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A Bratislava Purim-Schpiel on Purim in the "Old Country," Jewish Boys and Girls Visited Relatives and Norman Adolf to Rece*Ve Puthn Goodies, Called Shalach Mones

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A Bratislava Purim-Schpiel on Purim in the A bratislava purim-schpiel On Purim in the "old country," Jewish boys and girls visited relatives and Norman Adolf to rece*ve Puthn goodies, called shalach mones. Those youngsters who could entertain their hosts received a bonus, sometimes real money instead of only Hamantaschen. This minhag (custom) was observed in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia (formerly Pozsony or Pressburg, a city on the Danube between Vienna and Budapest, in the old Austro-Hungarian Empire). This city was famous in Jewish life for its seat of higher Jewish learning, the Pressburger Yeshivah, headed by the Sofer (Schreiber) hierarchy of rabbanim, commencing with "Chatam (Moshe) Sofer" followed by his son, "K'tav (Avraham Sh'muel Binjamin) Sofer" and by Shevet (Akiva) Sofer, whose Shiurim I attended up to July, 1920 at the "Shier-schtube" on the "Schlossberg". The Jewish community also had many amateur composers, singers, and poets. According to my uncles, my maternal grandfather, Reb Sh'mel Lieberman, who was a shechet (slaughterer) and baal t'filah (prayer leader) in a small (not even a shtetl, but a) doerfel, called Naceg (so small that it felt uplifted to be not far from the shtetl of Duna-Szerdahely), composed and wrote the lyrics of the following Purim-schpiel. The time of the composition is probably around 1905-10. Like the original Hatikvah, it speaks of "loshuv loeretz," "to return to the land," whereas now we no longer have to use the future tense when we speak of the "Return to Israel." (Ed. Note: The music for this purim-schpiel, transcribed from Norman Adolf's tape by Jon Hadden, is available, gratis, from Sh'ma. Send your request with a stamped, self-addressed envelope.) I am (own first name) Notale the Trumpeter Oh! Am I a jolly rake ? -TOW TOP P3 T* Have I but liquid in my canister u * T« ^ 'IX A good slug first, I surely take ^ I* *>*> T* W To take a drink at eyery interval ^ * T* ^ I tell you, is quite palatable W ™ « (Sorry, the next 2 lines I have forgotten) T** V* W Honestly, it is laughable CT*n» 1DJTWD ?yi"T 0*11 ,t)YXW 2 ]y»ip jp) They want to render a world full of people most culpable T'X Oy yj"» Jm&RB They wish me to be psychosomatically ill »P*B IWJJja D^yil X frm "T By telling me that from drinking you take sick! »pJjnp 8 H WX TO J^'TI "T And your life span away will flit ]y» Diyn fypjno JIB TX Oh! May their brain become befuddled .UX^ DBPJ D25?1? ]ya JIN Did not grandpah Noah drink until he was fuzzled ! ni)9 *iy»T |"»X nil X ^lX Yet it is in the Torah writ clear ? nu J7T»T nyi jypanuya jyn tJ#n That he reached his nine hundred and fiftieth year min H DJJJT JJiyilDOyuiB And Uncle Lot strove a teetotaler to be p*XD1S ]1X DiyUYI P3 Day^yj B$n ny IX Yet, it is written in the Torah, clear, ?Tyiiya lyj"1?? X VH nyoyD "lyi )ix That he lived by his daughters his grandchildren to see . ^^ vj OJIXT ftyilDOyuiB What shall I drink - water? ,]yr IX lyDDyD y:"t 71© oay^nyi DJjtn Water is for beasts, for chicks, for ducks and geese , lyogll lypJ^IO "px 0$11 But a man with sound limbs and a stomach in good fettle -jyoKTI Should be crazy enough to let in him a few quarts of ^ ]1« oy^OX? iff WW 1XD W3.tcr sfittlfi' Well, brethren, L'chayiml ^ 8 ™ A year from now - in Yerusholoyiml , » 8 When in our hands will be the government "WWW ^ ^^ « * PT * administration t 'V™ ** I wiU give aU drunkards K'nesset representation. ***** J* V « W* W-H IIS L'chayim to my fellow Jews n * ™ ^ Ta ^ Let us all enjoy good health ! WWII "lSmM* D'W® fr* WX pn VX byil Let us journey to the Land of Israel HJ^JH" There we shall all drink wine PK TP DSB There we'll be happy, brethren mine - W W TW>D TO) fm Q-«P Ourselves we will mightily dedicate — ST'T ISftp^J y"?8 I^O l^yil To Zion we wiU immigrate in frW TO To behold again our beloved Jerusalem. TP n«B l^yil 71 <xd ^cr t^Tr^ J^A/O^fc rr^^a^T^^- (Esther 6.1, deviant reading.) The jewish oppress have come to know so well throughout the Scrip- tures. "No more Mr. Nice Guy" he remarks to Morde- "Call to Activism," an editorial cai after the Prime Minister shows him the final edi- tion of the Book. Mordecai, shocked, disappointed, Recent events in Shushan prove again in no uncertain terms what we have iterated and reiterated: the only can only mutter "Perhaps help will come to us from good goy is a dead goy. Thank G-d there were Jews another place." And God was heard sulking off: "If I with foresight enough to arm themselves, or Heaven am not for myself, who will be for me?" only knows what terrible catastrophe might have oc- Purim's capitulation to materialism and cynicism con- curred. Of course, the Pavlovian liberals (they sali- tributing to the alienation of-Mea>(oops, humankind) vate every time they see a goy so they can more easily from God is of painful significance to our own time. lick his feet) advocated negotiation and appeasement. The callous manipulation of events and history is re- Hasn't history taught them anything? Haven't the les- miniscent of Nixon, Watergate, and Vietnam. Is God sons of Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar left any im- silent or has he been silenced? A Pentagon Papers pression? What does it take to make them realize that mentality surrounds this book. Now that we know the Persian is no different than the Assyrian or the the true nature of the C.I.A. we must suspect this Babylonian? story of the shushan events. And what's all this joy about our new Prime Minister The mystics alone have repaired the breach of Purim: who chooses to be known by the name of a pagan they established a custom called "Filling the Haman- god (Mordecai=Marduk) — and then has the unmiti- taschen." Once Hamantaschen were empty pastries, gated gall and chutzpa to do the same with his their void marking the absence of the Divine Pre- orphaned niece (Esther=Ishtarj? ! And then he en- sence in Purim. Now, a fruit filling repairs the void. courages her to marry a sheygitz — all, of course, in This can be our starting point. As Herzl said, "If you the name of "national survival"!! fill it, you still may not get the credit." We are disgusted by such Jewish groveling. Jewish survival on the fourteenth of Adar this year was not The jewish catandog won by the assimilationists of the palace inner circle. How to build your, own gallows It was the result of Jewish arms — bless you David Keplun — and Jewish willingness to fight for G-d and Building your own gallows has long been one of the Torah. most popular and meaningful of Purim observances. Having school children construct only miniature gal- lows (or worse, ignoring the custom) takes away tre- Despondent, a jewish student quarterly mendously from the real Purim spirit. The Jewish tra- The Book of Esther, a theological perspective, dition wisely realized that revenge is an important or, God in Search of an Agent part of the human psyche, and left a place for it in our annual cycle. When expressed with the proper Purim changed Judaism irrevocably. The struggle to kawanah, it is a truly fulfilling spiritual experience, carve meaning from the near tragedy of Shushan as it is written, "Ye shall be vengeful for I am venge- haunts-us and remains our principal task. Where was ful." God? people ask — and silence responds. Where was 1) The actual gallows-building should be completed God? demand new generations — and as the Midrash quickly, that is before Ta'anit Esther (the Fast of teaches us in a moving dialogue between God and Esther). It is an excellent family project considering Mordecai, drawing on the theme of the Garden of how most families feel about one another. Some char* Eden, God himself states, "Where am I? Not even in a vurot have begun holding a melaveh maVeah ("escort* footnote?" ing the queen") followed by gallows-building on the Yes, angry at His omission from the Book of Esther, Saturday night following the shabbat immediately the Midrash describes the angry and jealous God we preceding Purim (Shabbat Zachor). (If you're lost by 72 our Jewish calendar — our volume 4 will tell you how denness in the Megillah, the villain was depicted as to calculate your own.) Haman. Why? Because it was considered "unseemly" to draw so much attention to a woman in synagogue 2) The gallows must be made out of wood. Any kind by twirling groggers at the mention of her name. of wood is permitted except gopher wood (used in building Noah's ark) and acacia wood (used in build- A rag like Sh'ma whose masthead lists no women in ing the Ark of the Covenant in the desert). Among the ranks of its Contributing Editors should wash its some Hasidim, there is a minhag (custom) of using own dirty laundry before it begins fabricating insults only wood from trees grown by Jews; but we suggest to the dignity of other publications. It is a disgrace that all 2x4's are kosher, particularly because they that the two women and two men who sit on the edi- will come in handy next fall as the frame for your torial board are lumped together as "Fellows." Lil- sukkah.
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