Having A (Costume) Ball

POSTED APRIL 1, 2008

One rabbi dressed as the Tin Man, another was a ’70s hipster—capped with disco-ball head covering. William Cohen, age 7, disguised himself as a garbage can, because, as he said, it was “easy to take the lid off.”

These were but a few of the countless costumed revelers around Downtown last month, all in the spirit of Purim.

The holiday, celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from an evil Persian king and traditionally includes disguises, got an early start March 9, with the annual Downtown Purim Carnival. The popular party at P.S. 234, a collaboration of JCP Downtown, Tribeca Hebrew and Synagogue for the Arts, featured music, a bagel brunch, crafts, games and prizes. But the main event was the third annual Purim “spiel,” entitled “The Vizard of Oz.”

Lori Fineman wrote the play, which puts characters from the Purim story into a highly abbreviated version of the classic. “There’s no time like Purim,” says the Biblical character Esther, in the Dorothy role, after being transported back to Tribeca—not Kansas—where her friends doubt she has ever left.

It was adults only at Tribeca Hebrew’s annual fundraiser, held for the second year in David Bouley’s test kitchen on West Broadway, where the chef himself kept the canapés coming and the organization raised $66,000 towards its scholarship program. Masked and unmasked, 160 people attended the party. “That was twice the number I told [Bouley] would be there,” said Tribeca Hebrew president Karie Parker Davidson.

At Synagogue for the Arts, LPs hung from the ceiling, the food was pizza and lasagna, and the music was 70s disco. But the highlight had to be the rabbi, Jonathan Glass. Better known for leading prayers, this night he led a circle of congregants in the group ritual of grooving to Village People’s “YMCA.”

Sam Levine contributed reporting to this article.

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