Paris Celebration Comes to Boston

With crepes and caviar, roaming “sidewalk” caricature-artists, the finest French-kosher wines and gaiety and dancing until midnight, the “Purim in Paris” celebration at Brighton’s Shaloh House Jewish Day School last Thursday wasn’t just great – it was “tres charmant” and simply “magnifique.”

The Purim celebration included a multi-media Megillah reading, a full-course French dinner made by the school’s own French chef, a crepe bar, a French mime, a children’s carnival, and a variety of other entertainment. Guests at the Banquet raved over the crepes, the haddock with “sauce béchamel au vin” and “soufflé aux legumes.”

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Shaloh House elementary and pre-school students boarded buses and performed Purim songs and dances for large audiences at eight different senior centers and senior housing facilities throughout Boston.

After the performances, the children left the stage and roamed through the crowds distributing Shaloch Manos.

“The seniors were so happy of them many smiled and cried at the same time,” Shaloh General Studies Principal Stephanie Goodman said. “They grabbed the children and hugged and kissed them. Some of the songs were in Russian and the Russian-speaking seniors were beside themselves with happiness.”

Although some of the seniors attended the concert in beds and wheelchairs, the children weren’t unnerved, she said.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Ms. Goodman said. “But the children handled it beautifully.”

Bina Meyers, 4, a Kindergarten-Junior student at Shaloh House, went to Ulin House with her classmates to perform Purim songs.

“The singing was the best part,” Bina, 4, said, “because I liked that it made the people happy,” she said.

The evening before, the school hosted “Absolut Purim,” a free Purim celebration open to the community. The evening included a Megillah reading, L’Chaim Unlimited, live entertainment and a Gala Masquerade.

Shaloh House also brought in Rabbinical students from New York to carry the Purim spirit still farther, to pre-schools, businesses and points of interest throughout Greater Boston. The Rabbinic students, who are natives of Australia, Moscow and Canada, read the Megillah and distributed 940 packages of Shaloch Manos, Head of School Rabbi Dan Rodkin said.