Notes from Cantor Avima

     I am writing this on Purim day, but you will probably not read this until Shushan Purim. Those of us who live in walled cities get to continue our celebration on Shushan Purim. What is Shushan Purim? Shushan was a walled city and according to the megillah, the fighting in Shushan which was a walled city continued through Adar 14th, so they celebrated the following day, the 15th of Adar. Do you live in a walled city? Maybe a gated community? I am not sure if that would qualify... But, if you are fortunate to be in Jerusalem on Purim, you will find that since it is a walled city the celebration is on Adar 15th. 

     I have to say this has been one of my most joyous Purims in a very long time. We had so many wonderful events beginning on Sunday with our Children's purimspiel and carnival with Temple Beth Am. The main events of the megillah readings (three in all!) on Monday night and another reading on Tuesday filled me with joy. 

     I shared a couple of Purim songs last week, and today I want to share one more. This one is an old Yiddish song with a very interesting backstory. The song is called "Haynt Iz Purim Brider". The lyrics are attributed to the Yiddish poet Mordekhai (Mark) Rivesman (1868-1924) and the music is by the well known Abraham Goldfaden of the Yiddish Theater. If this song is familiar to you from your youth, it may be because this song was originally part of an effort to provide holiday songs for Jewish families, and believe it or not, there were not  a lot of folk songs for Purim. The melody (with different lyrics) first appeared in Goldfaden's play Shulamith. It made its way to American Jewish holiday anthologies as a Purim song and was recorded by Ruth Rubin in 1956. Here is a really playful  rendition with an introduction, lyrics and translation on youtube: Haynt Iz Purim Brider. If you want to hear other versions, just do a search! If you want more details about the song: see it here: Jewish Music Research Centre.

Haynt iz Purim Brider! Celebrate! Enjoy!!