'town gossip' or 'connector') has a dedicated Forum at Lumigrate at http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibro... [1] and can also be found on facebook.
Enough about THAT, now that the core education is out of the way, let me go on to talk about Esther!
I've always wondered why EVERYONE had an Aunt Esther it seemed, even me! Great Aunt Esther in my case, as I have no aunts or uncles since both my parents were only children. Esther was my mother's aunt, older sister to my beloved 'Nanny'/grandmother. When I was four, Nanny, who had lived in an adjoining house to my immediate family's, left to go live/take care of her older sister. It was only going to be until Esther was not living at home or was not living, but then she ended up outliving my grandmother!
There was quite a story about when my mother took her future husband and my future father to meet Aunt Esther, nobody ever knew what happened in the house, but he came running out of the house with her chasing after him moments after everyone else had gone outside.
She was quite a character: In her young adulthood, she had been asked to marry by an unknown radio man, at the time, named Lowell Thomas, and her father said 'he's just a radioman, marry an engineer so you'll have enough money to live on'. And then he went on to be famous and quite wealthy!
Esther followed her father's advise and married an engineer, living out her life in Spartanburg, South Carolina. I always figured that might have been part of why she was so unpleasant and difficult, and I believe it might have been why my mother did her 'hands off advising' of my life. Can you imagine, seeing the person you loved and were dissuaded from/"not allowed" to marry (because she gave her power away, as was the tradition in that era in the early part of the 1900s), becoming rich and famous and travling the world as a celebrity?
His love letters to her when they were courting ended up being sent to my mother after Esther's death, as she had no children, and my mother forwarded them on to Mr. Thomas' secretary for their discretion. There is a little museum about him outside of Cripple Creek, Colorado, where he grew up in a little mountain mining town called Victor, but it was always closed when I was in the area to view aspen trees in the fall so I did not see if they made their way to 'his' museum.
Sharing the fun and laughter of this story, in my mind, is excellent medicine for the body, mind, and spirit!
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! ~~ Mardy
PS -- I wanted to know when Purim was this year in order to re-run this at the appropriate time and found a website which I liked for those who might be interested in learning more about the traditions -- they're good reminders at the very least (such as giving to the poor, to friends, etc.).
www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/648312/jewish/Purim-2011-Guide.htm [9]
and the ever so good about.com: judaism.about.com/od/holidays/a/Purim.htm [10]
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [11] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!
In 2012 and 2013, we have added new information about foods which cause inflammation, which leads to causing or contributing to 'all' the chronic illnesses (with the exception of a few of the cancers -- and for cancer, I chose to link from Lumigrate to "Cancer Schmancer" which takes an approach of educating about what causes cancer -- toxins we put on our bodies, inhale in our buildings and vehicles or outdoors, and eat and drink in our diet.
So I encourage people to use this FUN story to look at how culture and traditions keep us eating the same things, even after we 'know better' -- we are held back from 'doing better' sometimes. Are there ways to adapt the traditional Hamantashan recipe to use a recipe other than wheat (since our modern wheat is extremely devious what it does within our modern-day bodies, including it's components after digestion crossing the blood-brain barrier).
When you're drinking the drinks that go with the story, are they going to add to the toxic burden of your body or fuel you? There is much at the resources I provide at this link, about alcohol and grains and other additives which can be contributing signficantly to people's moods, behaviors, mental clarity, and physical symptoms, which are 'all' the chronic illnesses we think of.
www.lumigrate.com/forum/fix-your-broken-brain-healing-your-body-first-gut-key-ultra-mind-solution-mark-hyman-md [13]
That, above, is currently in the 'gut' forum because that is the 'scene of the crime' where the foods start becoming problematic to the mind and body (and spirit's) well-being. And here is a link to the foroum on food, where you will see TWO topics that I also recommend reading.
www.lumigrate.com/forums/preventive-medicine-concepts/nutrition/food [14]
One is by Dr Jeff McCloskey, related to foods and inflammation. The other is my reporting on a seminar I attended for the allopathic medical community in Grand Junction, Colorado last February, by a local pulmonologist whose wife had resolved body aches/pains/problems by learning about foods and inflammation and they saw other things in their family improve. So his interest was piqued and he tore into research and learned, presented, and did his part to 'spread the word'. I hope you will do the same with this creative, FUN, innovative story which sets us up for talking about foods, spirits, drinks, and .... traditions! This is how we all .....
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! ~~ Mardy
Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [11] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!