Purim in St. Petersburg!

'Tis the season.... for entertaining Youtube videos of Purim spoofs galore.  There are a couple of gems this year and you can check them all out at our Congregation's website on the Purim Page (just scroll down, but check out our Adults-only Beach Ball Party on March 19 at the top of the page - everyone is welcome; none of our programs are for members only).

But this morning I saw a posting on ejewishphilanthropy.com that mentioned one Youtube that I hadn't seen yet from the Hillel of St. Petersburg, Russia.  Check it out!

Here's the translation (from the original posting on ejewishphilanthropy.com):
Hello, I’m Liya Geldman. I’m a senior student at cinema and television university in St. Petersburg. As you know Russia is a multiethnic and multidenominational country. But do Russians really know traditions of other cultures? Today we came here to find out if they know what Purim is.
- Do you know what Purim is?
- Hello, do you know what Purim is?
- Hi Julia, do you know what is Purim?
- Hello, what is Purim?
Doesn’t anyone know what Purim is?

Purim! Purim! Purim!
Purim! Purim! Purim!

Celebrating Purim!
Zenit and Haiduck (Russian soccer teams),
Student and coach,
Human and spider,
Patient and surgeon,
NYC, Moscow and Saint Petersburg!

Purim! Also celebrating in Barnaul
People from Penza and Tomsk,
On Kamchatka and in Kerch,
And possibly even on the moon.

Purim! Let’s put some make up on!
Whether you are old or young,
Even if you hadn’t slept for 3 nights
It’s Israeli mega-carnival!

Purim! We highly recommend it.
The plot is twisted,
It happened almost 3000 years ago
So it might be hard to remember
Where’s good and where’s bad

So choose for yourself who’s good and who’s bad
Here’s the Mordehai the Jew, King Ahashverosh.
Where’s Vashti? The Tzar’s ex-wife?
But maybe Hamman could be the Bad Guy?

Imagine for a while that we’re in Babylon,
Who’s the star on this dark sky? Esther!
Here’s a lesson for now and in 600BC
If you’re brave, you’ve got the power!

We’ll scream together Mazal Tov!
Our glass is full to the brim.
With what? Lets fill it with wine
And drink it all up.
And during this Purim we’ll change the world!

I hope you get the 'feel-good' that I felt watching Jews in Russia celebrating Purim.  Oh, today we'll merry, merry be, and nosh some hamentaschen!

Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz