Long Beach celebrates Purim holiday in colorful costume

Adults and children alike celebrated Purim in style at Temple-Emanu-El in Long Beach last Wednesday.

The hour-long party included a parade of costumes where both adults and children dressed up for the hour-long celebration. Children dressed in all kinds of costumes, including Harry Potter and Minions from the movie Despicable Me, among others.

State Senator Todd Kaminsky joined the festivities, though instead of wearing a costume he donned an orange party hat for the night.

Children were also able to color at several coloring stations where they could create pictures of the characters from the story of Purim.  Rabbi Jack Zanerhaft said he read a modern version of the story with the kids during the party as well.

The party also had a balloon artist and music and a Purim dinner, like normal. The dinner is normally served buffet-style, but each table had its own food portions out of extra precaution due to Covid, Zanerhaft said.

“It was nice to be able to do this in person instead of remote,” Zanerhaft said. “There were two reasons to celebrate this year.”

Zanerhaft explained that he tries to make each year’s celebration a little different and is thinking of doing a carnival next year.