What's the Connection Between Macy’s and the Israeli City Holon?

Shalom Yeladim:

Here’s the answer: Macy’s holds an annual Thanksgiving Day Parade with people from all over the United States coming to see it, and every year Holon holds its Purim Adloyada Parade, with Israelis from north to south attending. Both of these parades are unbelievable pageants with huge floats, bands, dance troupes, balloons and more. Now, I don’t know what goes on behind the scenes of the Macy’s parade, but I do know that Holon has a special puppet center with a school that teaches how to make puppets. Even better, it has a two-year course in carnival art which trains people on how to build giant puppets like this Jungle Boy float. It is gigantic puppet floats like this that make Holon’s Adloyada parade so special.

The parade is about to begin. I’ve got to fly. I want to buzz around and meet the puppet makers. A giant Zvuvi float sounds good to me for next year’s parade.

Hey…you never know.

Purim Sameach…Zvuvi

What do Haman and the Pyramids Have in Common?

Shalom Yeladim:
The answer is really neat. Right we all eat Hamantashen on Purim? In Israel we call them Oznei Haman (which means “Haman’s ears”) and they go on sale in the makolet – local supermarket – around a month before Purim. Every year bakers all over the country try to outdo themselves by coming up with new ideas. This year one baker came up with such an unusual idea that it was covered on the news. Are you ready for this? Pyramid shaped Oznei Haman! He said he was inspired by the current events going on in our part of the world and he wanted to show the Egyptians that he agreed with their push for democracy. So instead of cutting his dough into triangles he cut it into rectangles. He filled each rectangle with a traditional poppy seed mix, lifted its the corners and pinched them into the shape of a pyramid. Pretty cool, and much closer to the real meaning of Hamentashen – which is German for “pockets of poppy seeds”.
Hey – I wonder if pyramid costumes will be a hit this Purim as well. You never know! I’ll keep you posted.
Zvuvi