Purim Brightened by Camp Sarah’s Colorful Children’s Celebration in Gihon Hebrew Synagogue

By: Netzach Ekwunife

The importance of Jewish events such as festivals, Shabbat, Jewish camping, and other significant celebrations cannot be overemphasized. These events play a crucial role in fostering a strong social network that cultivates a sense of Jewish identity among individuals of all ages. Camp Sarah, in line with their commitment to outstanding performance carefully organized a wide range of engaging activities for the children from different Jewish communities in Abuja, Nigeria. These activities provided the children with valuable opportunities to gain firsthand knowledge about the holiday. The Camp Sarah Purim activities held at Gihon Hebrew Synagogue Abuja, Nigeria, showcased the children’s creativity as they engaged in the long-standing Purim traditions. They cheerfully crafted paper cards, adorned with bright colors, to fashion their own crowns, masks, and elegant costumes, bringing a delightful touch to the festivities. The costumes attracted the keen attention of many adults who attended the Purim service, as they were observed with admiration. This could only inspire one to imagine what importance the costumes hold to the Purim celebration.

Brightly painted Purim-related paper artwork adorned the wall of the synagogue’s social hall. The children painted characters such as King Ahasuerus, Queen Esther, Mordecai, and Haman. Following this, the children took their seats in the hall, joyfully entertaining those present with Jewish songs. They took turns singing and chanting, while the others responded in unison.

It was exciting to have a chat by the side with Debbie Isser, who is the director of Camp Sarah, during the Purim celebration, as I was eager to hear right out of the horse mouth what was in store for the children going forward. She started by giving a brief history of the Purim celebration.

The Purim holiday is in celebration of an event that took place more than 2000 years ago in Persia during the exile of the Jews. We read the Megillah (scroll) of Esther, which is the written story of Queen Esther. The book of Esther is a historical writeup which does not contain the name of G-d in all its chapters. We continue to celebrate Purim for various reasons, one of which is to commemorate our own salvation. We celebrate the bravery of a woman who saved all the people. There are two other customs that we observe on Purim: we share food with people, give gifts to people, and always give to the poor and needy. Particularly on Purim, we give to charity. Another tradition is what you see: people dress up. That is why we put masks on, because Queen Esther had to hide her Jewish identity. We wear crowns to be like the King, and we are commanded to have fun.

The Megillah, traditionally read twice on Purim during the evening service and after the morning prayers, was a standout moment of the day. Whenever the name of the wicked Haman is mentioned during the reading, the audience responds with loud noises of mockery, as is customary. The sight of the children using the materials they had put together earlier in the day during the Camp Sarah activity to create an eye-catching megillah reading was truly delightful. Continuing with my discussion with the camp’s director as regards details of the activities the children were engaged in for the Purim celebrations, she had this to say:

“What we did today for Purim was first draw pictures of the different characters, like the King, Queen Esther, Mordecai, and Haman. Then they made crowns and masks using paper plates, cutting out eye balls, and then we did a play where I told the Purim story and we had different children acting out the different characters as we are supposed to tell the Purim story every Purim.”

The children could be seen in large numbers wearing paper costumes that they had been guided to make. One would wonder what it meant for them to celebrate in this fashion, and when I engaged some of the youngsters in a polite conversation about the event, they indicated that it was memorable and enjoyable. During the interview, one of the teens, Sarah, said that the event was both enjoyable and meaningful.

As you all know, today is Purim. We learned a lot of details that we didn’t know about Purim through the Camp Sarah activities. We sang, performed some plays, and drew and painted. We had a lot to eat and drink, and we played. We had so much fun.

Another girl named Oluchi, when engaged with questions about the event, revealed that she learned good morals and that the story of Purim taught her to make the right choice like the king and not to be wicked like Haman. In a conversation with one of the volunteers at Camp Sarah, named Oriel Ben Gideon, he praised Camp Sarah’s activities for adding color to this year’s Purim celebration. He disclosed that he believes Camp Sarah has so much more in store.

Camp Sarah did wonderfully well for the children and for us, the teenagers. Joining Camp Sarah as a volunteer has given me some experience. Camp Sarah’s activities will enable us to get the experience needed to help organize the children in our various communities.”

Later that day, just before the African Jewish Voices magazine made its debut with Gihon Hebrew Synagogue as the host venue, the children displayed their talents in a musical performance and went on to entertain the audience with a drama about Queen Hadassah (Esther). It was really an exciting day for Jews residing in town, as the three events of the day (Purim service, Camp Sarah activities, and the launch of an African Jewish magazine) made their day worthwhile. In a bigger scope, Camp Sarah, through its activities, has helped to grow the love for community, which is a beautiful aspect of Judaism, and it has helped the children, especially, form a bigger Jewish social network. Credits should also be given to a number of people, including Shlomo Yaakov and Eluzai Uduma, among others, who have made it their mission to instruct and mold these children into a cohesive performing group well-known among Jews in Nigeria.

Debbie revealed that Camp Sarah would be planning an influential and fun-filled summer camp for the Nigerian Jewish children this year, 2024, when she was asked about the future events that Camp Sarah would be hosting for the children attending the camp. It was indicated by her that the duration of the summer camp would be two weeks, which would be twice as long as the period that they had initially started with in the first expedition. Without a shadow of a doubt, Camp Sarah has been operating for a year and a few months, but based on observations, it is evident that despite the fact that it has encountered a few challenges, it possesses the resilience to grow and has the potential to extend across the country and beyond.

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