HAPPINESS-A-DAY According to Jewish tradition, Rosh Hodesh Adar ushers in a month of happiness: Mishenikhnas Adar marbin b'simhah, (When Adar begins, happiness increases). To celebrate the joy that is associated with the month of Adar, have students create a Happiness-a-Day calendar. They can create personal calendars for themselves and their families or the class can create one together. Distribute a blank Adar calendar page to every student. (Note: This is a nice time to review how the Jewish calendar works on a lunisolar system and is different from the Gregorian calendar.) Challenge students to fill each box of the calendar with one of the following: - A thought, idea, or activity that makes them personally happy - An action they can do to make a friend or family member happy - An activity that can increase happiness in their synagogue or school - Something they can do to increase happiness in the greater community In addition to the Happiness-a-Day ideas that each student includes on his or her calendar, incorporate happiness check points during the month when your class dedicates time to reflect on how using their calendar has affected them and those to whom they have brought happiness. --- PURIM CARDS FOR TROOPS One of the mitzvot performed on Purim is mishloah manot, making and delivering gift baskets of treats to friends and family. In the spirit of this mitzvah, prepare mishloah manot cards for Jewish soldiers serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. This activity not only remembers and thanks our troops for their service and celebrates Purim, but it also involves an area of the world that has been identified as the center of Ahashverosh's kingdom! >>Sending cards to Jewish-American troops --- TIME AND MIRACLES A striking aspect of Megillat Esther is the absence of God's name from the narrative. Nonetheless, this book of the Bible tells of Esther's miraculous reversal of the fate Haman had planned for the Jews. To highlight the miraculous nature of the megillah, work with your class to create a timeline of the events in the story. Use the text of the megillah and search for references to time (years and months) for the major events that occur. After plotting the events on a timeline, ask your students: What do you notice about the timeline of events in the megillah? Does anything surprise you about the timeline? Why? Why do you think that the events are spread over years and years? Why, when we read the megillah, are the events seemingly compressed together? How does the timeline affect your understanding of what drives the plot in the megillah? How does the timeline highlight the hidden miracle of the holiday? --- MUSIC MEDLEY To review the Purim story, create a musical Purim medley. Divide your class into groups. Assign each group one or two chapters of Megillat Esther to study. (Note: Chapters 9 and 10 should be together, as the last chapter is very short.) Each group will write a stanza to a song that tells the story from their chapter(s) of the megillah. They must think of an appropriate tune for the events and condense the chapter into several lines to fit the melody. After the groups finish their stanzas, choose a tune as a class to write the refrain/chorus for the medley. Compose several lines that reflect the major themes and customs associated with Purim for the chorus. Have groups sing their stanzas in order and the class joins in with the chorus between stanzas. For an example of how the Purim story can be retold to popular music, listen to "We're All In This Megillah." --- SHUSHAN FM Create a Purim radio show (or podcast if your school has the technological resources and knowhow). Divide the class into four groups: news, entertainment, personalities and gossip, and advertising. Each group is responsible to write and record a segment of the show. 1. The news group will compose and perform news reports from Shushan to broadcast the political goings-on in Ahashverosh's kingdom. 2. The entertainment group will feature music appropriate for Purim using Hebrew songs for Purim, creating playlists that different characters from the megillah might enjoy, featuring song dedications from one character to another, or presenting a segment on various sounds used for noisemaking to drown out Haman's name at megillah reading. 3. The third group will conduct interviews with Purim characters and feature a gossip segment about the social turmoil in Shushan. 4. The advertising group will create radio ads to publicize and advertise the customs of Purim. They can advertise things (fictional or real) such as a megillah reading, a store that sells treats for mishloah manot, causes worthy of receiving matanot l'evyonim (gifts for the poor), and creative places to hold a Purim feast. They may also promote places to buy costumes and masks.