Jewish holiday of Purim celebrated throughout western Massachusetts

LONGMEADOW, Mass. (WWLP) — Purim began last night at sundown and ended just a few hours ago at sundown on Sunday night, but for a full day straight there was Purim fun in Longmeadow. 22News got to take a special look into Sunday’s celebration.

Over 2,000 years ago the Jewish people were living in the Persian empire following the destruction of their holy temple in Jerusalem. Because of the bravery of Queen Esther, who told the king about an evil man named Haman and his plan to exterminate the Jews, Jewish people lived on. Now today Jewish people celebrate the story of Purim, which can also be described as Jewish Halloween.

“It’s a great day of celebrating, rejoicing and feasting, and the reason we wear costumes is because an entire book of the Megillah, in the entire story God’s name is not mentioned once and that’s the idea of a miracle being hidden. And, so we hide our real identity in a disguise on this holiday,” expressed Rabbi Lavy Kosofsky from the Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy.

At Lubavitcher Yeshiva Academy in Longmeadow dozens of families came to not just dress up, but to also celebrate with music, food, community, and even a petting zoo.

It’s keeping traditions alive like this one on Sunday is why Rabbi Noach Kosofsky says this is so vital to the Jewish people, “The same threats against Jews occur, but by Jews uniting together, by Jews reconnecting with their spirituality and their Judaism, this is the way we have our miracle and the Jewish people are here forever.”

Rabbi Kosofsky even convinced a certain someone to happily connect with his jewish faith on this Purim. The theme of Sunday night’s celebration was all about Kibbutzim which are communities in Israel that are traditionally based on agriculture.