Purim Youth Activities

Transcription

1 Purim Youth Activities By: Josh Botwinick Put the Purim Story Back in Order (Ages 6-12) Props: - *Pictures of various scenes from the Megilla (see below) Activity: Lay the pictures on the floor, and have the group line them up in chronological order. If you have enough, give each child a picture and have them line up based on the picture everyone is holding. You can make two teams and see who can get them all in order first Golden Scepter (Ages 2-7) Props: - Golden Scepter (or some equivalent) Activity: One person stands on one side of the room, and everyone else stands on the other. When Achashverosh sticks out his golden scepter everyone moves forward, and when he puts it down everyone freezes. Anyone caught moving must start again from the back of the room. The first one who reaches Achashverosh gets to be Achashverosh. Parshat Zachor Memory Game (Ages 6-12) Activity: One person begins by saying a short sentence that has to do with Purim. Going around the circle, each child must repeat the previous sentence and add something of their own. For example, "I went to the store to buy Mishloach Manot." I went to the store to buy hamentashen for Mishloach Manot. I went quickly to the food store to buy apricot hamentashen for Mishloach Manot. Discussion: What are we remembering during Parshat Zachor? But we do not have any Amalekim anymore? Do the Amalekim stand for anything else? Perhaps they stood for assimilation and getting too comfortable with the non-jews. How could we remember this on a daily basis?

2 Who Am I? (Ages 6-12) Activity: How well do you know the less famous characters in the Megilla? Read off descriptions in the first person of characters from the Megilla, and the children need to guess who it is. For example, I advised Haman to kill Mordechai by hanging." Who is the Leader? Indian Chief (Ages 2-7) Discuss: One message of Purim is that sometimes Hashem is hidden, but he's always there. That is why we dress up, and why Hashem's name isn't in the Megilla, etc. Explain that just as it's hard to tell who the leader in this game is, so too in the Purim story and in life it's often hard to tell who's the leader. But of course, we know the leader is always Hashem. Activity: Choose someone to go out of the room and then choose someone to be the leader. The leader then starts a motion and everyone repeats, the leader keeps on changing the motion and everyone repeats after him or her. The person outside is called back in and has to guess who the leader is. Courtesy of Gila R. The Megilla: 1, 2, 3, Action! (Ages 6-14) Props: - A summary of each of the perakim of the megilla (see below) Acitivity: Split the kids up into groups. Each group chooses a scene from the megilla and has a few minutes to prepare. Then call everyone back together and have them act out their respective scenes, one after another.

3 Purim Skit Scenes Scene 1 Achashverosh is having a party. He calls Vashti to come downstairs so everyone can see how beautiful she is. Vashti says no. The king becomes furious, and he orders for her to be killed. Scene 2 The king is sad because he misses his wife. He decides to hold a contest for who can be the next queen. Girls from all over the kingdom come to see if Achashverosh will choose them. Mordechai and Esther hear about it too, and before Esther is taken, Mordechai tells her, if you do get chosen, don t tell anyone that you re Jewish. Esther goes to the palace, and sure enough, the king chooses her! He puts a crown on her head, and Esther is the new queen! Scene 2 ½ Mordechai is walking along and he overhears two people, Bigtan and Teresh, plotting to kill the king. He tells Esther, and Esther tells Achashverosh. They look into it, and it turns out Mordechai was right. Bigtan and Teresh are punished. Scene 3 Achashverosh appoints a new minister named Haman. Haman decrees that everyone has to bow down to him when he walks by. Everyone bows down to him, except Mordechai. Haman gets very angry, and he decides to kill not only Mordechai, but the entire Jewish people. He makes a lottery and decides on the 13 th of Adar. He asks the king if it s ok, and the King says yes. They write it down and send out messengers and it becomes the law. Scene 4 Mordechai hears about Haman s plan and he s very sad. He rips his clothing. He tells Esther she must go talk to the king. Esther says I can t! Mordechai insists and Esther finally agrees. She says tell all the Jews to fast for 3 days, and then I ll go. Scene 5 Esther walks into to the king s chamber, and he sticks out his scepter to let her in. He says What can I do for you, Queen Esther? You can ask for up to half my kingdom and I ll give it to you. Esther says I want to invite you and Haman to a party tonight, and I ll tell you there. That night at the party, the king asks again.

4 Esther says let s have another party tomorrow, and I ll tell you tomorrow. Haman is very happy. Scene 6 That night, King Achashverosh can t sleep. He asks his people to read from the book where they write down all of the good thing that people have done for the king, and they read to him about when Mordechai saved the king. Did we ever repay him? The king asks. They say no. They notice Haman walking around outside the palace, so they call him inside and ask him, what would you do for someone the king wants to honor? Haman thinks they re talking about him. So he says, I would dress him up like the king, and have him ride around on the king s horse, and have someone call out, This is what the king does to people he wants to honor! Achashverosh says, great idea! Go do that for Mordechai! And Haman does. Scene 7 Achashverosh, Queen Esther, and Haman sit down for their second party. The king asks again, What do you want, queen Esther? You can ask for up to half the kingdom and I ll give it to you. Esther says you know, someone is trying to kill me and my people. What?! How could that be? The king asks. Who is it? Esther stands up and dramatically points to Haman. It s him! The king is furious, and he gets up and storms out of the party. Haman begs and pleads with Esther, but just then the king comes back and says hey, get away from Esther! Achashverosh orders Haman to be killed, and he s taken away. Scene 8 Esther thanks Achashverosh for saving the Jewish people. Achashverosh needs someone to take Haman s place, so he appoints Mordechai instead. Mordechai and Esther sit down and think, how can we make sure the Jews always remember this amazing miracle that we were saved? They decide to make a new holiday, and they call it Purim. Then they write everything down on a scroll, and that scroll becomes known as the Megilla. Scene 8 ½ Achashverosh raises taxes, and things go back to normal. THE END!

5 Purim Skit (Ages 6-14) By: Margot Reinstein Parts: Narrator Messenger Vashti Achashverosh Esther- Mordechai Haman SCENE ONE Narrator It all started at the party of a certain Persian King, His name was Achashverosh, And brains was not his thing. His beautiful wife Vashti Was having a party too, But Achashverosh sent to get her To show her off to his crew. Messenger: Hello Vashti? Your presence is the kings utmost request, He s looking kind of angry so come quickly I suggest! Vashti: I don t care what he wants, his request- I disagree! I don t like him and besides I m busy, can t you see?! He wants me to come down so at my beauty they can stare? Well I m not interested in that I won t come and I don t care! The servant told the king that his request she did refuse So he decided to get rid of hera new queen he would choose! Achashverosh: How dare Vashti refuse my wishes, what she did is pure obscene! It s time to find a new wife, one who I can call my queen! I need somebody special- But how to find the finest pearl? We ll hold a year long beauty pageant until I find the perfect girl! SCENE TWO! Why look at this dear Esther, There s an ad in all of Shushan The king is looking for a queen and they want girls in the beauty salons! I can t believe what he did to vashti, he lives his life on such a whim! I m happy being Jewish, I would never want to live with him! But little did Esther know that her life would change that day As she encountered conflicting values that we sometimes need to weigh. The King sent out his messengers

6 for the most beautiful maidens they could find, And surely they found Esther, her beauty was one of a kind. Messenger: Come to the palace tomorrow You ve a chance to be the next queen You re by far the most beautiful maiden That I have ever seen! I know you don t want to go Esther, but perhaps, maybe you should If you remember you are a Jew, then from this can only come good. If you say so I will go Mordechai,, though living with the King is absurd I trust you and with G-d s help I will be able to stick to your word. SCENE THREE Mordechai the Jew in G-d always had faith, He dropped by the palace every day to make sure that Esther was safe. One day he heard some criminals plotting to kill the king Straight to Achashverosh he ran With the terrible news to bring. Well sure enough when her turn came, Achasverosh chose Esther to marry, And then a certain man rose to power, someone you might say was scary. Haman: Ah yes, my name is Haman, I m sure you knew that already I m great at bossing people around, I should just be king already I m the most clever, man you ve met, putting down others is how I thrive Come bow down to me everyone For I m the greatest man alive! (evil laugh) No way Haman I won t listen to you, I only bow to one certain King! His name is Hashem, He is my G-d and to his ways I will always cling! Haman: Who does this Mordechai think he is? How dare you have such a reaction! I hate you Jews and you should know there will be consequences for your actions! You are an evil man Haman I don t care if you condemn, All I want to do in this world is make a Kiddush Hashem. Haman: (to himself) We ll see about that Haman: (to Achasverosh) There is a Jewish man out there, he causes me much frustration.

7 He refuses to bow down to me, do you mind if I destroy his nation? Achashverosh: Go right ahead, destroy the Jews, It s really fine with me. Maybe I would mind if I knew a Jew, someone part of my family. So Haman plotted to kill the Jews, With a lottery, called a Pur. And the lot fell on the 13 th of Adar, The Jews were doomed for sure. (reading the paper) Oh no! It says on the 13 th of Adar that Haman will wipe us out! We must take action and not just sit here With a miracle or without! (to Esther) Esther Esther, you must have heard what the evil Haman has declared. We need your help, you are our hope, for the Jewish people I am scared. But Achashverosh killed queen Vashti When she did not obey What if he decides to kill me too because of what I say?!? But I know what I must do And if I die then I will die I have a duty to my people Like you ve taught me, Mordechai. You were put there for a purpose, How G-d works in mysterious ways, I will tell the Jews to fast and pray for the 3 upcoming days. After 3 days she mustered up courage to go to speak before the king She hoped Hashem was on her side because of the Jew s davening Achasverosh: (to Esther) Welcome Esther, how can I help you? To whatever you want, I ve agreed. Half the kingdom? dinner with me and Haman? whatever it is that you need! All I want is dinner with you, yours and Hamans presence I seek. Please grace me with a dinner so that with you I can speak. NEXT SCENE Achasverosh: So how is everything going my queen? I want you to be satisfied. Whatever it is, you name it! I ll try my hardest to provide. You see there is a wicked man who wants to destroy my nation

8 If something happened to the Jewish people, it would be a devastation! Achashverosh: Who is this man? That s terrible! Don t worry I ll kill him first. I ll take his decree and you know what I ll do? I ll make so that its reversed! As Haman sat there quietly, wallowing in his guilt, A messenger came to tell them all the gallows to hang Mordechai were built It s this man right over here, he wants to kill us all! He even plans to overthrow you, he s waiting until you fall! Achashverosh: (to audience) I can see that you are all sitting here, waiting in suspense. What are we waiting for? hang Haman instead, to me that makes most sense! So there we have it, the Jews were saved, what a fantastic miraculous tale! It goes to show with faith in G-d, the Jews can never fail! A first glance reading of this story, you may think its coincidental But when miracles happen in life like this we must realize it s transcendental. Every day we experience miracles, we just need to open our eyes! Don t wait for purim to show us this, G-d s here, He s just in disguise!