5785 is the year that we bring back JFREJ’s dazzling topsy-turvy radical Purimspiel — and we need your help! We’re renting the legendary Judson Memorial Church, creating jaw-dropping costumes and outrageously extravagant spectacle objects, feeding and compensating our brilliant artists, schlepping an ungodly amount of stuff, and so much more fabulousness. Can you chip in today to help build the catalytic catharsis carnival that our community craves?
JFREJ Purim is BACK with Project ̶E̶s̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Vashti
5785 is the year that we bring back JFREJ’s dazzling topsy-turvy radical Purimspiel. Save the date (March 13) and chip in to help make it happen!
We need to raise $15,000 to make this festival an iconic anti-authoritarian reality. Whether you can toss in $5 or serve up $5,000, every penny brings us closer to the Purimspiel of our wildest dreams!
Save the date for the event itself: Thursday, March 13th. Tickets go on sale February 20th!
There will be events & purimshpiln for revelers of all ages, and masking will be required as this is a large, indoor event. More info to come!
About this year's spiel
Purim is a Portal. Purim is a Prayer. Purim is a Prophetic Promise to infuse Joy into Despair. Purim is WICKED. Purim is Gauche. Purim is SEXXXY. Purim is a Roast. Purim is Resistance. Purim is a DRAG. Purim is an invitation to squirt jelly in a genitalial hat worn by an evocative hag. Purim is a commandment: Cast Tyranny Aside! Purim is a mask revealing the power of people who bravely refuse to hide. Purim bends binaries, swiftly snapping them to shards. Purim is a weaver: threaded together in her web, together, we go HARD. Purim is a project: this year, we name her Project E̶s̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Vashti! Purim is a proclamation, announcing: Sheeeeeee’ssss Backkkkkkkk! Hinenu! We cast the Portal Wide!
Why Project ̶E̶s̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ Vashti?
Together, we are taking on & taking down Project Esther, a document generated by the Heritage Foundation (booooo) which weaponizes Jewish trauma against the movement for a Free Palestine and the Left in general. We reclaim Esther's name and elevate the sanctity of her predecessor, Vashti — the Queen who boldly said NO, and was not rewarded.
Click here to learn about the history of JFREJ Purim and the sublime and transcendent work of Jenny Romaine, the Aftselakhis Spectacle Committee, Adrienne Cooper z”l, and all our collaborators from over the years.
This year’s crew is an irresistible mix of vivacious veterans and fresh faces, all coming together to honor this legacy and stepping up to face authoritarianism with courage and glitter. JFREJ is proud to welcome Elana-June Margolis to Priestexxx this year’s Purim Portal!
More about Elana-June:
Elana-June Margolis (she/they/we) AKA Kohenet Chalav u Dvash ba Tehomo (Priestexxx of Milk & Honey in the Gay Void) is a white, queer, femme, Ashkenazi, anti-Zionist Jewish mystic, teacher, artist & community organizer who currently makes home on unceded Northern Pomo land (colonially known as Ukiah, CA) at the Mariposa Institute. Elana-June’s life’s work is dedicated to liberating ancestral texts, technologies & tales in service of personal healing towards collective liberation. Initiator of 13 years of legendary queer Purim spiels (including last year’s Doppelbanger), Elana-June is thrilled to offer her Purim practice & prayer for the grand re-opening of the JFREJ Purim Portal.