Celebrate Adar and Purim

Celebrate Adar and Purim and Passover

As the month of Adar begins, joy and laughter are in the air! Spring is just around the corner, bringing new beginnings, colorful blooms, and the festive spirit of Purim. It's the perfect time to refresh your home and wardrobe with vibrant designs that celebrate the season.

Check out our latest collection of joyful home décor and fun accessories to brighten up your Adar and welcome spring in style!

Starting on February 25, you'll get a discount here https://linorstoredesigns.etsy.com

Purim

Passover 

Like everyone else, my heart is broken over the murders in Israel. 

Since Hanukkah, I've been turning on this light every Fri night to bring more light into the world. 

If you'd like to tell me what one thing you've been doing to pray for peace, reply comment below. 

Adar Sale 

From February 25-28, you'll get a discount here https://linorstoredesigns.etsy.com 

Purim Designs

Purim is one of the most popular Jewish holidays for families and children (of all ages). There is feasting and gladness, gift-giving and tzedakah (charity), revelry and drinking (in moderation).

Please click the images for more information on the designs.

Purim is a holiday based on the Book of Esther. Queen Esther of Persia bravely revealed her Jewish identity saving the Jews from extinction by the evil, Haman, adviser to the King. (Poo poo poo - his name is blotted out.) 

2. Purim is like Mardi Gras, Easter, and Halloween all rolled into one. You wear costumes so your identity is hidden. "Masks and costumes show that truth always lies beneath the surface, that the physical world conceals the true spiritual reality." HaShem is not mentioned once in the Book of Esther, the Megillah. But, we know that G-d's divine guidance influences the story (Rabbi Mordechai Becher).

3. Drinking alcohol is encouraged, in moderation. "A person is obligated to drink on Purim," says the Talmud, "until he does not know the difference between 'Cursed be Haman' and 'Blessed be Mordechai'."

4. The Book of Esther, Megillat Esther, is read in the synagogue. It's a mitzvah to hear it. During the reading, when Haman's name is mentioned, congregants boo, hiss, stamp their feet and wave gragers (noisemakers) to drown out his name. 

Celebrating Purim

Celebrating Purim 

FYI, I'm donating 50% of the sale of these earrings to the JUF Ukrainian Crisis Fund.

Purim is one of the most popular Jewish holidays for families and children (of all ages). There is feasting and gladness, gift-giving and tzedakah (charity), revelry and drinking (in moderation).

There are many hidden things about Purim (HaShem who is working behind the scenes). Sometimes we have to read between the lines, or listen to that still, small voice.

Happy Purim! 





One year, I wore this. (I adore cats and naps.) 


Shop these bestsellers! 


You can read my Purim blog here.

Are you dressing up? Comment to tell me what costume you're wearing or making for your children. 

Shabbat Shekalim before Purim

Since COVID and Omicron, I've been attending shul online. Before Shabbat, I like to read part or all of the Torah portion to understand what's going on when the rabbi gives a d'var Torah and relates it to today's world. 

The message of Shabbat Shekalim "for all people to unite and preserve our values," observed on the first of Adar (Feb. 26) is very important to me, in light of the recent anti-Semitic comments and actions happening around the world. 

Purim Earrings

The Torah reading relates to G-d's commandment for every person to give a half-shekel (from the wealthiest to the poorest) meant that everyone gives an equal portion. 


Half Shekel from the Times of Israel 
 
In the Book of Esther, Haman (poo poo poo – may his name be blotted out) gave 10,000 shekalim to King Achashverous to encourage him to decree the destruction of the Jewish people. Queen Esther and Mordechai saved the Jews. 

"To preserve the Jewish people we learned, we must be unified and united. That happens when all of us are equally invested in Judaism and Jewish life." (Rabbi Ben Kramer, Moriah Congregation).

My Mission

I believe it's my mission to help Jewish women find ways to be proud of being Jewish by wearing Jewish jewelry and kippot. 

Purim Bracelet


Wire Beaded Kippah - Indigo Crystals



Purim orders are due before March 1! 

6 Fun Facts About Purim

What is Purim? 

1. Purim is one of the most popular Jewish holidays for families and children (of all ages). There is feasting and gladness, gift-giving and tzedakah (charity), revelry and drinking (in moderation).

Purim is a holiday based on the Book of Esther. Queen Esther of Persia bravely revealed her Jewish identify saving the Jews from extinction by the evil, Haman, adviser to the King. (Poo poo poo - his name is blotted out.) 

Queen Bracelet (click on image)

2. Purim is like Mardi Gras, Easter, and Halloween all rolled into one. You wear costumes so your identity is hidden. "Masks and costumes show that truth always lies beneath the surface, that the physical world conceals the true spiritual reality." HaShem is not mentioned once in the Book of Esther, the Megillah. But, we know that G-d's divine guidance influences the story (Rabbi Mordechai Becher).

Linda in Cat Costume

3. Drinking alcohol is encouraged, in moderation. "A person is obligated to drink on Purim," says the Talmud, "until he does not know the difference between 'Cursed be Haman' and 'Blessed be Mordechai'."

4. The Book of Esther, Megillat Esther, is read in the synagogue. It's a mitzvah to hear it. During the reading, when Haman's name is mentioned, congregants boo, hiss, stamp their feet and wave gragers (noisemakers) to drown out his name. (click on image)

Purim orders are due by March 1 to reach you in time for the festival. 

5. On Purim the Megillah mandates that we give gifts to friends (mishloach manot), usually of food, and to the poor (matanot l’evyonim). It is a tradition for congregations to collect money in memory of the half shekel collected in ancient days for the upkeep of the Temple. Purim is a time for carnivals and parties and masquerades. Most Jewish congregations hold special carnivals for children, and children dress in costumes that commemorate the various characters of the Purim story. They perform humorous plays called Purim shpiels, which more often than not mock both the characters in the story and leaders in the Jewish community.

6. Hamentaschen- the best treats hamantaschen: triangle-shaped cookie pastries with fruit or savory filling. The treat is said to look like Haman's tri-cornered hat or his ears ("oznei Haman" in Hebrew). Sweet hamantaschen are most popular, with poppy seed, chocolate, date, apricot, or apple filling. (see below for recipe).

Food Magazine featured Hamentaschen last year. Note: I don't cook much, but I do look at recipes.

Hamantashen recipe

Ingredients: 

4 eggs  
1 cup sugar  
1/2 cup oil  
juice of one lemon  
rind of 1 lemon, grated
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 cups flour
2 tsps. baking powder

Fillings:

1 pound prepared poppy seed filling
or, 1 pound lekvar (apple or prune butter)
or 1 pound strawberry or apricot preserves

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350 

Grease cookie sheets 

Beat eggs and sugar. Add remaining ingredients, and mix well. Divide into four parts.

1. Prepare dough of your choice. Divide into four portions  2. On a floured board roll out each portion to about 1/8-inch thick. Using a round biscuit or cookie cutter cut 3-inch circles. 

2. Place 1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon of desired filling in the center of each circle.

3. To shape into triangle, lift up right and left sides, leaving the bottom down and bring both side to meet at the center above the filling. 

4. Bring top flap down to the center to meet the two sides. Pinch edges together.

5. Place on grease cookie sheet 1 inch apart and bake at 350 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes.

What's your Purim costume?  Add your comment below

Also see prior blog posts: Purim, Purim Holiest Day?

Suggested reading: Amazon Affiliate: I may get 2 cents for your purchase. 

I attended a Webinar and author Dara Horn was interviewed. She is very passionate about this topic and I look forward to reading another book she wrote. 

Purim: The Whole Megillah

About:

Purim, celebrated on the 14th of Adar, is the wildest, most action-packed day of the Jewish year. 2400 years ago, Haman, the Persian prime-minister, persuaded King Ahasuerus to issue a decree ordering the extermination of all the Jews. Mordechai, the leader of the Jews, rallied his people, urging them to unite in prayer and repentance. Meanwhile, his cousin Esther, who due to a miraculous chain of events was Ahasuerus' queen, lobbied the king to spare her people. Ahasuerus acceded to her request, Haman was sent to the gallows, Mordechai became new prime-minister, the Jews successfully defended themselves against their enemies, and... we celebrate!*

The primary commandment related to Purim is to hear the reading of the book of Esther. The book of Esther is commonly known as the Megillah, which means scroll.

"A person is obligated to drink on Purim," says the Talmud, "until he does not know the difference between 'Cursed be Haman' and 'Blessed be Mordechai'." 

Another type of Jewish joy is the mitzvah to "Rejoice in your festivals" (Deuteronomy 16:15). Here, the mitzvah itself is to rejoice.

It is customary to boo, hiss, stamp feet and rattle gragers (noisemakers) whenever the name of Haman is mentioned in the service. The purpose of this custom is to "blot out the name of Haman."

Food: Hamantashen

Hamantashen, the classic Purim cookies, are eagerly awaited by everyone young and old. They are versatile and can be made from a good sweet yeast dough, flaky dough or from a traditional cookie dough. The fillings can be mixed and matched. Prune butter and poppy seed are traditional but one can use any kind of jam or preserves.

I was delighted to see Food Magazine featured Hamentashen this year. 

Hamantashen recipe 

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

juice of one lemon

rind of 1 lemon, grated

1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 cups flour

2 tsps. baking powder

Fillings:

1 pound prepared poppy seed filling

or, 1 pound lekvar (apple or prune butter)

or 1 pound strawberry or apricot preserves

Preheat oven to 350

Grease cookie sheets

Beat eggs and sugar. Add remaining ingredients, and mix well. Divide into four parts.

Directions: 

1. Prepare dough of your choice. Divide into four portions  2. On a floured board roll out each portion to about 1/8-inch thick. Using a round bicuit or cookie cutter cut 3-inch circles.  

2. Place 1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon of desired filling in the center of each circle. 

3. To shape into triangle, lift up right and left sides, leaving the bottom down and bring both side to meet at the center above the filling.  

4. Bring top flap down to the center to meet the two sides. Pinch edges together. 

5. Place on grease cookie sheet 1 inch apart and bake at 350 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes. 

Note: I don't cook much, but I do look at recipes. 

Happy Purim

Purim is the most joyous holiday on the Jewish calendar. 

What's your favorite part about Purim? 

 * Source: chabad 

Torah Learning: Is Purim The Holiest Day?

Watching a video on Aish.com by Oliver Anisfeld, JTV Founder, gave me insight to how a 16th century Rabbi named "the Arisal", found something hidden in the Torah about Yom Kippur (which most Jews believe to be the holiest day). If you look at the name Yom Ha Ki Purim, it means, the day that is like Purim. The holiness and spiritual elevatation of Yom Kippur is "like Purim."

Why is Purim so special? 

It's a day of fun and festivity, and we celebrate Queen Esther saving the Jews in Persia from an evil decree of death or ethnic cleansing. We laugh, we dress in costumes, and we drink wine. It's very light hearted. 

Purim falls in the Hebrew month of Adar, the month of laughter or joy. What's holy about laughter? In Jewish philosophy, laughter is fundamental. The first Hebrew child, Isaac, is named "he will laugh." We laugh when the totally unexpected happens; when things are going in one direction and suddenly change.

Purim Grager Earrings

In Judaism, we believe that everything in the physical world is represented in the spiritual world representing a deeper spiritual reality.  So laughter represents the transition from this world to the next, going from tragedy and despair to redemption, from our current world to the messianic world. Jews pray for redemption every day, when there will be peace throughout the world and an eternal place of rest where we reap our rewards in (haolam rabah, the world to come).

King David wrote that on the Day of Redemption, our mouths will fill with laughter. 

"שׁוּבָה ה' אֶת שְׁבִיתֵנוּ כַּאֲפִיקִים בַּנֶּגֶב sang King David (Psalms 126:4), prophetically looking forward to the end of the exile and the Return to Zion This Psalm is so well-known because it is the introduction to Grace after Meals on every Shabbat and Festival.

This is the imagery which King David uses to allegorise our Redemption:

שׁוּבָה ה' אֶת שְׁבִיתֵנוּ כַּאֲפִיקִים בַּנֶּגֶב: when the Redemption comes, when the Jews who are exiled the world over come home, they will come as swiftly, as inexorably as the אֲפִיקִים בַּנֶּגֶב, those dry river-beds in the Negev Desert which suddenly turn into gushing, overwhelming, life-giving rivers with the onset of the rainy season.

The Return to Zion will be a transformation as complete, as astonishing, as those arid sands which suddenly transform into rivers.

The word רִנָּה, joyous song, appears three times in Psalm 126: 

אָז יִמָּלֵא שְׂחוֹק פִּינוּ וּלְשׁוֹנֵנוּ רִנָּה, “Then our mouths will be filled with laughter, and our tongues with joyous song” (verse 2);

הַזֹּרְעִים בְּדִמְעָה בְּרִנָּה יִקְצֹרוּ, “Those who sow in tears, with joyful song will reap” (verse 5);

הָלוֹךְ יֵלֵךְ וּבָכֹה נֹשֵׂא מֶשֶׁךְ הַזָּרַע בֹּא יָבוֹא בְרִנָּה נֹשֵׂא אֲלֻמֹּתָיו, “he who wanders constantly and weeps, bearing his measuring-basket of seed – will assuredly come with joyful song, bearing his sheaves”.

The three-fold use of the word רִנָּה alludes to the three Redemptions – the first Redemption from Egypt, the second Redemption from Persia/Babylon, and the third Redemption through which we are living today."**

Purim Hamentashen Earrings

On Purim, everything reversed itself, Haman who issued the death decree for the Jews was hung on the gallows he built for Mordechai, the Jewish leader. 

"Jews believe that one day, the world will get turned around. The future laugh is what we're waiting for ... it's the secret of Jewish hope. Deep within the laughter is the Jewish hope that joy and redemption are our the final destination." Oliver Anisfeld, JTV Founder

**Israel National News