3/26/2005

Vignettes From a Long Purim Weekend

Overheard Purim night: "Hey, what happened to the rubber chicken in my back pocket?”

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During the reading of the Megillah: “Balailah hahu, nadda shnat hamelech…” ("That night, the King’s sleep was disturbed"), chanted to the tune of Brahms's Lullaby

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Half the people on the bus at 10:00 Purim morning: “I have such a headache!”

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Mournful after hitting the liquor table: “You know the problem with really good scotch? Bad scotch, you drink it and it burns on the way down, so you drink a few shots and you’re done. Good scotch, it goes down so smoothly that you feel like you can just keep drinking it. So I did.”

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“United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama…” (Performance of the Animaniacs' song "Countries of the World," by a student of the rabbi's. Done flawlessly, no doubt because he did it before the drinking started…)

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Political Science major during the walk to synagogue: “We should start a Henry Kissenger fan club on campus.”

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Sung very loudly in the middle of hundreds of people breaking their fast Thursday night: “A-a-a-mazing gra-a-a-ce, how swee-e-e-t the so-o-ound…”

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[Long and heated discussion at lunch on which was less healthy, smoking marijuana or excessive drinking. No conclusion.]

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Delivered in the "movie preview narrator" voice: “From the bestselling author of Genesis (‘A gripping read’) and Exodus (‘It changes you’) comes a book unlike any seen before—Leviticus!”

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A student doing a quick d'var Torah (not exactly a sermon, but close) on the seemingly redundant prohibition against eating or drinking blood:
“…And so, just like you consider blood to be disgusting, so too you should consider all sins to be just as disgusting…”
I like blood.”
“Well, there goes that d’var Torah.”

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Overheard as a dozen guys tried to find seats on one sofa:
“Oh yeah, why don’t you go throw balls at little kids and say that they enjoy it…”
“But he was smiling!”

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For some reason, I can't remember much else that went on. Must be a short-term memory thing. Oddly enough, I do have a number of Scottish-sounding names running through my head…

I hope everyone had a good and safe Purim, and a good weekend.

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