Overview

In Megilat Esther 9:1 (which we read on Purim), it says: “…When the king’s command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened [v’nahafoch hu], and the Jews got their enemies in their power.” This idea of ונהפוך הוא / V’nahafoch hu is a major theme of Purim.
Purim is a toppsy turvy time when we lean into opposites, change, swapping, and general upside-down-ness. Inspired by this theme of swapping and updside-down-ness, this program off ers community members a time to swap some Torah and swap their wardrobes! In the style of collaborative poetry, participants will explore and respond to Torah on the themes of V’nahafoch hu and Purim in general. Following this Torah exchange–with the themes of swapping in mind–participants will be invited to participate in a clothing/costume swap to refresh their wardrobes or perhaps find a fun new Purim costume!

NOTE: The word “Torah” in this program is used to refer to all Jewish texts and the personal commentaries/refl ections/responses we have on the original texts.

Materials

Printed document of V’nahafoch hu/Purim Torah (Feel free to print more than one copy of this document, it’s okay if multiple people respond to the same piece of Torah as everyone will have their own interpretation.)

• Extra paper
• Tape or stapler (to attach any extra paper to the original sheet of Torah)
• Pens/Pencils
• A large paper bag or basket
• Optional: Speaker with calming wordless music playing
• Optional: Signs to categorize clothing for the swap (Ex. “Shirts,” “Pants,” Etc…)

Tips: Apply for the Jewish Learning Grant to help print the V’nahafoch hu/Purim Torah doc or buy pens/tape/etc…

Program Outline: 60min

• Welcome/Framing (10min)
• Torah Swap (30min)
• Clothing Swap (20min)

Program Details:

Beginning – Welcome/Framing (10min)

• Welcome everyone! Do a go-around of names and pronouns.
• SAY: Purim is a toppsy turvy time when we lean into opposites, change, swapping, and general upside-down-ness. This idea comes from Megilat Esther 9:1 which we read on Purim. It says: “…When the king’s command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened [v’nahafoch hu], and the Jews got their enemies in their power.” Tonight/today we will explore Torah on the topic of ונהפוך הוא / V’nahafoch hu in the style of
• collaborative poetry. Following our collaborative Torah exchange–with the themes of swapping in mind–we will then swap our clothing to change up our wardrobes or fi nd a fun new Purim costume!

Middle – Torah Swap (30min)

SAY: In a moment we will each pick one piece of Torah at random from this bag/basket. I’ll set a timer for 5 minutes and in that time you will read the piece of Torah and write a short response to what you read. It could be a few sentences, a poem, a few bullet points, a smattering of random words, the world is your oyster. Just make sure to leave room for two other people to respond below your prompt. At the end of the 5min, you will fold back the part of the paper with the Torah so that only your response and the blank space on the page are facing you. After that, you will put your paper back in the bag/basket and we will begin this process again.

Round 1 – (5min)

• Invite participants to pick one piece of Torah from the bag/basket at random.
• Give participants 5 minutes to read and respond to the Torah.
• Tell participants to write their responses directly below the piece of Torah on the page.
• Next, they will fold back the part of the paper on which the Torah is located.
• Then they will place the piece of paper back in the bag. 2
• Finally, each person will pick a new piece of paper (if you pick your own, pick a new one).
• SAY: Now we will do the same process again but this time we will respond to the response that was just written!

Round 2 – (5min)

• Give participants 5 minutes to read and respond to the response written on the page (don’t look at the original Torah text, only read and respond to the previous written response).
• Tell participants to write their responses directly below the first response on the page.
• Next, they will fold back the part of the paper on which the first response is located.
• Then they will place the piece of paper back in the bag.
• Finally, each person will pick a new piece of paper (if you pick your own, pick a new one).
• SAY: Now we will do the same process again and again we will respond to the response that was just written!

Round 3 – (5min)

• Give participants 5 minutes to read and respond to the response written on the page (don’t look at the original Torah text, or the fi rst response only read and respond to the previously written response).
• Tell participants to write their responses directly below the second response on the page.
• Next, they will fold back the part of the paper on which the second response is located.
• Then they will place the piece of paper back in the bag.
• Finally, each person will pick a new piece of paper (if you pick your own, pick a new one).

Round 4 – (10min)

• SAY: Now we will take the papers we have chosen and read aloud everything that is on the page (from the Torah through the third and final response).

Group Reflection- (5min)

• If time, invite the group to refl ect and discuss that experience and what they just heard.

Discussion Questions

• What themes/patterns/similarities did you notice across the diff erent responses written?
• What was your experience responding to a piece of Torah?
• What was your experience responding to another person’s response?
• How did it feel to collaborate in the learning/creation of Torah?
• How do you want to take the learnings from this experience and bring it into Purim/the rest of the month of Adar?
• How do you relate to the concept of ונהפוך הוא / V’nahafoch hu (opposites/swapping/switching)?

End Clothing Swap – (20min)

• SAY: With the themes of ונהפוך הוא / V’nahafoch hu (opposites/swapping/switching) fresh in our minds we are going to bring some change to our wardrobes with a clothing swap.
• Invite everyone to place their clothing in whatever spot you have designated for the swap and begin swapping!!