East Meadow Jewish Center rings in Purim

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Congregants of the East Meadow Jewish Center paraded around the Prospect Avenue synagogue dressed as Dalmatians, famous athletes and pop culture icons.

The congregation hosted a special service on Feb. 28 to celebrate Purim. Starting that Wednesday at sunset until the following time on March 1, Jewish communities across the globe observed the festive holiday.

Purim commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from a threatened genocide during fourth-century B.C.E. When a Jewish man named Mordechai refused to bow to the king of Persia, the king’s advisor Haman called for the massacre of the Jewish people. The king was looking for a new queen at the time and choose a woman named Esther, who went on to save the Jewish people from the massacre.

Now, the holiday is celebrated by dressing in costume, reading the Book of Esther, or Megillah, and holding a feast.

The East Meadow Jewish Center held a costume parade and contest, awarding prizes to the best dressed, including Howie Bank, his wife Stacy and their nine-month old twin sons Samuel and Jack, all of whom dressed as Dalmatians.

Prizes were also given to Sky Schoenbereger, 4, who dressed as Mordechai, Adison Hurwitz, 7, who dressed as an I-Phone, Matthew Feldman-Bates, 8, who dressed as the video-game character Mario, Seth Mawner, 10, who dressed as Kilo Ren from Star Wars, and Ilana Goldner, 16, who dressed as a Passover Seder table.