We had an amazing Purim at Stanton this year, thanks to so many of you who coordinated events and food, layned megillah, donated charity, shook groggers, wore crazy costumes, sent mishloach manot, pretended to sing, and added a festive air to the whole weekend.
Congratulations to lip-synch champion Judith Hinkle! Congrats also to costume competition winner Sharon Itkoff (aka Andy Warhol)!
(For those who missed the lip-synch competition, you may never again have the opportunity to see Rabbi and Rebbitzen Bodner, and baby Jonah dressed as a monkey, lip-synch to "A Whole New World" from the beloved, newish Disney classic Aladdin. But you can watch it on Facebook!)
We not only had great attendance and energy at our community Shabbat dinner with Hadassah, StantonKIDS program on Shabbat morning, megillah readings on Purim night and day, our Purim Party on Saturday night, and a very successful Mishloach Manot project which raised money for the shul and built community among members (pause to catch breath...) We also were able to donate nearly $3,000 for matanot la'evyonim (gifts for the poor) to individuals in our community, as well as to the NYU Student drive for the homeless and needy on the Lower East Side, Project ORE (Educational Alliance) Purim Seuda for the mentally ill and homeless, needy families in Riverdale, and to Masbia kosher soup kitchens. Thank you to all who donated!
Thank you to Rabbi Bodner for coordinating these charitable efforts and so much of the Purim experience at Stanton.
Thank you to David Waxman for layning megillah for our traditional readings Purim night and morning. (We're told hearing "Santa Claus" read megillah was a first for many!)
Thank you to all of the layners for the Women's Megillah reading on Purim night: Aliza Deutsch, Rivky Friedman, Rishe Groner, Ray Katz, Sarah Lazaros, and Zipporah Nagel.
Thank you to Wendy Chin and David Tuchman for putting together and sponsoring, along with co-sponsors Judith Hinkle and Jeff Katz, our Purim Party & Lip-Synch Competition, and for sponsoring Sunday's post-megillah Purim Seudah Brunch.
Thank you to Risa Gerstein, Judy Josephs, and Sam Weisblatt for help setting up, and to Aliza Deutsch, Risa Gerstein, Mayer Sinensky, Judy Josephs, and Raffi Abelson for packing up our communal mishloach manot packages (and to the StantonKIDS Sunday morning program participants for decorating).
Thank you to StantonKIDS program coordinators and leaders, Danielle Bendavid, Lindsey Bodner, Aliza Deutsch, Elissa Sampson, and Laura Weisblatt. Thank you also to our sponsors for this month's StantonKIDS program, Zvi and Bruria Spies.
Finally, thank you to all of you who showed up and helped to make Purim so much fun.
Next up: Pesach!
(Please note, if we have forgotten to thank anyone individually, by name, it is not because of any malice but rather because we took our Purim partying a little too seriously and are fuzzy on some of the details...)
