💬 מְגִלַּת הַפּאָװִדלָא | Megilat Povidl (Shir haMa’alot l’David) — a Purim Sheni scroll for the 10th of Adar liberation of David Brandeis (Powidlpurim) in 1731

The megillah for Plum-Jam Purim or Powidlpurim, a family Purim celebrated by the Brandeis family of Bumsla, Bohemia (Czech: Mladá Boleslav; German: Jungbunzlau) on 10 Adar to commemorate David Brandeis’ liberation from prison on trumped-up charges of poisoning. First published along with a German translation and some genealogical notes in Magazin für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums, vol. 15, 1888. According to Chef/Rabbi Gil Marks z”l, the celebration of Plum-Jam Purim was the origin of prune hamantaschen as a concept — prior to 1731 all hamantaschen had a poppy seed filling!

Categories:

Extracanonical Megillot, Purim Sheni Readings

Tags:

18th century C.E., 55th century A.M., Bohemian Jewry, German translation, liberation, salvation, Slavery & Captivity

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Moritz Grünwald (translation) and David Brandeis

💬 מְגִלַּת וָשִׁעְתּוֹן | Megillat Washiŋton — a Purim Sheni scroll for 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day by Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (1790, 2018)

In many Jewish communities around the world, there have been traditional scrolls read for “local Purims,” celebrating redemptions for a specific community. Here in America, we don’t really have an equivalent to that. But we do have Thanksgiving, a day heavily inspired by Biblical traditions of celebration, and one long associated with all that is good about America. Some Jewish communities have a tradition on Thanksgiving of reading Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, where he vows to support freedom of religion, famously writing that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” – thus rephrasing words originally written in a prior letter by Moses Seixas (say-shas), the sexton of the Touro Synagogue in Newport. This text includes the original English of both Moses Seixas’ letter to Washington and Washington’s return, as well as a somewhat simplified version of the story of Washington’s visit to Newport. Inspired largely by the style of the Book of Esther, it could be read on Thanksgiving morning during the service, using Esther melodies (or going on detours as per personal choice).

Categories:

Extracanonical Megillot, 🇺🇸 George Washington's Birthday Readings, Modern Miscellany, 🇺🇸 Thanksgiving Day Readings, Purim Sheni Readings

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., American Jewry of the United States, George Washington, Newport, Revolutionary War, Spanish-Portuguese, State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Western Sefaradim

Contributor(s):

Isaac Gantwerk Mayer