State Jewish Theatre offers extraordinary show on Purim 5782 celebration

The State Jewish Theatre (TES) on Thursday evening presented an extraordinary show dedicated to the celebration of Purim, in the year 5782, according to the Jewish calendar, to a large audience, Agerpres reports.

Actress Maia Morgenstern, together with the troupe of the State Jewish Theatre and the orchestra of this cultural institution, offered the special show "A Letter of Purim" to a crowded hall, which accompanied the actors with applause and laughter throughout the show.

The president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, Deputy Silviu Vexler, took the stage at the end, together with the actors, to bring a message of hope for the future, which is, in fact, the essence of the Purim holiday celebrating the liberation of the Jewish people from the ancient Persian-Babylonian Empire.

"In recent weeks we have been talking about everything we should do tonight, because the situation around Romania is what it is - a war that inevitably brings immense suffering. I talked many times with director Maia Morgenstern wondering if we should do a show tonight or not, and I realized that, as Purim evenings always start here, it's Purim again. The story of this celebration itself fits very well, in fact, with what happens today, because it's a celebration of hope, of trust and of the fact that, sooner or later everything will be ok. Which is why everything that you've seen in this show tonight, every one of you smiles and laughs are dedicated to all the people who suffered and are suffering, to all those whom we could help and whose story we discovered, to all those who need help," stated the president of the Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania - the Mosaic Cult.

According to him, in such moments, we realize that what seemed to work is not so. "And, the same as in the Purim story, it is necessary for someone to do something for those around them," added MP Silviu Vexler.

The director of the Jewish Theatre, Maia Morgenstern, underscored that the Purim show represents "the expression, the desire, the need to continue."

"It's Purim, it's a Purim show. We want to keep the tradition of Purim shows. And I will let the specialists to tell better than me, more clearly, more deeply, the implications, the meanings of the Purim holiday. What it means etymologically - dice, fate. Queen Esther - a woman - had the courage to step forward and save her people, she had the courage to step forward and expose the wicked. We know that stories, legends, have a happy ending, but it doesn't seem and it's not that easy in the heat of events (...). Unmasking those who hold the power in your time, who hold not only the power but "the absolute truth" as well, as they claim, by telling them: "This is not true, this is not the truth," while risking not to be trusted, risking to be mocked, to be ridiculed - this is the legend, this is the Purim story. The show tonight was the expression, the will, the need to continue," Maia Morgenstern told AGERPRES.

The actress remembered that, in her childhood and adolescence, "it was a great big event" to be invited to participate in the Purim show.

Purim means joy, love, being together, and the show wanted to convey this message, said Bogdan Lifsin, conductor of the TES Orchestra.

Among those present at the cultural event were Victor Opaschi, Secretary of State for Cults, Tova Ben Nun Cherbis, the head of the Lauder-Reut Educational Complex in Bucharest, Ovidiu Banescu, Vice President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania (FCER - CM), representatives of the Jewish community in Romania, Silvian Horn - Vice President of FCER.

The event was organized under the auspices of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania, in partnership with TES, the World Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Jewish Community of Bucharest (CEB).