This weekend was the Jewish holiday of Purim, a very fun Jewish holiday! On Purim everyone dresses up in costume and drinks and lot. We are commanded to be happy and drink until we "can't tell the difference between our friends and our enemies." This is the holiday when everyone bakes hamentashen (the triangle cookies, if you've seen them) that look like Hamen's hat, the enemy of the Purim story. We are celebrating the fact that Queen Esther saved the Jewish people (seems to be a common theme
for Jewish holidays...saving the Jewish people).
The holiday starts off with fasting called the Fast of Esther because Queen Esther fasted before telling King Ahasuerus that she is a Jew. (The king was going to allow Haman to kill all the Jews). Anyway, I was not fasting on Thursday as I have never fasted on this day before, it's not all that common in terms of observance by those who are not religious. Thursday was also St. Patrick's Day and I was really excited to go out with friends to the center of Jerusalem and drink Guinness at local Irish themed bars. After my run and lunch Thursday I took a nap and I woke up feeling a bit under the weather. I went out and celebrated a little anyway with friends but continued to feel sick for a few days. Momma suggested that I may have had a bit of food poisoning and the symptoms really matched up for a mild case (of course). I've never had food poisoning before and even this mild case was not fun. I spent Purim weekend recoverin
g from whatever it was, which has brought me to my current conclusion. I will, from here on forward, always fast on the Fast of Esther, because nothing can argue with karma.
me as Aladdin, Purim 2011
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