Wig-like hair, the Jedi council, and a Yoshi, among other outrageous costumes, graced our halls on Purim day.
“It was an exciting Purim,”said Shmuel Kahn (11th grade). “Rabbi Ney played a huge role in the success of the day.”
Students piled into the auditorium to hear the story of Purim through the reading of the Megillah. Rabbi Avi Billet read the Meglliah for the school and, to the surprise of most students, he altered his voice to make it “sound” like the actual characters in the Meglliah. Billet said that Hebrew Academy was the best behaved school that he has ever read to.
The highlight of the day was the costume contest. Judges Ari Ellenbogen, Danny Bister, Daniel Ben-Avner, and Jordan Cohen provided comic relief as the parade of costumes– including Bay Harbor’s famous plastic surgeon Dr. Miami, Haman Trump, and Thing One and Thing Two–strutted down the catwalk. Making it through to the first round was Elie Dahan and his ostrich Jerry, the Jedi Council, the Dr. Miami group, and Yosef Nahon as Yoshi from Mario Brothers.
The surprise of the day came when the judges asked Noam Beaudoin De Roca to come to the front and show off his teased hair for the final round of the contest, even though he had never entered the contest in the first place. The decision of the winner was left up to the crowd, who cheered equally for Yoshi and Noam. In order to break the tie, the judges held a dance-off. Noam won the dance off by not dancing.
“Did I win?” said Noam (12th grade). When asked how he was able to make his hair so big, Noam said he teased it with a pick comb for a very long time.
Following the costume contest was the highly anticipated annual Purim shpiel. Directed by Michael Bixon, Daniel Ben-Avner, Daniel Yerushalmi, Ari Elenbogen, the shpiel included skits about the basketball team, student life and teachers poking fun at themselves. Students loved the shpiel, but many felt that it was not up to par.
“It was a little bit disappointing,” said Jacob Mitrani (12th grade). “The scene about the wildlife was very funny, along with the movie trailer, but I also felt like they ignored a lot of material.”
Despite some criticism, students were still found to be laughing out loud, “The Purim shpiel was a amazing,” said Laurene Dana (12th grade). “Especially the intro. There was a great cast and crew to boot!”
Overall, Purim in the high school was a day filled with amazing programming and lots of laughs.
By: Samson Schiff