4th Grade begins the story of Purim!
Highlight: We can’t wait to celebrate Purim with you! Check out all of our events at this link! We’re particularly looking forward to our Purim Carnival Sunday March 8th where there will be fun for all Yachad students.
On Wednesday and this coming Saturday, 4th Grade scholars put an imaginary bookmark in our Torah stories, and skipped forward 1300 years, to Persia, so that we can dive into the story of Purim. It’s a great story, featuring two queens, long before Frozen made it cool.
We had an overview, here, and then began the story in greater detail. (for those familiar with this story, we introduced foolish King Ahasuarus, we had independent-minded Queen Vashti get banished, and we had Esther become the new Queen, supported by wise Mordecai.) Some classes came up with midrashim (interpretations) positing why Queen Vashti didn’t want to attend the king’s party, and/or showing how the banished Vashti strutted outta there like a BOSS.
We then discussed and practiced standing up for what we believed, with thought-provoking ‘What Would You Do’ discussions.
As an outro, we listened to Leslie Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me“, which always reminds us of Queen Vashti. –Bonus for political families: here’s a more modern version. (Some classes watched the original video, some classes watched the modern version. For those who watched the modern version, I told them that these women are telling each other about some bad laws that some people were trying to pass; they’re telling everyone to vote NO on bad laws.)
Either way, we’ve all wanted to say NO like Queen Vashti, and it’s nice to know that so many other people in history have felt the exact same way. We don’t have to be alone in this feeling. Feel free to listen to it too, go into more detail as you wish, and discuss what comes up for you together.
More questions for families:
For a musical child: Does your child think Queen Vashti would like Leslie Gore’s song? What other songs would Queen Vashti like? What songs would Queen Esther like? How about the party-loving King Ahasuarus?
For a political child: What are things going on in the world today, where you want to say NO, where you hope to stand up for what you want? What does our family do when we want to say NO to something happening in the world?
For a history-loving child: The Purim story probably didn’t happen as written — but the character of King Ahasuarus may have been based on King Xerxes, who was a real king of Persia, around 355 BCE. Can you find pictures of Xerxes’s palace online? (Try searching for Persepolis, that’s the right era; we’re talking dark wood, inlaid with gold, with tall columns and humongous rectangular doors.) What would it be like to live there?
For a nurturing child: In the Purim story, Mordecai was either Esther’s much older cousin, or her uncle; either way, he basically kin-adopted her, raised her, took good care of her. In our family, how do we show that we love and support each other? Plus, Esther is moving to the palace to become Queen, so Mordecai can’t visit her very often. Won’t they miss each other? What can Queen Esther do, when she feels lonely for her family and old friends? How could wise, supportive Mordecai still show Queen Esther his love and care?