HaPPy PuRiM

Purim is one of my most favorite holidays. Even with the isolation of the pandemic I am still feeling the impending joyousness of the upcoming holiday. The beginning of this horribel plandemic started right before Purim last year which was before the mask edict was invoked. We have been wearing masks since right before Pesach. I for one do not plan on wearing a mask any longer than necessary. Masks have made NYC into a colder society than it was to begin with. No smiles indoors. Its harder to hear what people are saying and more importantly its harder for others to hear me. Sometimes it feels easier not to speak to people because its hard to hear them and its hard for them to hear me if both of us are wearing masks. I think that masks create division. Masks on Purim can be fun , but many Purim masks do not cover one's mouth. Eyes are the mirror of the soul but its a lot easier to hear what people are saying if one can see someone's mouth while they are speaking. I am hoping soon the masks will be removed and peace and harmony will return.... One can only hope... Happy Purim!!

Purim

   Purim is one of my favorite holidays. I hate when people try to equate it with Halloween.  We dress up in in costumes to signify the hidden miracle . Very meaningful. Halloween probably stole  its customs  from Purim. I know very little about Easter but they probably have egg hunts because they stole it from the seder plate and they probably have Easter baskets because there are years when Easter and Purim fall out near each other.

 
 
  Have a happy Purim everyone!  Celebrate our endurance as a people. 

Shoshanas Yaakov - Lev Aryeh 2015 (NEW) Purim Music Video - Catwalk

    I always feel like I am  being lazy when I post a video instead of writing a real post, but I will be posting this anyway. I am so looking forward to Purim so I am posting this song that I found on you tube today. Enjoy. 

Purimalocity Party - פורימלוסיטי

   LOVE  this. It really has gotten me in to the spirit of Purim.

Another Cute Purim Video

I don't always appreciate Lipa's videos, but this one is cool. Enjoy!

Purim Songs

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Watch both and see which you like best. I think I like the one with the little kids is best, but they are both cute.

shushan purim

today was/is shushan purim. for those in jerusalem it was purim for those of us in the united states its the day we try to recover from eating so much shalach manos. if you are like me it is a day when you are still eating shalach manos. i brought all of the shalach manos that i don't prefer to work and left the good stuff at home . not very good for the diet, but purim is but once a year and some of the nosh i received yesterday is just doggone good to give away.
have a good shabbos all.

hamantashen love

i love hamantashen so i have photographed my favorite cookie . enjoy my photos and have a fabulous hamantahsen filled purim.

purim preview

purim is upon us. i love the ronald mcdonald blow up doll that i saw outside of hocus pocus on avenue m. i also like that no one blocked out the faces of the girls in the pictures on another purim store on coney island avenue.

The Maccabeats - Purim Song

i realize that many of you have seen this one already, but im sharing it anyway. its really cute. i wonder if they are going to have a pesach one?

The Purim song and dance by St.Petersburg Hillel (I gotta feeling)

i thought i would share this catchy tune from russia with love and hamantashen!!!

happy purim!!

HAPPY PURIM!! dont eat too much or drink too much!!

purim greetings

purim will soon be upon us. i have always loved purim . i wonder if the charedim will soon be calling megillas esther  megillas mordechai because they so want to hide women . this of course would be ridiculous because the name esther already means hidden so no need to hide her  more.
one of the reasons ive liked purim , aside from shalach manos and hamantashen is because a woman is a central part of the story of purim. now that i think about it intermarriage was a part of the purim story. after all achashverosh did not convert to judaism. then again, marrying a gentile is not one of the three cardinal sins in judaism- killing, idolatry or adultery so i guess to save the jewish people its ok to marry a goy. the funny thing is as many times as i have studied the story of purim i never remember discussing the intermarriage component. if it was discussed it must not have been much because i have zero recollection of such a discussion. i am surprised that the less ritualistic branches of judaism haven't had a field day with  this one. then again maybe they have but because im frum i haven't heard them do this.

happy purim!!

today is my favorite jewish holiday. wishing everyone a happy purim. dont drink and drive! enjoy all of the shalach manot!

pre-purim in midwood

the best hamantashen of midwood 2010 award in my humble opinion goes to ostrovitsky's bakery on avenue j. my favorite is poppy seed, but im sure the other flavors are good too.

the store with the most purim spirit is pomegranate. they have all of their cashiers wearing purim hats. some are wearing jester hats while others are wearing crowns and cowboy hats. none of them seem to be jewish so im not sure how much fun they are having wearing these get ups, but i can say that im enjoying it.

i really want to get some cute purim boxes or bags with an actual purim design on them . amazing savings probably has some but im dreading the crowds of other last minuters who are searching for the perfect shalach manos supplies.

purim recap

had a nice low-key purim. it lived up to all of my anticipation. ate way too much shalach manos. i am a bit wiped , though. ill post more another day.

hamantashen

ive been rather disappointed this year, not as many midwood bakeries have poppy seed /moon hamantashen which are my favorite. i went to isaacs bakery and ostrovitky's on avenue j . ostravitsky's tried to pass off a poppy seed pastry as a hamantashen instead of admitting all they had was prune and apricot. weiss's bakery on m only had small poppy seed hamantashen, not the large ones. schrieber's on avenue m had small poppy seed hamantashen , but they didnt have any large hamantashen when i was in their store today. ostrovitsky's hamantashen are some of the best in midwood in my opinion, but they only get half a vote because i had to have a prune one instead of a poppy one this year. i dont especially like apricot hamantashen, but every bakery seems to carry them.

i ended up getting hamantashen from schrieber's . i actually bought the less desirable apricot as well as my favorite poppy ones. i need some shalach manos supplies that i wont be tempted to eat before purim. i DEFINITELY wont be eating the apricot ones.

to drink or not to drink ?

on purim many are machmir to drink so they dont know the difference between arrur haman and baruch mordechai and sometimes this can be taken to the extreme. my fondest purim memory is leaving the basement apartment i was living in at the time and opening the door to outside of the house and seeing a teen aged boy open his car door to puke. gross! but you know, often gross things stay in your memory as much as if not more than good things. fortunately i have no recollection of this young man's face . so now, years later, when i may run in to him i dont recognize him. lucky for him. there was however a woman who threw up on the q train several years ago and her face i do remember. i still see her on the train in the morning and i make sure to sit far away from her.
so folks go ahead and enjoy yourselves, but do realize if you misbehave when you are drunk someone you dont know may have a very sharp memory of it. you may not remember that moment , but your actions may be embedded in this stranger's memory. if you are the type who considers negative publicity better than no publicity at all then knock yourself out.....literally.

purim is on the way.

usually people (or at least me) start thinking about pesach in january and begin to dread pesach cleaning or start thinking about making their plans to go away. well , today i was at the farmer's market in union square and purim, not pesach was more on the radar. there is a hydroponic tomato stand that is based in shushan , ny. this stand always makes me think of purim. ive taken pictures of it before, but always the perfectionist, ive never liked how they came out. today's photo was the best ive taken of the shushan farms sign yet.

in the spirit of purim's imminent arrival i tested out a new chocolate cake recipe that i may use for shalach manos.

last year i had searched high and low for a purim costume and couldnt find anything in brooklyn . i gave up. after purim i was near canal street and i happened upon ricky's at 375 broadway between franklin and white street. they have a year round costume store. they have a range of prices and i found a costume there for around twenty dollars.

purim this year is march tenth, which is a tuesday. im ready for it. how about you?

happy purim to all

purim is definitely one of my favorite holidays because i am a big fan of hamantashen. every year i go to as many bakeries as i can in search of the best hamantashen. more specifically i search for the best poppyseed hamantashen which is my favorite. the first challenge is finding a bakery that actually has moon flavored hamantashen. often all they will have is apricot (blech) or raspberry (double blech). they dont even have prune sometimes!!! my second favorite flavor.
this year however , i was rather successful. most bakeries did carry moon flavored hamantashen. the winner this year is ostravitsky's on avenue j. runner up is isaac's bakery on avenue j. i did try a hamantashen at j2 in manhattan, but they didnt have poppy so i had prune . i have to admit that i did find it tasty.
though ive done my share of taste testing over the past few days i still have some room left for a few more hamantashen on purim day!!!
Have a Happy and Healthy Purim !!!