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One of my most favorite Holidays is Purim. It usually falls in the months of February or March. It celebrates the Victory over the evil Haman, the Persian Prime Minister, who wanted to murder all the Jews. The main characters in the story are Haman, the evil Prime Minister, Achasverosh, the King of the immense kingdom of Persia, Mordechai, the humble Jewish Hero and Esther, Jewess, reluctant Queen and Savior of the Jews. The story can be found in the Book of Esther in the Tanach, the Jewish Bible. For the kids, my favorite book book of the Purim story is called "Queen Esther Saves Her People" by Rita Golden Gelman.

To celebrate Purim, there are many fun things we can do. The Book of Esther tells us to celebrate the holiday of Purim by reading the story of Purim, Having a big celebratory meal or Seudah, bringing gifts of sweets to friends and giving charity to facilitate celebratory meals for those who cannot afford them on their own. We also get dressed up in costumes to celebrate and for those old enough we party by getting drunk, responsibly of course.

The most traditional sweet that is made for Purim is called Hamentashen. (In Hebrew it's called Aznei Haman or Hamen's ears) It is shaped in a triangle to mock Hamen's hat.

Tu B'shevat is translated as the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Shevat. It is the Jewish Arbor Day or as I learned as a child, its the holiday of the trees. In reality it's the holiday of the environment. Every Jewish holiday has a historical meaning and an environmental or agricultural meaning. The Torah teaches us how to treat animals, how not to be wasteful, how to plant our trees and crops and how to leave portions of our fields for the poor (gleaning). We celebrate the holiday of Tu B"shevat by planting trees in Israel, eating fruits and vegetables that grow in Israel, and in general learning how to save the earth.

One of my favorite things to do with kids on Tu B'shevat besides introducing them to Figs and Dates, is to introduce them to the Pomegranate. Pomegranates have many connections to Judaism. Pomegranates are mentioned in the Torah as one of the seven species of Israel. They are native fruits to the region. Images of the Pomegranate were used to decorate the Holy Temple in Jerusalem as well as the garments of the Kohanim. Pomegranates are used to decorate the Torah mantel. Silver pomegranates adorn the top of the Torah scroll. The top of a pomegranate looks like a little crown and the Torah is the crown of the Jewish people. A Pomegranate has many many seeds. It represents fertility, one pomegranate can grow many new pomegranate trees. It represents the commandment in the book of Genesis is "Be Fruitful and Multiply". There is also a rabbinical teaching that the Pomegranate has 613 seeds. the number 613 is the number of commandments or Mitzvot in the Bible. So a Pomegranate represents the Commandments in the Torah. I always like to show my students how to open a pomegranate and eat the seeds, But before we eat any seeds, we count them to find out if there are really 613. Try this with your children, its fun, it can be messy and it gives a real life experience as to what 613 looks like!

You can always go out and learn more about how to help save the environment, eat fruits and vegetables that grow in Israel or go gleaning. If you want to go gleaning in south florida, contact the CROS Ministries or call me and I will send you times and places to save food in South Florida.