Purim Breakfast Seudah
A fun four-course retelling of the Purim story with symbolic food, Improv and Divrei Torah
What is this, exactly?
This is my solution to the challenge of how to create a meaningful and fun Friday morning seudah in the middle of a world-wide pandemic. Last year, we had an amazing seudah with family and friends. I created a taster’s menu with each course alluding to a different aspect of Purim. Guests and family, amidst the laughter, drinking and talking, tried to guess what Torah idea was alluded to in each course. Some courses were more successful than others, but all in all it was a lot of fun. That was seudah before the global pandemic. This year we needed a new plan.
The challenge: to create a fun seudah, with meaningful Torah, that can be enjoyed with just the family, and can be prepared easily on Friday morning, and finished before chatzot (midday) .
The solution: PURIM BREAKFAST SUEDAH: THE PURIM STORY IN FOUR SHORT COURSES.
The way it works is that each course is one simple dish that I feel expresses in some way a pivotal point in the Megillah. Each dish comes with an explanation and some background, and leads into an improv prompt. The goal is to open up the ideas in the megillah in a new way, and to make it personal. I’m sharing it the way I’m preparing it for my family, and will be serving it with wine on the side. The hopes is for it to be a source of inspiration for anyone that can use it. I would love to hear about any unique spin you put on it. Please feel free to comment below.
Sending warm wishes to everyone for a wonderful, meaningful, joyous Purim.
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First Course: Breakfast Bowls in Fancy Cups
The Scene: Achashverosh's Grand Gala
How to prepare:
Make the breakfast bowl in fancy goblets, or fancy plastic goblets, by layering a bit of yogurt on the bottom, some granola on top of the yogurt, and then add cut fresh fruit, like apples, blueberries, and strawberries. Sprinkle with nuts or seeds or coconut flakes if you like. Serve this course with bread, because the bread makes the seudah.
I plan to buy the bread, but if you are baking challah for Shabbat and want to add a meaningful pun to this course, you can bake one challah in the shape of a key, use that to say Hamotzi on, and introduce the idea of Purim/Kipurim (key-purim), that Purim is similar in some ways to Yom Kippur, because it includes teshuva, but from a different angle.
The Background:
It’s 400 B.C.E., and Achashverosh, a stable boy who has become the ruler of the Persian Empire, has conquered most of the known world from the Babylonians. It’s a dream come true for him, but it comes with the challenge of trying to maintain control over 127 provinces. His solution is a party, not just any party, but a party to solidify his power. A party where the representatives from every province were invited to be wined and dined.
The food and drink at the party followed one rule: each guest was allowed to have whatever food or drink they desired. Achashverosh wanted everyone to feel comfortable and happy, for the express purpose of making sure that they continued to be loyal to him and do exactly what he wanted. He therefore served Kosher food to the Jews, and used the vessels of the Beit HaMikdash as serving pieces.
His feast calls to mind the book I’m reading with my daughter, The Mysterious Benedict Society. In that book, the rules of the school sound like this: “You can eat whatever and wherever you want, so long as it’s during meal hours in the cafeteria. You’re allowed to keep the lights on in your rooms as late as you wish until ten o’clock each night. And you can go wherever you want . . . so long as you keep to the paths and the yellow-tiled corridors.” So was Achashverosh’s feast. “You can eat and drink whatever you like, so long as I retain control of your most precious items, and you do it under my auspices, in my palace.”
This is the symbolism of the breakfast bowl. It consists of a lot of different ingredients, which are only unified because they are together in the same bowl, just like all the different parties at Achashverosh’s palace. There was no real understanding and connection between the different parties at Achashverosh’s feast.
The Improv:
You are Vashti at Achashverosh’s feast. And there is definitely no real understanding and connection between you and your husband. After all, you are the proud daughter of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and your father was killed as the Persians came to power. Achashverosh loves you and everything you stand for because he wants to own it all. You know that when your husband demands that you appear in your crown at his party he is using you to prop up the kingdom that killed your father and usurped your heritage.
Some think your name, Vashti, and the description of the party you threw, a mishteh, hint to your love of shtiah, strong drink. Perhaps you are as much of a drunkard as your husband. Or, perhaps you drink to drown your sorrows.
When the order from Achashverosh comes, you refuse. Is your refusal the whim of a party girl in a drunken state? Are you embarrassed for some reason to appear before the crowd? Is this the spontaneous desperate act of a woman in pain? Or, is this cold revenge, the moment you’ve been waiting for, when you can finally publicly humiliate the man you abhor? Who are you, and what are you thinking, as you refuse to do your husband’s bidding?
Second Course: Green Eggs, No Ham
The Scene:
Esther in
Achashverosh's Palace
How to prepare:
I plan to try out this recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/baked-green-eggs. (But I have not tried it yet.) Another simpler option would be to sauté onions and frozen spinach, with some salt, garlic powder and basil, and then, without removing the spinach mixture from the pan, scramble some eggs into the spinach.
The Background:
Esther was my inspiration for these eggs, because the Gemara tells us that Esther was greenish. Green eggs immediately make me think, “I do not like them here or there, I do not like them anywhere!” It’s an expression of pure resistance to the circumstances. It reminds me of Esther, because her circumstances were so challenging, but the truth was, Esther did not react that way to her circumstances at all, even though she surely must have felt those feelings.
Esther was an orphan. Her father died before she was born and her mother died in childbirth. Like all the Jews of her time, she lived in exile from the land she loved. After she was taken by Achashverosh, she lived in exile even from her exiled people. She is the prophetess of the galut. Her name, Esther, means “I will hide.” It describes Hashem’s relationship with us in galut.
However, Esther also has another name, Hadassah, connected to the hadas plant, which is green. It may be true that Esther was an olive-toned beauty, but Rebbetzin Heller explains that her green-ness is also reference to her tzniut. Green is in the middle of the color spectrum. It serves as a bridge between the hot and cold colors on either side. It symbolizes the ability to have enough sense of self to be able to see the other. Achashverosh’s ego declared, “I am and I will impose what I want on you.” Haman’s ego declared, “I am, but I cannot let you exist as well.” Esther’s ego, however, allowed her to say, “I am strong enough to make room to hear who you are.”
Esther’s strength is her tzniut, her ability to see the hidden beauty and kedusha in the people around her and the circumstances of her life. Her ability to look deeply into her circumstances, to find whatever beauty she could in them, is what gave her the ability not just to survive, but to thrive. But at no point was it easy. Although Esther is the heroine of the story, she is never released from her golden cage.
The Improv:
You are Esther, and you have agreed to risk your life by appearing before the King uninvited. You have spent the last few years mostly in solitude, strengthening your spiritual relationship with Hashem, and staying away from palace intrigue. Now, the Gemara says, you clothe yourself in Ruach Hakodesh, and head off toward Achashverosh’s palace. But as you reach the idols at the entrance, your Ruach Hakodesh suddenly departs. The words of Tehillim 22:2 fly from your lips: “My G-d, My G-d, why have You abandoned me?” What do you say to yourself after that? What are you thinking about? Are you doubting whether you are worthy of this miracle? Do you have a plan? Have you strategized about the various characters and weaknesses of Haman and Achashverosh, and used them to your advantage? Or do you have no idea what you are going to face, and are just trusting in Hashem to send inspiration? What keeps you taking step after step, closer and closer to Achashverosh?
Third Course:
Hot Waffles with Ice Cream
The Scene: The Clash Between Haman And Mordechai
How to prepare:
You could make delicious fresh waffles and top them with ice cream if you have time. And you can heat up frozen waffles if you don’t.
The Background:
This dish is cold against hot, Haman against Mordechai. The Shem Mishmuel tells us that when Haman sent out his decree to kill the Jews, he sent out two sets of letters. The first letter was addressed only to the military heads of the provinces. In it he detailed his instructions to destroy the Jews. The second letter, sent out publicly, was more of a save-the-date. It gave no real information on what was really going to happen. Did Haman guess that the news would eventually leak out? Yes, probably. But he wanted it to leak out slowly, in bits and pieces, not as one big shock. If the news comes out slowly it’s “cold” and it doesn’t move us. We can ignore it if one minister seems a little anti-Semitic, if there are vague rumors of a plot afoot. No need to disturb our daily routine for that.
This is the spiritual superpower of Amalek, “asher karcha baderek” (Devarim 25:18) who happened upon us, with a language of coldness. It’s a coldness to any spiritual meaning behind the events of our lives. We can see it’s mark in the Jews who enjoyed Achashverosh’s feast while eating out of the vessels torn from the ravaged Bet HaMikdash.
Mordechai, however, knew what Haman had done. Somehow, he was privy to the secret plot. But he also knew the spiritual danger behind it. He was adamant that what was needed in the situation was to light a fire. Weakening Amalek requires raw emotion. So Mordechai goes into the center of the city and makes a scene, dressed in sack-cloth.
This is in harmony with Mordechai’s general derech. He was from the tribe of Binyamin, who never bowed down to Eisav. Mordechai refused to bow down to Haman. However, his was a lone voice. The Sages of his time disagreed with him, and made a point of telling him so, on a daily basis. They accused him of needlessly endangering his people. Even Esther tries at first to get Mordechai to stop making a scene.
The Improv:
You are Mordechai, standing in sackcloth, just outside the palace gate, telling anyone who will listen about a secret plot to kill the Jews. You are trying to send shock waves. You are trying to create a spiritual upheaval, to shock your people out of coldness. At the same time you are communicating with Esther, and asking her to put her life in danger.
How are you so sure? Are you as confident as you sound, even in the face of disagreement from other Sages? How do you know you are giving Esther the right advice? How do you know you won’t be responsible for her death?
Final Course: Color Contrast Dessert
The Scene: The Final Battle For Jewish Survival
How to prepare:
You can pick any dessert with contrasting colors. If it’s easily available near you, a black and white cookie is a great option. Another option is to layer strawberries and whip cream in a tall glass. There are instructions on how to make a layered sugary contrasting color drink at this link: https://www.instructables.com/Layered-Soft-Drinks/ .
The Background:
Seven chapters into the ten-chapter Megillah, Haman is hanged from the gallows he built for Mordechai. So why does the Megillah continue for another three chapters? Shouldn’t that be the end of the story? Actually, no. Because while Haman may be gone, his decree of annihilation against the Jews remains. Even though Achashverosh seems happy to reward Mordechai with all sorts of wealth and power, when it comes to annulling the decree against the Jews, he claims his hands are tied. In chapter eight of the Megillah we find Mordechai and Esther in what seems like an impossible situation. Somehow, they will have to figure out a way to save the Jews, without getting rid of the original decree.
The only way out is to wage a propaganda war. Mordechai has to send another decree from the office of Achashverosh, announcing that the Jews are now allowed not only to defend themselves, but to kill their enemies, and to take the spoils. The message behind the bloodthirsty missive is that the king is on the side of the Jews. Mordechai also throws a parade in his own honor. Another message to the public: the Jews are now in the King’s favor. These messages are going out to all the mid-level bureaucrats. Why? Because what Mordechai knows is that it is the silence or speech of these diplomats that will determine everything. If the midlevel bureaucrats simply stand aside, the Jews would be killed, if they speak out, we had a chance.
One of the strong messages that Mordechai sends to Esther in the middle of the Megillah is that sometimes silence is an action as loud as words. When Mordechai urges Esther not to be silent, to instead ask Achashverosh to save the Jews, the words he uses echo the language in Bamidbar (30:15) that discusses a husband’s ability to annul a vow he hears his wife make which he knows she can’t keep. If he remains silent, he is held liable if she breaks her vow. Mordechai’s message to Esther is that she, too, we will be held accountable if she chooses to be silent.
In galut, we live in a culture that is not our own, in contrast to our surroundings. . To live in silence in that culture is to be swallowed alive by it. It’s not enough just to exist. We have to actively profess what we believe. We have to speak up about what we stand for. Hashem did not allow the story of Purim to end with the miraculous hanging of Haman. The Megillah ends when the entire Jewish people stand up for what they believe in and fight for it.
The Improv:
You are a Jew in Shushan on the first Purim in history. Will you go out and fight? You aren’t sure you’ll win. What choice do you have? Are you happy about it? Are you scared? Upset? Does this feel like a miracle, and the start of a holiday? Or does it seem like a war you wish you didn’t have to fight?
If you are interested in exploring further any of the ideas in this piece, this is a list of the sources I used:
- A Literary Analysis of the Book of Esther, Based on Midrashic Comments and Psychological Profiling, by Rabbi Ari Kahn
2. Why Did Mordechai Refuse to Bow Down to Haman? by Rabbi Chaim Jachter
3. A Distant Mirror, Exploring the Lives of Women in Tanach, by Rebbetzin Tziporah Heller
4. The Queen You Thought You Knew, Unmasking Esther’s Hidden Story, by Rabbi David Fohrman
5. The Shem MiShmuel on Purim, שנת תרע”א
Simply brilliant
You obviously invested much thought, time and work on this, and IMO it all paid off amazingly
Yasher koach & Purim sameach!
Thank you so much, Purim Sameach!
A great and creative idea for the Seuda but also some nice thought provoking question points. Thank you. I hope to incorporate your ideas into our Seuda. Have a חג פורים שמח
I’m so happy to hear that! Hope you have a wonderful seudah!
His is just absolutely fantastic ty!!!!!
Thank you so much!
Wow, I’m blown away by your creativity.
I read the whole thing through, even though I probably won’t get to do it.
The ideas are very interesting!
Yasher Ko’ach 🙂
Thank you so much!
It was really nice. All of the food looks so yummy!
Thank you so much! I hope you get to taste some of them!! Chag sameach!
Happy Purim!