Purim started Saturday night with a party at the Rabbi’s home. The Megillah was read by Rabbi and then everyone sat down for some yummy hamantaschen baked by the Rebbetzin. A couple of visitors from Sydney also joined us.

Purim day we had a nice turnout at the shul for our program fromnoon to 3.00pm. People were having so much fun that it ran overtime and ended closer to 4.00pm.

The program started with hamantaschen baking. Supervised by the Rebbetzin, participants made hamantaschen with fillings of chocolate, marshmallow, peanut butter, jam and sometimes a collection of all four together! The hamantaschen were placed in the oven to bake and then everyone gathered in the shul to listen to the Megillah. Of course Rabbi had to tell a few corny Purim jokes prior to the reading like: “What is the difference between a telephone and Haman”. Answer: “Nothing. When we are finished with both of them we hang them up!”

After the megillah reading we had a collection of short Purim films shown on a big screen in a makeshift cinema on the stage. Special thanks to David Benveniste, for putting it all together. At this point, we should mention that David won first place again for best costume dressed as Ezio from the video game Assassin’s Creed.

By the time the Movie was done, Klee along with some helpers had set up a lovely Israeli lunch of pita, falafel, salad, and tabouli. Dessert was a potpourri of all the fresh hamantaschen out of the oven.

Then came the long awaited Juggling show by the great Benjini, who did some impressive juggling, a couple of magic tricks with plenty of jokes. If you were there, you’d have seen him perform the fastest juggling trick in the world, make a balloon worm, do card tricks, and turn an empty container into a tray of hamantashen!

The day continued with a Purim Seudah at the Rabbi’s home along with a second megillah reading that day for those who had missed the first one, or enjoyed it so much they wanted to hear it again, followed by lots of Rebbetzin’s delicious food, l’chaims and stories.

Thank you to all of you who participated in the great Mitzva of Matanot L’evyonim, giving charity to the poor on Purim. This Purim from the Adelaide Community we gave US$180 to Yad Eliezer (www.yadeliezer.org) and US$61 to Leket Israel (www.leket.org.il) Both organizations do tremendous work in bringing food to those who need it in Israel. The organizations are all well recognized and run mostly by volunteers. Check the links for more information.

Thank you all who participated and made our Purim.

The film ‘Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,’ is a 2006 comedy starring the Jewish actor Sacha Baron Cohen. The plot: Kazakh television personality Borat Sagdiyev leaves Kazakhstan for the “Greatest Country in the World”, the “U, S and A” to make a documentary at the behest of the Kazakh Ministry of Information. He leaves behind his wife Oksana and other inhabitants of his village including his “43-year-old” mother, bringing along his producer Azamat Bagatov and a pet chicken. The film pokes a lot of fun at a country that most foreigners know little to nothing about.

It is rare to meet someone who has travelled to Kazakhstan, but last week Rabbi Ben met a young Australian who had just cycled through Kazakhstan. Naturally he asked the cyclist, ‘Did you meet Borat’s family?’ The cyclist replied, ‘Whatever you do, never mention Borat in Kazakhstan. The people there are not happy about this movie that has portrayed their country as a joke!’
It’s interesting to note, that the villages that Baron Cohen visits in depicting how backwards Kazakhstan is, were not even in Kazakhstan, they were filmed in Romania.

Sacha Baron Cohen may not be welcomed in Kazakhstan but Jews have a history there.

General Secretary Joseph Stalin forcibly moved thousands of Jews from other parts of the Soviet Union to the Kazakh SSR, and during the Holocaust 8,000 Jews fled to Kazakhstan.

A Chabad-Lubavitch synagogue in Almaty is named after Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, father of the Rebbe, who is buried at the city’s cemetery, close to the synagogue. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson was exiled to Kazakhstan from Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk, where he was a chief rabbi. Lubavitcher Jews from all over the world come to pray at his grave.

It seems like Jews historically ended up in Kazakhstan not entirely by choice though today there are estimated 3,300 Jews living there.

Between 2005 and 2006 attendance in religious services and education in Almaty among Jews greatly increased. The Kazakh government registered eight foreign rabbis and “Jewish missionaries” (most likely Chabad!) and has also donated buildings and land for the building of new synagogues.Across the country, there are fourteen Jewish day schools attended by more than 700 students and there is a Jewish kindergarten in Almaty. 

We find it inspiring to learn about Jewish communities and hope you do too. Who knows, maybe some Rabbi in Almaty met a cyclist from Adelaide and this week is writing about the Jewish community of Adelaide!

(I apologies to my frum readers about this post)

As you may know, the Adelaide Fringe festival is in full swing. There are hundreds of performers and shows to choose from . It truly is a remarkable and fun festival that brings a lot of business and life to Adelaide.

For those who know me, I have a background in circus, magic, and ventriloquism which I practiced throughout my high school years. I did many shows within Jewish communities around the world. Purim, Lag B’omer, Sukkot, and Chanukah you could probably find me juggling some fire torches somewhere entertaining a Jewish crowd.

On my first trip around Europe when I was seventeen years old, I traveled with a magic and juggling kit performing wherever I could.

I’ve often said that, If I were not a Rabbi I’d probably have become a performer traveling the world to places like the Adelaide Fringe festival and doing, some sort of comedy, juggling, magic, martial art performance.

I therefore have a lot of appreciation for the hundreds of performers who have worked hard and put together their  acts now showing in Adelaide. There are so many shows going on that it was hard for me to choose which ones to see. I like comedians but not the ones who use loads of foul language and talk about trash. Danny Bhoy who Rachel and I went to see last year, is my favorite comedian. If he swears in his show, it’s maybe only once or twice, and his comedy is clean.

Last night I went to see a Canadian comedian who did a 60 minute show. He was alright. I liked his presentation. He used foul language moderately, and most of his content was ‘kosher.’ On my way out of the venue I was surprised to see  several police officers, along with half dozen people holding sighs promoting salvation. The picketers were shouting things along the line, of, ‘Jesus loves you,’ ‘you can be saved,’ and ‘damnation will come.’ Along were also plenty of media personal with their big cameras waiting to see what would happen. It was almost as interesting as the show I had just seen except this one was free!

I guess I’ve not been keeping up with the Adelaide news (as not much really happens here) but anyway, a Melbourne comic; Josh Ladgrov, was doingt a show titled: ‘Come Heckle Christ.’ Ladgrove with his long brown hair and trimmed beard looks remarkably like what the West has decided Jesus looked like. He was doing a show, where dressesd as Jesus, he lets people ask him questions.

Not surprisingly this show has created lots of controversy. Some say it should be fine as a form of freedome of speech, while others claim it is poor taste to allow such a show as part of the Adelaide Fringe festival.

The reviews on the show seem to say that it is mostly in good taste and that there is no real negative portrayal, and besides it is the crowd that determines what is asked.

On the flip side, almost every performer at the fringe is jealous  of Ladgrove, because all his shows are sold out….No duh…thanks to all the publicity the people trying to remove the show gave him, everyone now wants to see it. The fringe guide has some 900 shows listed in it, and aside from a few fringe academics most people would not have even known the show to have existed, including myself.

I am happy though that no Christians decided to burn down any buildings or lynch people because of this and that the demonstrations have all been peaceful with mostly people holding picketing signs and or candles.

Though this does give me an idea…Maybe I can do a show next year, ‘Come Heckle Mosses!’

The Adelaide Fringe has grown from its inception in 1960 to now being the largest arts festival in the Southern Hemisphere. It runs for 24 days and night from Usually mid February to mid March. There are often over 900 events attracting more than 4,000 performers from around Australia and the world. It’s no wonder South Australia calls itself the ‘Festival State!’

This year I enjoyed looking through the program seeing what shows were on, and deciding which to see with the family. With my background in Juggling and magic, I like the street performers/buskers more than the organized shows. Last year we spent a few days watching the street performers.

This year I was trying to find if there were any Jewish Performers. There is one show ‘Bekitzur,’ which is a 25 minute dance. A collaboration of contemporary dancers from Luxembourg, Israel and Australia accompanied by live music from members of local Adelaide band ‘Swimming’. ‘Bekitzur,’ in Hebrew means ‘in short,’ which it is short for a show. However, they sold out all six shows and have had fantastic reviews. The girl behind it, Liat Kedem is from Adelaide and has spent the last year in Israel studying contemporary dance. Their last show was last night.

A Jewish comedian Sandy Gutman is here doing a bunch of shows. He will do a ONE-NIGHT-ONLY SPECIAL JEWISH ‘AUSTEN TAYSHUS’ SHOW as ‘AUSTEN TAYSHUS’ for JEWISH fans on SUNDAY 2^ND MARCH AT 8PM. In the Wakefield Room QUALITY HOTEL – OLD ADELAIDE160 O’CONNELL STREET, NORTH ADELAIDE. Cost $43.   Adult show. 1 hour. Book and pay DIRECTLY TO THE HOTEL on 8267 5066 for this show.

Sandy is a vegetarian intellectual who grew up in an orthodox Jewish home in Sydney, the son of a Hasidic Holocaust survivor. At 14 he won the Australian Bible competition and competed at the finals in Israel, placing in the top 5. He later spent a few months studying at a Jerusalem yeshiva and went back to Israel to volunteer during the Yom Kippur War.

His Jewish show is a philosophical take on being Jewish, living in the diaspora in a gentile world, on Jewish pride, on maintaining a secure Israel and the Holocaust and its effect on his generation. The Jewish show toured Israel in 2010.

There are a number of other Jewish performers at the Fringe though not necessarily associated with any type of Jewish show like Jonathon Nosan, a contortionist who is in a cabaret.

Anyway, if anyone knows of any Jews either performing or have come to Adelaide to experience the Fringe, please send them our way so we can invite them for a meal.