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When it comes to the story of Purim, Queen Esther has received lots of attention. All the little girls want to play her in the Purim spiel. She’s brave, beautiful, loving and heroic: the quintessential female biblical role model.
Even if you’re a serious student of the Bible, you might not know what the Book of Esther is doing there, in the Bible. Don’t worry though, nobody else knows either. Although it tells of near-tragedy, it is written melodramatically, almost as a farce; and it is very hard to read with a straight face.
Your rabbi is a banana. Your cantor thinks she'sJohn Lennon. And the entire congregation is singing Beatlestunes.
A nightmare? A parallel universe?
No, it's just Purim at Sha'arei Am: The SantaMonica Synagogue, and Rabbi Jeff Marx's megillah reading is just oneof many bizarre scenes that will play out as rabbi and congregantsrid themselves of cumbersome inhibitions for one silly day.