Viewfinder: Purim Carnival Delivers Fun

About 250 children and their parents celebrated the Jewish holiday of Purim Sunday at with a two-hour carnival that featured ball toss games, Giant Twister, basketball, bowling and, of course, eating pizza.

Costumed staff and volunteers circulated around the room at the Buffalo Grove synagogue, some as characters out of the ancient story of Purim and others wearing odd-looking hats and costumes.

But the biggest hit of the day was probably Rabbi Richard M. Prass, who not only wore a witch’s hat and green face makeup, but also volunteered as the human target in the sponge toss booth, renamed “Cream Hamen” after the villain in the story of Purim.

Prass said his costume was meant to spoof the wicked Hamen, who, the story goes, had advised the King of Persia to kill all the Jewish people.

“You know, wicked witch, green witch, the whole Oz thing,” he said. Prass said his time in the sponge toss both was “fine, except for one kid, who got so excited, he kept whipping (the sponge). That’s OK, though,” he said. “It was a day to be fun and silly.”

The carnival was coordinated by the Beth Am Temple Youth, the synagogue’s youth group. Money raised was put toward other youth group programs, he said.