Purim tonight!!!

Don't know where to go for megillah reading this year (and live in NYC)? Now, you don't have to choose. Storahtelling, with Zeek Magazine and Jewish Women Watching bring you a crazy parade up Broadway that will include music, singing, chanting, and surprise giveaways. If you can't make it for the parade, then definitely join us for the party afterward. Here's all the info:

DATE: Monday, March 13, 2006—Erev Purim, Adar 13, 5766
SCHEDULE: (times estimated)
6:00pm PROMPT —JCC, 334 Amsterdam Ave. at 76th Str.
6:45—Ansche Chesed, 251 West 100th St.
7:45—B’nai Jeshurun Adult’s Service, 86th St. and West End Ave.
8:45—Carlebach Shul, 305 West 79th St. (Between West End and Riverside)
10:00—Crossroads (a funky bar, formerly Raccoon Lounge), 480 Amsterdam Ave at 83rd St. [no cover!]

JOIN US IN COSTUME (Think Brigade - Putting the Fun in Fundamentalism…)

For Rebbetzin Hadassah Gross' Megilla Guerilla Brigade March 2006 PuriManifesto,

Why is Purim night different from all other nights? Because - the moon is FOOL, the Queen is crowned and the secrets spill out into the streets… And so, to the streets we march!

This holy night of Purim I will march with the Megilla Guerilla Brigade, a holy army of lovers: Purim priestesses & fools, drummers and dancers, birds of every feather, in a mad masquerade parade turning the upper west side upside down. From the JCC we shall dance, bringing Purim to the people! Along the way we will visit our friends in different synagogues, bringing gifts, drinking L'chayim, and, of course, inspecting the local observance of the Laws for Purim.

(The Brigade is trained to enforce the laws of Purim in keeping with the strict guidelines of Halacha and Rabbinic supervision.)

Befitting of Purim, we will end our night at a Crossroads (the one at 83rd and Amsterdam, to be precise). There we will drink and dance as legally bound. On this night, kinderlach, it is a Mitzvah to drink and dance until you don't know what is bad or good, or uptown or downtown, man or woman, meshugeneh or mentsch.

Purim is my birthday – and now that I am in my seventies, again, some worried friends ask me – Hadassah, why the schlepping? Why dance in the streets and not celebrate inside a respectable shul and entertain your guests? I tell you, and this I learned from my dear departed friend, King Hussein, also a leader who understood his obligation to his people – it's his favorite Arabic saying – 'If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad will go to the mountain'. If the people don't come to Purim, Purim will come to them!

I know - I know that some of my dear Muslim friends may get offended by using the name of the prophet, and some of my Chasidic mishpuche will be angry that I use an Arabic teaching on a Jewish Holiday. Nu, dayenu to all of that, and love to all of you, and please come have a glass of slivovitz with me - what a perfect night to put some fun in all that fundamentalism!

So, let the Esther scrolls roll out and the secrets spill and the band lead and the feet pray and play the night away!

Join the Brigade – bring your costume, your noisemaker, and accompany those voyeuristic Jewish Women who Watch, those geeks from Zeek, the Storahtellers, and all the other fabulous freaks who await you!

Happy Purim, kinderlach!