Purim event at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill celebrates all kinds of superheroes

"Super Rabbi" Jerry David leads the Purim parade at Temple Emanuel in Cherry Hill. The holiday honors brave souls who saved Jews from a Persian bad guy in the fifth century B.C.E. (MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Staff Photographer)

During the Purim talent show at Temple Emanuel, Melissa Meltzer, 11, performs an Adele song.

GALLERY: During the Purim talent show at Temple…

By Andrew Seidman, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: February 26, 2013

It's not every day that members of Temple Emanuel get to see their rabbi dressed as a Major League Baseball player or their cantor as Mr. Incredible from the movie The Incredibles.

Yet that's what happened Sunday as the Cherry Hill synagogue hosted a superhero-theme talent show to celebrate Purim, the Jewish holiday that observes the bravery of the people who saved the Jews in the fifth century B.C.E. from Haman, the vindictive prime minister of Persia.

Children performed dance routines, put on a puppet show featuring Kermit the Frog, and sang a Taylor Swift song. Between acts, cantor Neil Schnitzer told the Old Testament story of Queen Esther of Persia and of Mordechai, who defied Haman's orders to bow down to him. Doing so would have violated the Jewish pledge to bow before only God.

Thereafter, Haman hatched a plot to kill the Jewish people. Instead, he was hanged after Esther revealed a secret to King Ahasuerus: She was Jewish.

Ever since, synagogues around the world have celebrated the courage of Esther and Mordechai through song, dance, carnivals, and the like, said Scott Borsky, a cantor who teaches Hebrew to sixth graders at Temple Emanuel.

"Anything to bring happiness and joy," he said.

Whenever Schnitzer mentioned Haman, the 100 or so congregants stomped their feet, booed, and shook containers of pasta. The intent was to "drown out" his name, Borsky said. (The pasta was to be donated to local food pantries.)

Hannah Scott, 11, and her best friend, Rachel Hart, 10, performed country music star Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" because they had dated the same boy, they said.

"We like to perform together because we're like sisters," Hannah said.

Her mother, Ruth Scott, 47, also sang. "The kids love it," she said. "I've got to say, some of the adults like it, too."

Schnitzer, in a red costume with black cape as Mr. Incredible, counted himself among them. Taking off his mask, he said part of the holiday's message was, "You don't have to be a superhero to be a superhero."

Contact Andrew Seidman

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