It was the evening of Purim, the jolliest festival in the Hebrew calendar. There was a decent turnout, too: about 50 people had gathered to read the Book of Esther, telling how the Jews of Persia were saved, circa 480 BC, from the hands of the wicked Haman.
Some authorities say it is the one night a year when Jews are permitted to get drunk. This, however, was a sanitised Saturnalia. Children wandered in and out dressed as spacemen or fairies; the rabbi wore a witch’s hat; and we were all given toy ratchets to wave noisily whenever Haman’s name was mentioned.
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