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What Makes for
a Good Spiel?
Clergy Members
Prep for Purim
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
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MARCH 2, 2023 | JEWISH EXPONENT
or the Jewish month of Adar,
the Talmud encourages Jewish
people to greet the month with
an increase of joy and celebration,
culminating with the celebration of
Purim, this year on March 6-7.

While many Jews may celebrate
the auspicious month with mishloach
manot and hamantaschen, Philadelphia
rabbis and cantors are hard at work
with last-minute additions to their
Purimspiel scripts and costumes.

Ahead of the holiday — commemorat-
ing the resilience of the Jewish people,
led by Mordechai and Esther against
the oppressive Haman — a few clergy
members shared their thoughts on
what makes a Purimspiel meaningful.

Pick a memorable theme
“Every year, people ask me, ‘What’s
the theme going to be?’ And I always
say, ‘Well, the theme is going to be
Purim,’” joked Cantor Jessi Roemer of
Society Hill Synagogue.

In truth, Romer picks a different
musical inspiration annually to set the
music for the Purimspiel. This year,
Society Hill Synagogue is presenting
“Nothing Compares: A Purple Persian
Pan-Gen Explosion” parodying the
songs of Prince.

Roemer tries to pick musical inspi-
ration that spans across generations.

Though writing parody is challenging
and is “the most derivative form of
songwriting,” it also means that a good
chunk of the congregation will already
know the tunes.

“It’s an easy way to get everybody in
the room to sing along,” she said.

If picking an artist or album to
parody, be sure to remember that the
congregants singing along, though
enthusiastic, may be unable to match
the vocal prowess of, say, Mariah Carey
or Celine Dion.

Know your audience
Congregations are diverse communi-
ties, and kids and adults have different
attention spans and interests. As a
result, some synagogues plan to hold
different spiels for the two groups.

At Congregation Rodeph Shalom,
Cantor Bradley Hyman has two
Purimspiel offerings: A “Sesame
Street”-themed play for children and an
Elton John spiel for adults. In addition
to differences in music and the length
of the productions, the two shows
will also tell the Purim story differ-
ently, accounting for the dark themes
and violence present in the original
story — such as Ahashverosh’s sexual
exploitation of Vashti — that may not
be appropriate for children.

“Something, for example, that’s
designated for children and families
should be shorter, should have a lot
of accessible music or music parody,
but effectively tells that story of Esther
without skipping the main messages,
which should be bravery, self respect
and survival,” Hyman said.

Adult spiels can focus on the broader
themes of the Purim story, accord-
ing to Hyman, but should look past
the seriousness of them and, like a
children’s spiel, should focus on values
of resilience, survival and celebration.

“If you can do all of that, and still
laugh at yourself, then maybe it’s
good,” he said.

Involve the community
Though a cantor or rabbi is often in
charge of writing a spiel’s lyrics and
scripts, the performance is often a
community affair. At Society Hill, about
50 people are involved in the produc-



Courtesy of Congregation Rodeph Shalom
Congregation Rodeph Shalom congregants and clergy dress up for Purim.

tion, according to Roemer. At Rodeph
Shalom, 40 are involved.

With congregant participation,
Purimspiels take on a life of their own.

At Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel, in
addition to the traditional spiel, congre-
gants create a video twice annually
about a Jewish village with the same
cast of characters for the past 10 years.

Over the decade, interest in the project
has grown, with more members of the
village being added.

The synagogue staff also creates a
spiel with inside jokes about BZBI’s
culture, such as the tendency for the
bar or bat mitzvah kid to leave their bag
of gifts, created by the synagogue’s
Sisterhood, at the shul. The jokes,
though specifi c, should never target an
individual or be mean-spirited.

“You want everyone to be in on the
joke,” Rabbi Abe Friedman said.

Remember the Purim story
At the end of the day, Purim is a story
of Jewish history, and spiels are an
opportunity for learning. But Jews
have long balanced joy and sorrow,
which Rabbi Eric Yanoff of Adath Israel
on the Main Line believes is the key to
fi nding meaning in the holiday.

“One of the ways that people
respond to such turns of fate is
through laughter and satire and irony
and other forms of humor, and Jews
have really embraced that throughout
our history,” Yanoff said.

Humor can off er catharsis and
a way to process diffi cult themes.

Purimspiels, with a diff erent theme
every year, also let congregations use
a Jewish story to connect with the
issues of the day in a more accessible
way. “The story is not a one-time fl ash
in the pan in history,” Yanoff said.

“But rather, it becomes generalized to
other moments.” ■
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