Celebrating the self at Temple Avodah

Superheroes stand up to the bullies.

So when Samantha Toledano’s Queen Esther, in Super Girl garb, foiled the plot of the hapless Batking Achashverosh’s evil advisor, Haman Quinn, played respectively by eight-year-old Thomas Jacoby and Temple Avodah Cantor Jessica Gubenko, It made sense that the spiel had a decidedly comic book tilt. Because on Purim — a celebration of the self — the performance illustrated as Gubenko said, that “We all have a little bit of superhero in us.”

Jews from across the area came dressed in costume and ready to celebrate the holiday, such as four-year-old twins Zelda and Max Keitel from Lynbrook, who while decorating masks at a table set aside for attending children, showed off their costumes. Zelda, a chicken with an accompanying bag of “eggs” was clad in a spacesuit, and Max was dressed as a hybrid between R2-D2 and firefighter.

“People are having fun,” temple President Lenore Greenberg said. “But in addition, the story evokes the religious tradition of standing up for who we are even in troubled times.”

“I think it’s perfect,” Temple Trustee Roberta Treacy said of the theme for this year’s Purim celebration. “I feel so safe in a sea full of super heroes.”

Toledano’s grandmother, Denise Kass, said she loved the performance. “The children knew their lines and they told the story in their unique way that put big smiles on everyone’s face in the audience,” she added. “And rabbi Goren rocks!”

And for Goren, who made his star turn as Flash Goren, said Purim was about two things: Fun, and “to remind us that like Queen Esther, we should not hide who we truly are.”

Her tale seemed to resonate with Jacoby, who after the performance said, “At the end, she acted really brave.”