{"id":54993,"date":"2018-02-21T17:52:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-21T16:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/le-pourim-shpil-2\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:51:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T13:51:19","slug":"le-pourim-shpil-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iemj.org\/en\/le-pourim-shpil-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Purim Shpil"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Purim Shpil – etymologically “Purim play” in Yiddish – is a satirical performance that blends theater, music, dance, songs, mimes and disguises.
The origin of this custom is intimately related to the carnival festival of Purim and the story of Queen Esther and her uncle Mordekhay who managed to thwart the plot of the evil Haman, Minister of the Persian king Ahasuerus, who wanted to annihilate the Jewish people.<\/p>\n

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The origin of the events told in the scroll of Esther, the last book of the Hebrew Bible to have been canonized, dates back to approximately the fifth century BCE. From the fifth century AD, it is already customary to perform solemn processions in which an effigy of Haman is hanged or burned. Some see in this custom the origin of the Purim performances on the basis of which Yiddish theater was to develop in the eighteenth century.<\/p>\n

In his speech, delivered during the presentation of the Purim Shpil Unesco project at the Paris City Hall on December 12, 2013, Jean Baumgarten<\/strong> emphasized the special spirit of this festival:
“[…] this time of excess, of rebellion, rhythmed by dances, songs, punctuated by food, binge and drinking. No society escapes this alternation of the sacred and the profane, this sway between, on the one hand, outrage, sacrilege, disorder and, on the other, respect for the law, social norms and prohibitions.
In Jewish society, the time of the feast corresponds to Purim […]. This rejoicing celebrates the rescue of the Jews by Mordekhay and Esther who thwarted the plot of the wicked Haman, minister of Ahasuerus, the king of Persia who wanted to annihilate the Jewish people. The Megillat Esther tells this diabolical plot and its happy ending. […] The day is also punctuated by a series of festive moments. One drinks until, says the Talmud, one cannot distinguish between “cursed is Haman” and “blessed be Mordekhay. ” We laugh. We sing. We Dance. The study is suspended. We exchange gifts, we offer cakes. Charity is practiced, especially by giving to the poor. We eat, especially during a festive meal. We disguise. As it is the only day of the Hebrew calendar during which he is allowed to change sex, men borrow the clothes of their mothers, sisters and wives. […] <\/em>Among these transgressive rituals is the Purim Shpil<\/em><\/strong>. It is a monologue, a skit, a play in Yiddish in the domestic space during the Purim meal or in a community room. […]
The Purim Shpil tradition has developed in Europe since the late Middle Ages to the present day, testimony to its central role in Ashkenazi culture. We find the first testimony in Yiddish language in Italy in 1555. Which does not mean that the Purim Shpil did not exist before. […]
These burlesque plays, linked to the feast of Purim, a mixture of singing, mime, pantomime and dance become the matrix of Jewish theater. The Yiddish language, because of its inventiveness, its creativity, its long literary tradition, its rich repertoire of poems and songs, played a major role in the formation of the Purim plays. […]<\/em><\/p>\n

A few Purim Shpiln…<\/h3>\n

Di Megile fun Itsik Manger<\/strong>
The Meguila of Itsik Manger<\/em> is certainly the best-known story linked to Esther\u2019s scroll. In 1936, Itsik Manger<\/strong> published his Megile-lider<\/em> (Chants on the Roll of Esther), about thirty imagined and poeticized small scenes, telling the story of Purim, but including humorous aspects, funny, and even provocative \"p_4951_vig.jpg\"that we find in a Purim Shpil. In his introduction, Itsik Manger writes: “[…] Of course, this story is told here a little differently. The official narrators of the Roll have, for example, passed over a character as important as the boy tailor Couturosso, although his desperate love for Queen Esther and his attempt to assassinate King Ahasuerus have been at the origin of many important events. […] – In any case, they falsified the historical truth! will protest our reader, and he will be right. But they, the chroniclers, have been eating dandelions for a long time by the roots, buttocks turned towards the stars. And you may shout, they will not be disturbed before the coming of the Messiah. “<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s almost 30 years later that these Megile-lider<\/em> will become a real Purim Shpil with disguised actors, who play and sing in front of an amazed audience. Directed by Shmuel Bunim<\/strong>, on music by Dov Seltzer<\/strong>, this creation which took place in 1965 in a theater of old Yaffo will be followed by a tour in the United States. Subsequently, the play will be performed by several different troupes in Strasbourg, Dresden, Tel Aviv, Montreal, New York, in Yiddish, Hebrew, Yiddish and Hebrew, or Yiddish and French …<\/p>\n