Hundreds of thousands of people around the world, many decked in costume, went to their local Jewish community centers, synagogues and Chabad-Lubavitch centers for a host of elaborate and historic Purim celebrations this week.
From Moscow to Israel to New York and Australia, themed parties featured customary banquets and readings of the Scroll of Esther, while celebrants exchanged gift baskets and distributed charity to the poor. Residents of Santiago, Chile, shaken by the devastating earthquake that killed some 700 people near the coast, also turned out to mark the holiday.
Beginning the night of Feb. 27 this year, the holiday commemorated the victory of Persian Jews 2,365 years ago in nullifying a decree authored by an evil royal aide and ordering their destruction.
Purim celebrants dance amidst the ruins of the ancient fortress of Masada in southern Israel, site of the first reading of the Scroll of Esther since Roman forces laid siege to the Judean Desert mountaintop almost 2,000 years ago.
Celebrations in Orange County, N.Y., took on a Wild West flavor at the Chabad Jewish Center run by Rabbi Pesach and Chana Burston. More than 250 people showed up for the center’s party at the American Legion Hall in Monroe.
Rabbi Menashe Perman, director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Chile, reads from the Scroll of Esther one day after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake leveled parts of Concepcion, but spared most of his adopted home of Santiago.
Children in costume create art projects at the Purim party hosted by Chabad-Lubavitch of Chile in Santiago.
The Oxford Chabad Society in England hosted a Latin-American themed party for some 100 Jewish students. The Saturday evening bash featured Brazilian food, Jewish music and lively dancing until 3:00 in the morning at the Slage Chabad Jewish Student Centre.
Rabbi Eli Brackman, director of the Oxford Chabad Society.
In Moscow, festivities drew hundreds of people to the central synagogue in the city’s Marina Roscha neighborhood.
Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, a Chabad-Lubavitch emissary, presided over the Moscow celebration.
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