Costume Party

Forgive me for not writing, especially during this month replete with goings-on, but there have been technical difficulties with the internet on the mountaintop. And coupled with the fact that I will be off for five days and probably will not have the opportunity to write for a while, this could not have come at a worse time. Thankfully, the internet is working again, and so too am I.

We fasted today because it is the Fast of Esther, but since it is only a half-fast (sunrise to sunset), a lot of people decided to stay up all night and eat (not to stay up all night just to eat, but using the need to eat before the fast as a reason to stay up all night). Some people learned, but the Settlers gang held a Settlers of Catan marathon. We bought pizza, pita, Coke, and brownies, and played the night away. Everyone, I think, recorded at least one victory. The crowd, which peaked at six, dwindled as the night grew late, but we kept at it, the last game finishing shortly before the 6:00 a.m. minyan with the kibbutz, which I attended.

Since I stayed up all night, I slept all day, waking up at 3:15 to go to the makolet to get some food for my Gamad and Anak and mishloach manot. As today was the last day of G&A, all the Gamads diverged their identities to their Anaks. Matan was pleased to know who was giving him food, though I don't think he knows my name. And I learned that Tzachi Cohen was my Gamad, secretly giving me food for the last week. Well done!

As I mentioned in my Shabbat Zachor post, a big part of Purim is dressing up. Ilan, who is a professional clown, had his whole clown make-up kit, wigs, noses, and other clown devices. I did not bring a disguise kit with Various Finery Disguises or Veiled Facial Disguises or Voice Faking Disguises, but I made do with what I had. I dressed up as Ilan, with his fruity shirt and beret and balloons and sandals. Josh, the last roommate, wore a suit with a fake mustache, which did not stay on the entire evening.

The Fast of Esther immediately yielded to the reading of the scroll of Esther, and Purim. AM, one of the people in my shiluv who did not want to be named or photographed, read the Megillah. There was some dancing afterward, then we went to dinner, which was our break-fast (not to be confused with breakfast or brakefast). After some announcements by Moti, we dispersed. For some reason, the party was planned for three hours after the Megillah. Whatever.

I'll finish the blurbs later...
The Top Ten Costumes of Purim 2006

10. Moshiko Fogel as "Weird Guy with a Pipe"
Moshiko also was the drummer for the celebration. I don't know what he is supposed to be here. Nevertheless, it was still quite funny.




9. Tzachi Cohen as "Mr. Toga"
To quote Yehonatan Belushi, "Toga, Toga!"




8. Eitan Rubinstein and Steven Exler as "Steven Exler and Eitan Rubinstein"
In this clever display of costumatic efficiency, Eitan and Steven, who are roommates, dressed up as each other. How clever! Eitan wore Steven's jacket, while Steven commented frequently on "a comparisson of semitic languages" and often said "beautiful!"


7. David Mayer-Deutsch as "God Knows What That is Supposed to Be"
There's a bear mask on his massive afro, he's wearing pant legs over his arms and a shirt between his legs... and it still might not qualify as one of the strangest things DMD has done.




6. David-Zvi Epstein, Yehuda Lerea, Micah Koplow, and Aharon Kalman as "Amish Man, Sir Half-Beard, The Dude, and Pink"
David Zvi, who would later shave his beard, is apprarently Amish. Yeuhda borrowed my Purim idea of last year (though he claims that he heard it from another friend, an alibi I highly suspect to be fictitious) and shaved but half his beard. Micah decided to be The Dude from "The Big Lebowski," as evidenced by the robe, slippers, and sunglasses. And Aharon just wanted to be in the picture, and was wearing a shockingly-pink pair of overalls.

5. Daniel Marans as "The Only Girl at YMG"
He wore the same wig when he played Marina in our Purim play, but his disguise was still quite funny. So too, by the way, was the fact that half the guys here were making a pass at him. Kidding!





4. Adam Weiler as "Himself"
I feel this needs no explanation.


3. Yuval Avni and Yair Agmon as "The Two Isaiahs"
A word of explanation about the Isaiahs. he mentioned that the book of Isaiah is written in two different narrative styles, with chapters 1-39 being different from 40-66. These two guys were the two Isaiahs. Get it? I don't really; I In one of Chezi's shiurs, wasn't at the shiur.



2. Ilan, Josh, and Yoni as "Clown, Mustache Man, and Ilan"
As I mentioned above, Ilan brought his whole clown costume and clown accessories with him, and I suspect he brought all that from America just for today. Again, as I mentioned, I did not have a costume, so I was Ilan. Josh's mustache was on for basically the length of this picture before falling off.


1. Benjamin Epstein as "Ezra Fishman"
Now isn't that just the best Ezra costume you've ever seen? I couldn't even tell that it was Benjamin!