Ben Porat Yosef fifth grade students and parents enjoyed a moving megillah program, prepared by the students and presented at Congregation Ahavath Torah, under the guidance of BPY teacher, Rav Haim Hadad. During the evening, students read the megillah (as they had learned at school), were able to bond even more deeply as a grade, and immersed themselves in the joyous Purim spirit before the chag. Students delivered meaningful Divrei Torah, took turns reading the Megillah in alternating Sephardic and Ashkenazic ta’amim and heard from Rabbi Chaim Poupko, rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Torah, and Rabbi Zucker, BPY head of school.

In his address to students and their parents, Rabbi Zucker explained how Haman complained to King Achashverosh about the Jews by criticizing their disjointed nature, and their dispersal all over the world. He explained that the evening’s megillah program demonstrated that the Jewish people are essentially one and unified, as both boys and girls, both Sephardim and Ashkenazim, (and, joked Rabbi Zucker, both Teaneck and Englewood residents), came together to read the megillah; and that the true strength of the Jewish people will always be our commitment to come together in avodat Hashem. Students sang and danced after the reading and prayed arvit together before moving on to the home of Jodi and Shaul Cohen for a pizza dinner.