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Tzav • March 22, 2019 • 15 Adar 2, 5779 • Torah section pages 14–16 • Luach page 14 • Vol 18, No 11
Jews revel in Purim at a shul in Beit Shemesh.
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Why Romans banned wild Purim parties in 408 CE Henry abramson Touro College
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very year before Purim, my inbox and social media fill up with dire exhortations from rabbis and yeshivas warning against the dangers of celebratory excess — as if drunkenness on the holiday were something new. In reality, after-Purim regrets have been part of the discourse ever since Rabba drunkenly attacked and inadvertently killed his dear friend Rabbi Zeira in the Talmud (don’t worry — he was revived in the end). Rabbis and communal leaders across the religious spectrum have condemned drunken revelry
on a holiday dedicated to excess and carousing, noting it often leads to harming life and limb. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Chabad Lubavitch rebbi, outlawed more than four drinks at a time for anyone younger than 40. But even before all of that, it turns out that the ancient Romans — who weren’t exactly known for their sobriety — attempted to control wild Purim parties as early as the year 408. An unusual bit of the Theodosian Code (16.8.18) is apparently the first non-Jewish source to document the phenomenon of Purim parties that get out of hand. Specifically, the law prohibited Jews from burning Haman in effigy. For Jews, the practice of symbolically destroying the notorious villain of the See Roman’s Purim ban on page 16
North Shore celebrates 18 years of ‘gantze Megillah’ Purim marks a milestone for the North Shore Hebrew Academy Middle School in Great Neck — the 18th year that eighthgraders and alumni, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, will chant Megillat Esther for their schoolmates, faculty and families. The reading will take place during Shacha-
rit in the synagogue on the Cherry Lane campus. The community is invited and a celebratory breakfast will follow the 8 am service. Over the past 18 years, more than 300 students at the NSHA have been instructed by Dr. Paul Brody (pictured center, wearing See North Shore on page 21