Super Rabbi!

Coming to a Purim Carnival near you

Hey, hey, it's Purim, which celebrates the defeat of the horrible Haman.  On Purim, we dress up in silly costumes and eat hamantashen and walk around with poppy seeds in our teeth.  On Purim, I get a little sentimental for the days when the youngest boychick went to temple pre-school and the SJG was always there to lend a hand.  Once, when I was a board member -- remind me why I said yes to that? -- I wound up in charge of the Purim Carnival.  Why I agreed to that huge responsibility, I'll never know, but I learned plenty about insurance and liability and what it cost to rent ridiculous rides like the Screaming Buckets of Hell.  That may not have been the actual name, but it sounds right, considering the requirements:  Come sit in a red bucket that spins around and makes you dizzy, and if you just ate any hamantashen before boarding, chances are good you're going to toss your cookies, mid-ride.  When I ran the Purim Carnival, I learned how to beg for volunteers.  I stalked temple members till they said, alright already, we'll man the bean toss, just leave us alone.  The best part of the job, maybe the only part I really liked, was watching my favorite rabbi, Jim Kaufman, dressed up as Super Jew, with tights and a cape and a big red Jewish star on his chest, getting dunked, over and over, in the dunking booth.  "Oopsie!  There he goes again!"  Splash.  Other than that, I was more than thrilled to say "Uh, no thanks, I'd rather not be in charge," the following year.  This was a smart move on my part.  That year, if I recall correctly, the Bouncy Castle deflated while the kiddies were jumping up and down like maniacs, setting off panic and hysteria.  Don't worry, they all made it out just fine, but personally, I was eternally grateful that I wasn't the one who was going to have to eat hamantashen over that near-fiasco.