The Shalom Center Chapter 9 Project
This Purim, The Shalom Center invited writers, dreamers, and seekers, to reimagine Chapter 9 of the Book of Esther as an exercise in dreaming new worlds, new responses, and new endings into existence....
Category Purim
Finding Joy: A Weekly Jewish Ritual
At a time when it may be hard to find joy, the Hebrew month of Adar is when we are called to increase our happiness, as we build up to the celebration of Purim. What if we could weave a part of the Pu...
Recovering the Lost Sisterhood of Vashti & Esther
A resource for educators This discussion guide invites students to create feminist Midrash by considering: What if Esther and Vashti from the Purim story had met and were in a community together? Read…
Talking about drinking at Purim
Tradition teaches that we are supposed to drink on Purim until we cannot tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman — which is not such great messaging for teens....
Teens, Purim, and #metoo
This year, given the #metoo movement we should talk with kids of all genders about the powerful actions of Vashti and Esther, different as they are on the surface....
Such a Time as This
When it is time to act, will our youth believe that they have the power to speak up for what is right?...
Beauty: From the Scroll to the App
During the Hebrew month of Adar, Rosh Hodesh: It’s a Girl Thing! groups wrestle with questions about the standards of beauty they experience in American culture, meeting the biblical hero...
Beauty Queens, Masks and Jewish Teens
Every year at Purim, we tell the tale of a Jewish teenage girl who ascends to the throne of the Persian Empire by pretending not to be Jewish.
This year, Rabbi Sara Brandes looks at Megillat Esther (...