The Joy of Purim at Shir Hadash!
Date: Mar 20, 2025
Author: Shir Hadash
Thank you to everyone who made this year's Purim a magical celebration at Shir Hadash! We kicked off our Purim celebrations with an energetic service and reading of the Megillah. Thank you to our Megillah chanters Cantor Felder-Levy, Rabbi Nico, Rabbi Hugh Seid-Valencia, Joe Isaacson, Diane Fisher, Diane Goldman, and Oren Singer.
After the service was our delectable Purim Banquet filled with mouth-watering Persian food - especially popular this year were the salmon kebabs, hummus with fresh pita, and flavorful warm lentil stews! Thank you so much to Jennifer Carranza and Diego Mendoza who do so much behind-the scenes for all our events, but especially for large meals like this banquet. Thank you to Rachel Berman Huck for donating the delicious hamantaschen for the banquet dessert!
Next our "Wicked Wicked Spiel" brought laughter and merriment to the retelling of the Spiel story - a huge thank you to our cast of actors and spiel support team: Robert Bergman, Dale Bergman, Josh Bernstein, Cady Burstein, Jeff Burstein, Alex Clements, Emma Cruz Berber, Sara Ellman, Dianna Hart, Emily Randall, Jeremy Shapiro, Ian Solomon, Michelle Wolf-Bloom, and Cantor Felder-Levy.
Our youth were ready to stand up together for the Kid's Spiel "Over the Rainbow" with a packed house cheering for our young acting team. Our children's spiel kicked off with an adorable song from the "munchkins" (our preschoolers from our Shir Hadash Early Childhood Center), and then the rest of our youth acting team jumped into action as they told the Purim story. Did Esther save the day? Of course! A huge thank-you to our directors/leaders, Mercedes Mendoza, Rachel Wilson, and Jojo Sidney, plus assistant directors Jolie Brunnings and Bert Wolfe, support team LeniSue Master, Amitai Socolovsky, and Dale Bergman, preschool song support Cantor Devorah Felder-Levy, and a thank-you to all our preschool families and youth acting team from our Kulanu youth learning program. Wonderful job!
Next up in our Purim festivities was the Purim Carnival on Sunday! A huge success this year, so many smiling faces, laughter, and fun were had by all, as over 100 families participated this year and enjoyed the games, food, and prizes! An especially huge THANK YOU to the incredible team of volunteers and groups/committees at Shir Hadash who stepped up to make this incredible event possible.
THANK YOU to our amazing:
- Men's Club for running all of the food sales during the carnival
- Shir Hadash Women for adopting the Esther's Lollipop Tree Game
- Adult Education Committee for adopting the Go Fish and Noah's Ark Game Booths
- Welcome Committee and Jodi Muirhead for volunteering for the Ticket Sales Station
- Membership Committee for volunteering at the Prize Booth
- Caring Committee for adopting the Mystery Box Booth
- SALTY (our teen youth group!) for adopting the Pick Haman's Nose Game
- Michelle & Joseph Schwartz for adopting the Plinko Game
- Yavneh Day School for adopting the Slime-Making Station
- Shir Hadash in the World for adopting the Wheel of Shushan
- Turner Family for donating the use of the Popcorn Machine
- Cami Johnson & Ariel Schetinsky for volunteering at the Face Painting Station
- Mercedes and the Preschool Teachers for volunteering at the Soft Play and Bubble House Stations
- Tamar Katz for leading the Mishloach Manot table
- Our preschool TK Class for planning a fun game station!
- Sophie Ellman for supporting the Coloring/Craft Station
- Josh Bernstein for Spiel AV Support and the special green and pink festive Sanctuary Lighting!
- Max Johnson for supporting the Virtual Reality Games
- Youth Education Committee for adopting the Duck Pond game
- Volunteers Tevel Singer, Karl Frantz, Talia Musicer, Jason Musicer, Andrea Katz, Matt Brunnings, Alli Brunnings, Amitai Socolovsky, Evan Schneider, Mitchell Wunsch, Katie Zieff, and Jeff Margolis who handled shifts around the carnival throughout the event!
Our Shir Hadash Team kept with the "Wizard of Oz" themed spirit for some of our costumes! Pictured below are costumes including an angry apple tree, winged monkeys, wicked witch, good witch, and Dorothy.
We hope you enjoyed this year's make-your-own-hamantaschen supplies in our Mishloach Manot!
Happy Purim! We're already looking forward to next year. What's happening right around the corner and another great upcoming way to volunteer? Check out our Mitzvah Day 2025 coming up on March 30!