Hundreds of people from the Santa Clarita Valley and beyond celebrated the Jewish holiday Purim on Sunday at Congregation Beth Shalom’s Purim Carnival on its local campus.
The holiday commemorates the 13th and 14th days of the Hebrew month of Adar when the Jewish people in the 5th century to early 4th century B.C.E. defended themselves against Haman, an official in the Achaemenid Empire, as told in the Book of Esther. According to Rabbi Jay Siegel, Purim celebrations feature costumes, games, crafts and other fun activities.
“During this holiday, we give gifts, we celebrate together, and we support those who are in need,” Siegel said in an interview during the event. “The final thing is we read the Megillah — or the Book of Esther. But we do this all with joy. This is part of it — coming together for a festivity with food and drinks, and we enjoy each other’s company.”
Siegel added that the event draws people from different temples throughout the SCV, but also people from outside of the valley. The carnival, he said, is one of the most popular events of the year.
Jonathan Krauss, president of the temple’s board of trustees, who was dressed as Woody from the movie “Toy Story,” said the carnival routinely attracts around 300 visitors annually.
“It truly is the best way for us to come together as a community and celebrate and be joyful and be with each other,” he said. “Kids, families, seniors — everyone’s having a great time.”
Andrew Veis, the temple’s vice president of communications, who was donning a Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball jersey, said he grew up in the community and fondly remembered going to the carnival. Some of the games he played then were there again at Sunday’s carnival. However, there were certainly some additions.
One of those additions was an inflatable Velcro wall. Riley Willens, 11, from Newhall, tried on a Velcro suit and, with the help of others, was stuck upside down on that wall. She hung there for almost a full minute. Afterward, she said that while she was a bit scared, she had “so much fun.” Next time she’d see if she could be placed higher up. She liked the thrill of it.
Guests could also get face paint and colored hair.
McLaren Stern, 7, came up from Los Angeles to spend time with her grandparents at the carnival. Stern was getting rainbows painted on her face. But next up for her and her family would be the mini petting zoo with its ducks, guinea pigs, a turtle and a goat.
Over there was Michelle Gist and her 1-year-old Liam Gist, spending some time with the goat. Gist came to the carnival from North Hollywood with her husband and their two kids. She met her sister there, Allison Radosevich from the Antelope Valley. Both women grew up in the Santa Clarita Valley and went to Congregation Beth Shalom.
Gist and Radosevich talked about how the event has changed over the years. While there were still some of the traditional games like tic-tac-toe, the carnival on Sunday offered a number of bounce houses, a video game truck and the feature they seemed to enjoy the most, the petting zoo.
“We were going to temple here since I was 5,” Radosevich said. “And we come to this (the carnival) every year. And now the grandbabies get to go.”
