St. Purim's Day

 So by a quirk of the calendar, two festive holidays happen this year at the same time: Purim and St. Patrick's Day. Alas, I won't be celebrating either of them, but am happy for those who are.

I grew up on LI with many close friends of Irish extraction -- including my brother in law Dennis. For years I thought that corned beef and cabbage was an old tradition brought from the old sod, and then my first time in Dublin at a pub I ordered it. The pubkeeper looked at me as if I had two heads.

Turns out, corned beef and cabbage is not Irish at all, but an American creation. The Irish immigrants feasted on mutton, which was hard to find in turn of the century America. Their neighbors, the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants, ate a lot of corned beef, which was a cheap cut of beef made delicious by brining. So the Irish borrowed the Jewish meat, and mixed it with their beloved cabbage, and it became a major tradition. I love that history.

Purim was something we'd celebrate when the Ds were little -- their Hebrew schools would always have them dress up, and tell the tale of the amazing Queen Esther, who used her feminine wiles to save her people from the evil King Hamann. 

When we attended Chabad services, Rabbi Yossi explained that Purim was a holiday where it was assumed we would all get drunk -- drunk enough that we'd confuse the evil Hamann with the heroic Mordecai. I rather liked that tradition, and as the Book of Esther, also called the Megillah, was read, I was "L'chaim Boy," continually filling up shot glasses and toasting. My sister Trudy even made me a L'chaim Boy shirt, which I wore the following year.

Alas -- this year we're skipping out, though I do plan to stop for breakfast this am at LOL after my workout, and bring home some hamentashen, the triangle shaped pastries meant to symbolize evil Haman's tri cornered hat. So at least some of the spirit will be in the house, though our carb averse D2 and Jonathan will likely avoid the sweets. Wifey and I will carry on.

My most memorable St. Paddy's Day was years ago in NYC. I was there on business, and stayed at the Plaza. I finished my meeting early, and wandered onto 5th Avenue to watch the parade. I was truly stunned at home many police and firemen there were in NY -- thousands of them, ruddy faced in the cold drizzle, marching down the avenue.

I popped into a pub on a side street, which was a "Firemen's Pub," and recalled from my childhood how my friend Michael Monahan's Dad Bobby, a NYC firemen, explained to us that though both cops and firemen served the people, there was a tremendous rivalry between the two groups. At his local watering hole in Wantage, the Pin Up Bar ( initials spelled PUB) there were two sections -- one for the cops, and the other for the firemen, and rarely did the twain meet.

Michael's mother was Italian, and a great cook, and so I never turned down an invitation to "eat over." Often we'd have to go to the Pin Up to fetch Mike's Dad for dinner, and this was a place where I began my introduction to political incorrectness.

We'd stroll up to Mr. M, and he'd great us with a hearty "Hey guys -- youse know my son Mike. This is his Jew friend Dave." Everyone would laugh, and many would ask "So Dave -- is your Dad a lawyer or broker or something?" Nah, I'd answer, just a salesman. Everyone would laugh.

I wasn't offended at all -- it was just identity. We all referred to ourselves that way -- Mark the Swede (Swedish Dad, Italian Mom), and Gerry the Mick, and tall John. John was Irish Catholic, too, but his height was more remarkable than his ethnicity.

To this day I don't get people's being offended by this sort of thing -- but I guess I'm just a dinosaur.

So I plan to enjoy the holiday spirit. I'm sure there'll be lots of wearing of the green. I still recall D2 coming home from grade school one year -- we forgot and allowed her to wear orange -- and her teacher Mrs. Cochran pinched her, playfully -- and I think D2 learned to fear the Leprechauns on St. Paddy's Day.

So by now, the revelers at shul ought to be finishing up the reading of the Megillah (hence the great phrase "the WHOLE megillah" when referring to something either told or given in great completeness and detail. And the St. Paddy's celebrants will begin their drinking later today.

May the positive vibes continue.