South Hills celebrates Pittsburgh for Jewish holiday Purim
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Julie Segel visits with Erroll, a screech owl who’s doing fine despite missing one of his eyes, courtesy of the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium’s Zoomobile.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Chaim Jacobs of Squirrel Hill provides music for the celebration.
The festival of Purim, which takes place about a month before the start of Passover, represents a time for fun and frolic.
In celebrating the Old Testament heroics of Esther and her cousin Mordechai in foiling a Persian pogrom, revelers often wear costumes, eat hamantaschen pastries and, for the over-21 crowd, have a bit of adult beverage.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Mussie Rosenblum, sporting a wig for the Purim festivities and holding son Schneur, welcomes guests to the celebration.
Each year, Chabad of the South Hills in Mt. Lebanon chooses a theme for Purim. For the March 21 celebration at the Jewish Community Center in Scott Township, the order of the evening was “Purim in the ‘Burgh.”
“We thought of this theme simply because of the very unfortunate events that happened at Tree of Life,” Chabad event coordinator Mussie Rosenblum said about the October murder of 11 worshipers at the Squirrel Hill synagogue.
“Of course, we’re all still in pain and all mourning, but there comes a time to do something uplifting and something positive. So we thought, hey, why don’t we celebrate Pittsburgh?” she explained. “Pittsburgh has been amazing as a community after what happened, and everybody has been so supportive and so loving to the Jewish community.”
And so plenty of folks who attended the celebration were dressed in Steelers, Penguins and Pirates gear. Some chose to honor the city’s first responders by dressing like police officers and firefighters.
Other types of costumes were fine, too, including the Iron Maiden shirt worn by one of the guests as a heavy-metal head.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Rabbi Mendy Rosenblum rolls up the Megillah scroll following his reading.
The celebration started with the traditional reading of the Megillah, relating the story of Esther vs. evil Persian vizier Hamam, by Rabbi Mendy Rosenblum, Chabad of the South Hills director.
Then came various games and activities directed toward youngsters, including an opportunity to visit with some small animals from the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium’s Zoomobile. Representatives of Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, the Giant Eagle Kosher Bakery and other organizations also were present.
“Anyone I reached out to, they very generously came out and wanted to be part of the event,” Mussie Rosenblum said.
For more information about Chabad of the South Hills – Jewish Center for Living and Learning, visit www.chabadsh.com.
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Harry Funk/The Almanac
Max Vestel checks out a turtle that tagged along on the Zoomobile.