More thoughts for Purim Enjoyment

(Image from Kol Emeth‘s Purim email)
Here are a few last minute ideas plus activities around the Bay Area.

Is Purim a good “first” Jewish holiday for non-Jewish loved ones?
 A few favorite Hamentashen recipes
My Jewish Learning’s “BEST” hamantaschen recipe looks pretty much like my mother’s Sugar Cookie dough and yes, it’s darn good!
Candy hamentashen

More cheap and easy Purim costumes

 EVENTS
Rockin’ Shabbat and Oneg (Redwood City)
Purim Family Festival (San Francisco)
Purim ETZtravaganza (Palo Alto)
Family Megillah Reading and Purim Celebration (Pleasanton)
Purim Carnival (Berkeley)
Purim Evening Experience (Walnut Creek)
ENGAJ Megillah Murder Mystery Night (Palo Alto)
Voice Lessons for Parents (Online from San Francisco)
Nishma Service (Walnut Creek)

Rockin Shabbat and Oneg
Join us for a fun and lively Kabbalat Shabbat service with live music and singing. Oneg to follow with sweet treats and desserts to follow, to enhance our joyful welcoming of Shabbat.

Date:   Friday, March 3
Time:   6:30 pm
Place:   Congregation Beth Jacob, 1550 Alameda de las Pulgas, Redwood City
Details here
https://www.bethjacobrwc.org

Purim Family Festival
Celebrate Purim with costumes, crafts, holiday activities, hamantaschen and live music by Melita Silberstein & Friends!

Come one and all to our Purim Family Festival! Make some noise during the Purim spiel and come dressed in your favorite costume for our Purim Parade. Wear your dancing shoes, as Melita Silberstein & Friends will be rockin’ out to holiday songs and musical stories. It wouldn’t be a Purim party without hamantaschen, so prepare your palate for some tasty, filled triangle treats! Plus, special holiday activities with our friends from Jewish Baby NetworkPJ Library and more!

Date:   Saturday, March 4
Time:   3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Place:   San Francisco JCC, 3200 California St., San Francisco
More info here.


Purim ETZtravaganza
Ride a horse like Mordecai, bake your own hamantaschen, join King Ahasuerus at his banquet, visit Queen Esther in her beautiful chambers, but be careful not to get caught up in palace gossip and intrigue! This is a great way to celebrate Purim for children 12 and under. This free event is open to the community. Contact Abra with questions.

Sunday, March 5
Time:   9:30 am
Place:   Etz Chayim, 4161 Alma St, Palo Alto
https://www.etzchayim.org


Family Megillah Reading and Purim Celebration
Put on your favorite costume, grab your grogger, and celebrate this special holiday! Join us for a family-friendly Megillah reading, then enjoy our inflatable slide and maze and carnival games. Fun for kids of all ages.

9:45-10:30 am: Family Megillah reading and costume parade
10:30-11:00 am: Special entertainment for our youngest kids
11:00 am: Purim Carnival opens for children under age 6 and for older students needing a quieter atmosphere
11:15 am-12:30 pm: Carnival fun for all ages

Free admission and open to all. A kosher hot dog lunch is available for purchase and includes hamantaschen, sides, and beverage.

Date:   Sunday, March 5
Time:   9:45 am-12:30 pm
Place:   Beth Emek, 3400 Nevada Ct, Pleasanton
http://www.bethemek.org
Questions? Contact Judith Radousky, Director of Education.

Purim Carnival
Join Jewish Gateways for Purim, a holiday of costumes, frivolity, and fun. Jewish Gateways is partnering with the Jewish Community Center East Bay and Edah for a Purim carnival extravaganza! The carnival will include games, Purim crafts, face painting, balloon twisting, yummy hamantaschen, a photo booth, and kids’ talent show. Children and adults are invited to come in costume. Bring your children ages 4 to 9 years (younger and older children are welcome too). See you there!

Date:   Sunday, March 5
Time:   3 to 5pm
Place:   JCC East Bay 1414 Walnut Street Berkeley
Cost:    $18/family plus $3.05 processing fee. Sign up here.

Purim Evening Experience
With Rabbi Stein and Hazzan Bernstein
Join us for our Purim service and Megillah reading. Rabbi Stein and Hazzan Bernstein will lead the celebration. Costumes, graggers, song, Purim spiel, and celebration galore!

We’ll have pizza, dessert, and play at 5:30pm!

Date:   Monday, March 6
Time:   5:30 – 7:00pm
Place:   74 Eckley Ln, Walnut Creek
Cost: $5 per person; $10 Per family
https://bshalom.org

ENGAJ Megillah Murder Mystery Night
Young professionals in your 20s and 30s, join ENGAJ for a Purim party fit for Queen Esther! We’ll have a festive party out on the terrace with wine, bites (hamantashen, of course), groggers and music—but we need YOU to help us identify who among us is hiding as Haman! You are encouraged to dress in costume or wear a creative mask. Each guest will take home a mishloach manot (small goodie bag).

Sunday, March 5
Time:   6:00–8:00pm
Place:   Oshman Family JCC 3921 Fabian Way Palo Alto
Cost:    $10
Register here

Voice Lessons for Parents:
What to Say, How to Say It, and When to Listen
with Wendy Mogel

Join us for a conversation with author and clinical psychologist Wendy Mogel, based on her book, Voice Lessons for Parents: What to Say, How to Say It, and When to Listen.

Dr. Wendy Mogel offers an essential guide to the new art of talking to children, showing how a change in tone and demeanor can transform the relationship between parent and child. She also explains the best ways to talk about your child to partners, exes, and grandparents, as well as to teachers, coaches, and caretakers.
A recording of the event will be available for two weeks post event for everyone who registers!

Date:   Thursday, March 9, 2023
Time:   7:00 – 8:15pm
Place:   Online
Host:   Jewish Family & Children’s Services, San Francisco
FREE, register here

Nishma Service
Nishma, Hebrew for “we will listen,” is a beautifully-constructed Jewish world music experience. This incredible service, which is a hybrid of Reform and Conservative traditions, was conceptualized and designed by our wonderful Rabbi Chabon, where she is in her truest form. The music is spectacular with guitar accompaniment by Lisa Zeiler, the Torah reading is always moving, the teachings Rabbi weaves through the service are enriching, and her sermons will leave you thinking of our world in a slightly different way. This service is truly magical!

Date:   Saturday, March 11
Time:   10:00am – 12:00pm
Place:   B’nai Tikvah, 25 Hillcroft Way, Walnut Creek
https://tikvah.org