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Purim parties in NYC: Here’s where to celebrate this joyous Jewish holiday
(New York Jewish Week) – The festive Jewish holiday of Purim begins this year on the evening of Monday, March 6. A marker of Jewish pride and survival, the day celebrates the triumph of Queen Esther, who saved the Jewish people of Shushan in Persia from Haman by advocating for them to her husband, King Achashverosh.
In honor of the day, Jewish communities around the world will read the megillah, or Scroll of Esther; eat triangle-shaped hamantaschen cookies or sticky debla, make noise with graggers, give mishloach manot (care packages) to friends and family, perform satiric “spiels” and dress up in costumes for synagogue and parties.
Keep reading for the New York Jewish Week’s round-up of how to have the best holiday possible, including dancing, hearing a megillah reading, heading to a comedy show or engaging in a deep dive of the history of the holiday. Our list includes virtual and free events as well as in-person parties.
Flamingggtaschen: A Queer Jewish Purim Party
Join “Flaminggg,” a Queer Jewish nightlife experience, for their second-ever Purim party at 3 Dollar Bill in East Williamsburg (270 Meserole St.) on Saturday, March 4. The event, which runs from 9 p.m. on Saturday to 4 a.m. on Sunday, is aimed towards queer Jews and will include a Purim spiel, drag performances, DJs and dancing. Tickets from $30. More information here.
Family Purim Concert
For young families, get in the spirit of Purim at 92NY’s Family Purim Concert hosted by Rebecca Schoffer, the 92NY’s director of Jewish family engagement. Schoffer will be joined by a live band for a musical retelling of the Purim story on Sunday, March 5 at 10 a.m. Afterwards, schmooze and nosh on hamantaschen. Tickets from $36. More information here.
Mordechai the Villain: The Shocking Story Behind Drinking on Purim
Join our partner site My Jewish Learning and Rabbi Ayalon Eliach to talk about why drinking on Purim has become part of the tradition of the holiday. “This class will offer an accessible behind-the-scenes tour of the origins of the custom to drink alcohol on Purim,” according to the listing. “It will challenge assumptions about good and evil, what Purim is all about, and what it means to be Jewish.” The free lecture will take place on Zoom at 12:00 p.m. on March 6. Register here.
The History of the Purim Spiel with Motl Didner and The Workers Circle
The Purim spiel, which retells the Purim story and can be performed as a comedy, political commentary or act of celebration (or all three!) is a major part of the holiday’s festivities. Join The Workers Circle on Monday, March 6 at 1:00 p.m. to learn about the history of the Purim spiel as “the earliest form of Yiddish theater.” The Yiddish and English Zoom event is free and will feature “videos, photographs, and artistic representations from the Renaissance through the present day,” according to their website. Register here.
Purim on Park with The Altneu
Join the new-ish Altneu congregation in support of United Hatzalah at this banquet, concert and megillah reading. The party, which will take place at 583 Park Avenue, includes performances by singer Shulem Lemmer and rapper Nissim Black and feature food by Mark David Catering. Mincha (afternoon prayers) begins at 5:30 p.m., with a megillah reading at 6:30 p.m. on March 6. Tickets are complimentary for Altneu members and start at $180 for non-members. Find more information here.
Purim Around the World with Kehillat Ashreynu
Join Kehillat Ashreynu in Astoria, Queens for “a polyglot Purim story.” Co-sponsored by the Jewish Languages Project, the event will feature portions of the megillah read in Spanish, Russian, Ladino and more — as well as a celebration of languages, art, history and music of Jewish communities around the world. A happy hour at Madame Marie’s (35-15 Broadway) will begin at 6 p.m. preceding the free megillah reading — also available livestreamed — at 7 p.m. Afterwards, stay for a party at Grove 34 (31-83 34th St). Party tickets from $18. RSVP is required. Find more information here.
Purim 7: From the Crown Down with Lab/Shul
Lab/Shul, the experimental, “God-optional” and artist-driven congregation, hosts a Purim party this year at Bushwick’s House of Yes (2 Wycoff Ave.). Described as “a Prophetic, Phantasmagorical, Post-Patriarchal, Purim Performance Party,” the evening begins at 6:30 p.m. on March 6 with a ritual theater experience and performance that will retell the Purim story through ancient and modern myths. A dance party will follow at 10 p.m. Tickets from $55. Find more information here.
The Vashti Ball with JQY
The costume contest at JQY’s Vashti Ball in 2022. (Santiago Felipe)
After selling out last year, Jewish Queer Youth is bringing back The Vashti Ball this year at HK Hall (605 West 48th St.) which can accommodate up to 1000 attendees. Starting at 6:30 p.m. on March 6, the event is open to all ages and will include a “Drag Queen Story Hour” for the megillah reading, a kosher Persian feast, drag performances, disco dancing, a full bar for 21+ and a costume contest with the opportunity to win tickets to “Six: The Musical.” Megillah reading is free; tickets for the party start at $18. Find more information here.
A Purim Comedy Show at 92NY
For those who just want to laugh, popular Jewish comedians Matthew Broussard, Pamela Rae Schuller and Elon Altman will join emcee Michelle Slonim for a stand-up comedy show at 92NY on Monday, March 6 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $36 and the venue has a cash bar. Get tickets here.
Megillah and Party at Temple Emanu-El
On March 6 at 7:30 p.m, Temple Emanu-El will host a megillah reading and Purim party including a live performance from The Maccabeats, a hamantaschen bar with The Nosher’s Shannon Sarna and a DJ set by Ann Streichman. The Purim story will be read from what Emanu-El claims is “the Guiness World record for the longest Megillah.” The megillah reading can be livestreamed for free. Tickets for the party, including food and cocktails, start at $45. Find more information here.
Nightlife events with J-Vibe
Maybe you just want to use the holiday as an excuse to hit the club. That’s your prerogative! Luckily, J-Vibe has got your back. Throughout the week, the Jewish nightlife events company is hosting and co-hosting Purim parties at clubs in the city, from “Purim in a Dream” at Blue Midtown (220 West 44th St.) on Saturday night to “Purim in Color” at Nebula (135 West 41st St.) on Thursday, March 9. Tickets generally start at $18. Check out the options here.
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The post Purim parties in NYC: Here’s where to celebrate this joyous Jewish holiday appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Mistrial Declared in Case of Students Charged After Stanford Anti-Israel Protests
FILE PHOTO: A student attends an event at a protest encampment in support of Palestinians at Stanford University during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Stanford, California U.S., April 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
A judge declared a mistrial on Friday in a case of five current and former Stanford University students related to the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests when demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the school president’s office.
Twelve protesters were initially charged last year with felony vandalism, according to prosecutors who said at least one suspect entered the building by breaking a window. Police arrested 13 people on June 5, 2024, in relation to the incident and the university said the building underwent “extensive” damage.
The case was tried in Santa Clara County Superior Court against five defendants charged with felony vandalism and felony conspiracy to trespass. The rest previously accepted plea deals or diversion programs.
The jury was deadlocked. It voted nine to three to convict on the felony charge of vandalism and eight to four to convict on the felony charge to trespass. Jurors failed to reach a verdict after deliberations.
The charges were among the most serious against participants in the 2024 pro-Palestinian protest movement on US colleges in which demonstrators demanded an end to Israel’s war in Gaza and Washington’s support for its ally along with a divestment of funds by their universities from companies supporting Israel.
Prosecutors in the case said the defendants engaged in unlawful property destruction.
“This case is about a group of people who destroyed someone else’s property and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage. That is against the law,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement, adding he sought a new trial.
Anthony Brass, a lawyer for one of the protesters, told the New York Times his side was not defending lawlessness but “the concept of transparency and ethical investment.”
“This is a win for these young people of conscience and a win for free speech,” Brass said, adding “humanitarian activism has no place in a criminal courtroom.”
Protesters had renamed the building “Dr. Adnan’s Office” after Adnan Al-Bursh, a Palestinian doctor who died in an Israeli prison after months of detention.
Over 3,000 were arrested during the 2024 US pro-Palestinian protest movement, according to media tallies. Some students faced suspension, expulsion and degree revocation.
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Exclusive: FM Gideon Sa’ar to Represent Israel at 1st Board of Peace Meeting in Washington on Thursday
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar speaks next to High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas, and EU commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica as they hold a press conference on the day of an EU-Israel Association Council with European Union foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yves Herman
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar will represent the country at the inaugural meeting of the Gaza Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday, i24NEWS learned on Saturday.
The arrangement was agreed upon following a request from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will not be able to attend.
Netanyahu pushed his Washington visit forward by a week, meeting with US President Donald Trump this week to discuss the Iran situation.
A U.N. Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorized the Board of Peace and countries working with it to establish an international stabilization force in Gaza and build on the ceasefire agreed in October under a Trump plan.
Under Trump’s Gaza plan, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to tackle global conflicts.
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Two Men Jailed in UK for Islamic State-Inspired Plot to Kill Hundreds of Jews
Weapons seized from the home of Walid Saadaoui, 38, who along with Amar Hussein, 52, has been found guilty at Preston Crown Court of plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired gun rampage against the Jewish community, in Britain, in this handout picture obtained by Reuters on December 23, 2025. They are due to be sentenced on Friday. Photo: Greater Manchester Police/Handout via REUTERS
Two men were jailed on Friday for plotting to kill hundreds in an Islamic State-inspired attack on the Jewish community in England, a plan prosecutors said could have been deadlier than December’s mass shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, were both convicted after a trial at Preston Crown Court, which began a week after an unrelated deadly attack on a synagogue in the city of Manchester, in northwest England.
Prosecutors said the pair were Islamist extremists who wanted to use automatic firearms to kill as many Jews as they could in an attack in Manchester.
They were found guilty little more than a week after a mass shooting at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in which 15 people were killed.
Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu said on Friday that, had Saadaoui and Hussein carried out their plan, it “could have been very much more serious” than the attacks in Australia and Manchester.
Judge Mark Wall sentenced Saadaoui to a minimum term of 37 years and Hussein to a minimum term of 26 years, saying: “You were very close to being ready to carry out this plan.”
Hussein refused to attend his sentencing, having refused to attend most of his trial, which Wall said reflected Hussein’s cowardice, describing him as “brave enough to plan to threaten an unarmed group with an AK-47 but not sufficiently courageous to face up to what he did.”
POTENTIALLY ONE OF DEADLIEST ATTACKS ON UK SOIL
Saadaoui had arranged for two assault rifles, an automatic pistol and almost 200 rounds of ammunition to be smuggled into Britain through the port of Dover when he was arrested in May 2024, Sandhu told jurors at the trial.
He added that Saadaoui planned to obtain two more rifles and another pistol, and to collect at least 900 rounds of ammunition.
“This would likely have been one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever carried out on British soil,” Wall said.
Unbeknown to Saadaoui, however, a man known as “Farouk,” from whom he was trying to get the weapons, was an undercover operative who helped foil the plot.
Walid Saadaoui’s brother Bilel Saadaoui, 37, was found guilty of failing to disclose information about acts of terrorism. He was sentenced to six years in jail.