Radical Purimshpiln and Re-Reading the Megillah

The Purim story has been interpreted as both a story of liberation and self-defense, or revenge and genocide. In the days after Purim, amid escalating devastation in Gaza and collective grief, we will discuss what we want to take with us from this story of joy and violence. Join us to talk about traditional and irreverent purim plays, gender and empire, re-translating the Megillah, and the importance of interrogating the stories we tell and the way we tell them.

Come learn with Raphael Magarik, assistant professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago; rosza daniel lang/levitsky, Aftselakhis Spectacle Committee; Elana-June Margolis, Doppelbanger: A Queer anti-Zionist Purim Spectacle; and your host, Jewish Currents contributing editor and Doppelbanger cast-member Ari Brostoff.

This event is open to anyone and free with registration. We invite you to check out our new membership initiative, for those hungry for community, learning, and conversation. Whether you’re a long-time subscriber or a new reader, we hope you’ll join us as a Jewish Currents member today!

Please note: Registrants will receive a Zoom call-in link 24 hours in advance of the event, and 1 hour in advance of the event. If you have not yet received yours—don’t worry!

This live event and its recording will have automated closed captioning. For accommodation requests or questions about accessibility, please reach out to events@jewishcurrents.org.

Raphael Magarik is an assistant professor of English at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a contributing writer at Jewish Currents.

rosza daniel lang/levitsky is a cultural worker, agitator, and organizer based at brooklyn’s Glitter House. rosza is a purimshpil-maker for over 20 years, mostly with The Aftselakhis Spectacle Committee, currently finding a political home with Survived & Punished NY and in Yiddish and Jewish worlds as a theater-maker, singer, dancer, writer, and general kultur-tuer, as part of Yidishistn Mit Palestine, CYCO, Rooted In This World, and the informal yidishland covid response crew.

Elana-June Margolis (she/they/we) is a white, queer, femme, Ashkenazi, anti-Zionist Jewish mystic. She is an ordained Kohenet (Jewish Priestexxx), teacher, writer, and artist with a particular devotion to opening a yearly Purim portal. Her life’s work is dedicated to liberating ancestral texts and technologies in service of personal healing towards collective liberation.

Ari Brostoff is a contributing editor at Jewish Currents, a member of Writers Against the War on Gaza, and author of Missing Time (n+1 Books 2022).