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Community Corner

Local Synagoge Celebrates Purim with Annual Carnival [PHOTOS]

The Purim Carnival at Fort Lee's Gesher Shalom.

hosted its annual Purim Carnival for people of all ages and all regligions, who were treated to games, crafts, raffles and a bouncy slide.

Purim is a celebratory holiday for Jews. It marks their deliverance from the evil Haman and is included in the biblical book of Esther. Congregants are encouraged to dress up in costumes and enjoy delicious treats, and there is an all-round festive feel to the holiday.

Last week, Gesher Shalom celebrated Purim with the reading of the Scroll of Esther, known in Hebrew as the Megillat Esther, which relates the basic story of Purim.

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Under the rule of King Ahashuerus, Haman, the king's prime minister, plots to exterminate all of the Jews of Persia, but Queen Esther and her cousin, Mordechai, who ultimately save the Jews of the land from destruction, foil his plan.

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