Ancient Masks, Groggers On Virtual Display

The Purim of our ancestors? Maybe not.

 

Mask from Solomon's Pillars.

Ancient Masks, Rattles In Online Exhibition
Israel Antiquities Authority display includes various masks portraying humans and animals, oldest of which is from Stone Age and dates to c. 6500 BCE
Ynet

In honor of the Purim holiday, the Israel Antiquities Authority is presenting a new virtual exhibition on its website of masks and rattles that were discovered in archaeological excavations around the country. Appearing in the exhibition are various masks that portray humans and animals, the oldest of which is from the Stone Age and dates to c. 6500 BCE.

A mask may change a person’s identity, his age and gender, social status and everyday appearance. Many ceremonial masks were used for ritual purposes such as rainmaking, curing disease and exorcising spirits and demons. Oftentimes such masks were in the image of deities or demons.

The use of rattles during the reading of the scroll is a symbolic expression of the extermination of the Amalekites, the first people whom the Israelites fought when they were wandering in the desert (Exodus 17:8-13). According to tradition, Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites.

Clay rattles that contain small stones or other materials for making noise were found in archaeological excavations in the country. The rattles occur in a variety of shapes, some are adorned with a painted or engraved decoration, but all of them produce the same noise that is characteristic of a rattle. Most of the rattles were found in a cultic context or inside tombs and therefore there are those who believe that they were primarily used for ritual purposes. The frequency with which rattles occur in excavations throughout the country is explained by the fact that they are small objects that were relatively easy to manufacture and were used by the general population. There is the assertion that the clay rattle was an important musical instrument in the religious practices of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah during the First Temple period. 

Any thoughts on what that clay rattle might have been named? Is it mentioned in the Book of Psalms?

The IAA also notes that the modern custom of dressing in costumes on Purim is most likely of European non-Jewish origin:

Dressing up at Purim is not explicitly mentioned in the sources; the assumption is that the custom of dressing up at Purim was also influenced by the traditions of the peoples of Europe, who used to hold masquerade balls in the spring, the period when the holiday of Purim falls.

The custom of dressing up at Purim is very old (dating from the 13th century CE) and was practiced by all of the Jewish communities.

Entire Virtual Exhibit.

Comments

[levi]

Purim Torah:

ורבים מעמי הארץ מתיהדים כי נפל פחד היהודים עליהם

"And many of the people of the land became Jewish, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them."

What did they fear? If the Jews were only killing those who rose up against them, then they had but to hold their peace. Why did they convert?

The answer is that there is a subtext to the story. This story is about ironic role reversal: the language parallels which bear this out are many, but the most disturbing one is "להשמיד להרוג ולאבד... טף ונשים"; "to destroy, murder and crush... women and children" Surely the murder of defenseless children is a crime, why did the Jews pursue such a path. One need look no further than Rabbinic Writing to find justifications for this sort of action: perceived threat. The masses who were to rise up against the Jews were motivated by the same factors that motivated the Jews in their retribution. The lesson that Purim teaches us is that indeed, there is no difference between Mordechai and Haman. In the words of Rabbi Steve Segar:

"[Purim] is the day on which we confront ourselves with the fact that we are sometimes limited by the roles we play. If we are challenged to see the artificiality of the distinctions we create, we might be better able to see and bear witness to the underlying unity of all creation. Perhaps it is for that reason that Purim alone, of all our holidays, is the only holiday the Talmud claims will be celebrated in a post-messianic world."

Rabbi Segar:

http://jrf.org/showdt&rid=252&pid=107

Similar torah in Hebrew from R' Avraham Zelkin:

http://www.vbm-torah.org/vtc/0055590.html

[Chayim]

The Israeli secularists are hardly the ones to look up to on our authentic Jewish history.We laugh at their interpetations. As I drive around on Purim in Brooklyn and see the large Chareidi families happily celebrating Purim, I see our future full of optimism. The reform and conservative are closing shop soon as well as the secular in Israel and soon will lie dormant on museum shelves. Only the chareidi will march on through history and into the future till the end of times. Join them or go lost forever. CHAREDI POWER NUMBER ONE.

[Shlomo]

Did anyone notice that in those does it seems to be permitted to convert simply to save your own life (and this was looked at as a good thing)

[HaNavon]

chayim,

actually you're incorrect. 25-30
5 of the chareidim go off the derech, and don't become conservative, they go totally off...there are more chareidim in prisons in the tristate area than non religious jews, and i see daily scandals involving roshei yeshiva and other chareidim. and keep in mind, the chareidim can't continue if they never got jobs! they keep taking money from governments and never get an education or a job!
the future of judaism lies not with the chareidim, but with the left wing modern orthodox, which is actually growing, actually getting jobs, actually supporting families and not stealing money

[Yoel Mechanic]

If Chareidim are to be the future, I look forward to Chareidi Doctors, Engineers, Architects, Nurses, and Construction workers, skilled machinists, and graphic designers, marketers and economic planners. Will the Chareidim educate their children to be the captains of industry as well as the do-ers? The laborers as well as the factory technicians? Or is the idea that the secularists will see the light, become Chareidi and those Universities will suddenly be Chareidi? If so, will we all be one happy family? Will *all* Chareidi go to all these schools or will a two-tier social structure be set up? Make you pick and tell us.

[Dr. Moe]

Chayim has a point many Reform and conservative temples have only older senior citizens (and many are expiring) who come for shabat services unless there is a Bat or Bar Mitzvah (Which maybe the last time they ever come to temple). Some Temples are even closing down shop, even Rabbi Eric Yoffi the leader of the reform movement addressed this problem

If anyone is looking for Haredi Doctor. Just go to New York Maimonides Hospital, Mt Sinai Hospital or Cedar Sinai Hospital in LA and some Hospitals in Miami, your next brain surgeon maybe Hardei.

[HaNavon]

dr. moe

while there are occasionally charedi doctors and other professionals, most orthodox professionals are modern orthodox, and most chareidim don't go to college at all, and the few who do go to college almost never go to college for anything other than a specific degree which is needed to have a profession. there is a culture of purposeful ignorance amongst the chareidim, and in a recent poll, 60% of chareidim questioned would not even go to college if it didn't cost anything at all!
you can't deny that this is a fact intensive scenario. the facts are that most chareidim cannot support a large family because they don't have careers, they continue to have more children and cannot support them, so many of them take money from the government, while their wives work and they pull in a very small income. don't you find it interesting that the kollel movement became popular at a time when the united states was in the longest running bull market in us history? it's not because they figured out that hashem will support you if you want to learn, and no one else in history thought of that before, no, the reason is because during that time the government increased social programs! your whole example of this 'thriving' area of judaism is built upon a house of cards! it's not sustainable at all!

and theres something i for get to write before in response to chayim...
what makes you think that the chareidi view of judaism and jewish history is authentic?! there's nothing at all authentic about it! like when the gemara quotes something that dovid hamelech said, but the language they use is talmudic hebrew and not ancient hebrew....
there's alot you have to learn. if you're actually interested, contact shmarya and he will put us in touch with one another and i will teach you.

[Bill]

There are virtually zero, or exactly zero, Haredi-from-birth medical doctor on this planet.

I'm not sure what Dr. Moe is talking about.

[Chayim]

Bill
I have seen chareidi doctors with long beards and peyos. But how many baseball players,football players,garabage men,boxers,firemen,and a host of other needed personal are from left wing modern orthodox background. Why is it a Jew has to be only a doctor or lawyer. Who will do all the other needed services. Who says being a lying lawyer is more important than a garabage man. I can list many fields that you dont see any modern orthodox individuals in and yet charedi youth are involved in. I see tons of young working chareidim doing very well financially in fields that modern orthodox would not touch . There are quite a few chareidim in the sewer cleaning business which is very lucrative.And you laugh at them and say that it is dirty work.Being a doctor and touching blood,feeces,urine,and other such material is more dirt and disgusting than a sewer cleaner who uses thick gloves with machines that do the work. A sewer cleaner,plumber,make more money than most doctors. Chareidim are doing very very well and I see how they enjoy life to the fullest. CHAREIDI POWER NUMBER ONE.JOIN THEM NOW OR MISS OUT ON THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE.

[Dr. Moe]

What does LEFT Wing Modern Orthodox mean? most Mordern Orthodox are usually right wing IE not giving away land to the Muslims, Anti Abortion, Anti Gay in the Synoguge etc..

[HaNavon]

chayim and dr moe.

first, chareidim do not live life to the fullest, they very often do not enjoy life at all, they are not doing very well at all! all i see is a bunch of people on a sinking ship where everyone has to take food stamps, section 8, they have to swindle the government for money to pay for their many children that their rabbis told them to have and said "hashem will provide". there are scandals every other day, and arrests more times than i would be able to count on my fingers, the same fingers that i have to check after shaking hands with these people for fear that they stole them!!!! and this is why people like me have to give money to organizations like 'footsteps' that help chareidim get an education when they go off the derech so that they don't wind up prostitutes and drug dealers!

dr moe.,
first of all, it is not true that most modern orthodox are anti abortion at all! i personally am not anti abortion, and think that if it's an early abortion theres really no problem with it. there's actually alot to say about abortion, but in short, theres a difference between late abortions and early abortions, abortions of jewish women and abortions of non jews, and even abortions of mamzerim and suffeik mamzerim (which the yaavitz says you can do) and about anti gay in the synagogue, i dont know what most modern orthodox bleieve, but i think that many, many modern orthodox people would not care very much about a rabbi who happens to be a homosexual, as long as it's not being flaunted up in everyones faces...the problem with most gay people is that theyre not just gay people...theyre gay activists. what would everyone say if i went around flaunting my heterosexuality in their faces? it would be gross...it's the exact same thing. i dont care what someone is, as long as i dont have to know about it.
but when we talk about left wing modern orthodox, it doesnt mean left wing in the traditional sense at all, it means left wing when it comes to hashkafa, that we believe halachas can change when the metzius changes...we believe that gadolim dont know everything in the world, we beleive that chazal didnt know bout science, we believe in evolution, and that the world is not 5770 years old, etc.

[Chayim]

Hanavon,
You cannot change the Torah. No modern orthodox rabbi can change the day of shabbos to tuesday. No modern orthodox rabbi can say homosexuality is ok or that if the rabbi is gay its ok just as they would not tolerate a modern orthodox rabbi driving to young israel shul. You know its absolutly untrue that Judaism allows homosexuality or beastiality or incest or sex with dead bodies. Be truthful my friend.You cant make outlandish statements. If you said modern orthodox allow wearing blue shirts and denom pants I see it. If you said modern orthodoxy makes a mishabeirach for the medinah ok. But to say that a modern orthodox congregation would hire a gay rabbi is far fetched. CHAREIDI POWER NUMBER ONE ,JOIN THEM BECAUSE U CAN NEVER BEAT THEM.