MASKS
OR THE WHOLE WORLD IS THEATRE
As Rabbi Abraham used to say, "I learned the tradition from my great-grandparents that whoever does not enjoy life on earth will not enjoy life in the afterlife. One who enjoys his life will find joy in the world to come."
PURIMSPieL
The Purimspiel, or Purim play, has become a very popular part of the Purim celebrations.
In these improvised plays, you could laugh at everything and everyone, there was a Purim Rabbi who gave a funny speech in the style of a rabbi, of course there were Purim characters and well, there was not much literary value.
There were many parodies of Purim, the Talmud, the rabbis and the Yeshiva bochers were not spared. One of the highlights is Megilat Setarim, or Satirical Megillah, written by Levi Ben Gerson.
QUOTE FROM THE SATIRICAL MEGILLAH
written by LEVI BEN GERSONRight at the beginning, the author begins a wonderful parody in which he rethinks the chain of tradition:
"The Bakbuk, (bottle) received the law from Karmi (vineyard) and passed it on to Noah. Noah passed it on to Lot, the brothers of Lot Joseph, who passed it on to Nabal of Carmel, and he passed it on to Benhadad, Benhadad, Belshazzar, and Belshazzar Ahasuerus, who passed it on to Rabbi Bibi, i.e., the drunkard."
(Just to get the joke, here is the original text from Chapter 1, Mishna 1(a))
Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it Joshua. Joshua transmitted it to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets transmitted it to the Men of the Great Assembly.
"Purim was a very happy holiday. For the children, the celebration began the day before Purim, when they were given musical instruments and whistles. Now we are living in the plastic age and even the cherubim are made of plastic for Purim. But back then they were made of wood, wooden boards. When the Book of Esther was read in synagogue on Purim, Haman's name was often mentioned. When Haman's name was pronounced, all the children in the synagogue would start spinning the pottery, trying to make as much noise as possible. On Purim, relatives and neighbours would surround each other with delicacies and shachmon. Children went from house to house carrying trays laden with sweets. They also brought goodies to our house, and we went with my brothers and sisters, running up and down with trays all day long. We were treated to sweets and given change. My mother tried to make the table a festive one. And of course the most important thing on Purim is Purimspil. All the children and many of the adults had prepared a Purim-related performance of some kind: a song, a poem, a dance, a skit. We started preparing for this long before Purim, and we kept secret from each other who would perform what on Purim. Then two or three boys or a boy and a girl would go to the houses of the rich and perform this Purimspil for the host and his family. The actors would receive gifts or money for the performance, mainly money. If they liked the performance very much, they gave more, if they liked it less, they gave less. I went, of course, and so did my brothers and sisters. By the evening, from a child's point of view, a pretty good amount of money had been raised. But there were also adults who performed something on Purim. In Mukachevo, there was a joker called Chaim. On Purim morning, he dressed in women's clothes: a wide skirt, a wig, you couldn't recognize him. Whatever the weather, even if it was quite good, there was always a boy with him, holding an umbrella over him in one hand and a hat in the other for collecting money. And in Cháim's hand was a violin. People shouted from far away: here comes Cháim! And everyone ran out into the street to meet this jocular man. At the Purim gathering there were all kinds of jokes and games."
Professor Géza Komoróczy writes about Purim and Purim games
In the evening, the streets are a carnival of fun. Purim is only real in a crowd. By evening the celebration spills out into the streets. Boys and girls walk around with their gregar (rattles) and homen-klapper (rattles), with the name of Haman written on the soles of their shoes to stamp it, children go from house to house, ringing the doorbell, reciting verses, asking for donations. At the height of the fun, they set fire to a rag doll of Haman. Pretenders tell the story of the holiday ("purimspiel") in a twisted version, in the old days, of course, in Yiddish, in rhyming verse, and improvisations are allowed.
The characters in the Purim play were mostly yeshiva bochers, in masks or masquerades. Masks showed who was Haman and who was Mordechai, so as not to personalize the role. The play was led by a narrator (lojfer, sreiber) or a jester, a " buffoon" (pajac), and it was not without its more ironic jokes.
On Purim, the Bible was out in the streets, it became a merrymaking. Bible stories came to life: Joseph being sold by his brothers, tempted by Mrs Potiphar, David confronting Goliath; almost every traditional story that could be parodied, Judah and Tamar standing on the roadside, Hannah's pregnancy after visiting the temple, the women appealing to Solomon for judgment, etc.
The rabbi was also allowed to be mocked: the Purim rabbi, a fallible, laughable figure, with his Talmudic wit spun out, expounding jocular ideas to his merry audience. Rabbi Elimelekh, a favourite character in klezmer songs, is like this. On the "night of the drunkards" (lél sikkorim), slick ditties were also performed in the style of the cantors (hazzán), in a joking, mocking manner, the improvisations being led by the badchen or - in Polish - marsalik. The purim play is nowadays only found in the large Hassidic communities and in literature.
He also describes how they later celebrated in Pest:
In the early 1870s in Pest, the celebrations were like this: '(...) Every now and then we come across a child carrying a cake, with the joy of the day written on his beaming face. When two kaftans meet on the pavement, they greet each other with a friendly greeting: Güt pürim, and then they move on. Here and there, a wave of people suddenly converge. Something more interesting has attracted the public's attention. For the whole street is full of masked men: harlequins, chimney sweeps, peasants' lads and lasses, Tots... That the masqueraders are also subject to violence from the audience is obvious to anyone who knows the audience intimately. Each masquerade procession, however, is accompanied by a group of guards, who roam the streets and cafés. Even so, there are still small skirmishes: the city police station usually has a couple of horse-drawn carriages parked in Király Street for the night...
Outside the cafés, where the singing and music spills out into the street, the crowds are usually thickest: the masked men form a circle around them and start to dance the St David's dance, so that the audience just falls into step.
In front of the Teleki [café], three or four Polish Jews in caftans with long, well-kept hats on their heads light a Jewish tune and straighten their legs to dance. A little chilled with the joy of the day, and the wine's vapour rises to their heads; they take long sips and dance the unnameable dance...
On Király Street, the same images, the same scenes and the same merriment are renewed every year, preserving the tradition of the Purim night in its unceasing fullness, and this will always be the case, even if the Messiah should ever think of dropping by Király Street."
The Characters and their masks
Who all wears masks in the story? - Playing with the imagination
ESTHER, WHO DOESN'T REVEAL TO AHASHVEROSH THAT SHE IS JEWISH.
Let's imagine that the Ahashverosh gives Esther a small room in the palace and says to her, "My dear Esther, this room is just for you, if the noise of the palace were too much. You alone will have the key, no one else will ever enter." If you were Esther, what would you put in this little room?
AHASHVEROSH, THE KING, THE IMAGE OF A GREAT STRONG RULER, BUT VERY WEAK, EASILY INFLUENCED, WITHOUT A STRONG WILL.
You are Ahashverosh, we imagine that you are a determined, strong ruler. What do you do differently? And how does that affect the story?
HAMAN, WHO SECRETLY CREATES HIS EVIL PLAN, SETS UP THE GALLOW FOR MORDEHAJ, DOES NOT REVEAL THE REAL REASON FOR HIS PLAN, HATRED FOR THE JEWS BECAUSE OF MORDEHAJ.
Imagine Esther confronting Haman, standing up to him and asking him, "Haman, I am a Jew, what is wrong with my people? If you are Haman, what answer do you give? What do you feel now that the queen has confronted you with your inner will?
MORDECHAI, THE JEW, SAVES THE KING FROM THE HANDS OF THE MURDERERS, YET SAYS NOTHING, DEMANDS NOTHING FOR HIS DEED, SITS SILENTLY AT THE PALACE GATE AND LISTENS TO THE NEWS OF ESTER.
Let's imagine that you want immediate payment for the good deed. How do you do it? What are you doing?