by stacey palevsky
staff writer
Persians certainly didn’t have access to Skype and Nintendo 2,000 years ago. But today’s Purim celebration will.
Hundreds of teens will celebrate Purim on March 22 at three different sites in the Bay Area, parties that will likely be connected via video conferencing and the Nintendo Wii.
“What we wanted to do was provide a forum for which all Jewish teens could come together for one particular event, regardless of their youth group or synagogue affiliation,” said Darren Schwartz, director of Club 18, the teen program at the JCC of San Francisco.
“This is a way for us to show that there is a vibrant Jewish teen community in the Bay Area and to see they are part of something bigger, that there are other teens doing exact same thing they’re doing.”
The parties will fuse together music, dance and games. They will be held in Berkeley, San Mateo and San Francisco. Coordinators hope to connect all the locations via video conferencing with the help of an Internet program called Skype. And since the Wii can be hooked up to the Internet as well, a teen in San Francisco could play, say, virtual tennis with another Jewish teen in Berkeley.
“Often, it’s East Bay this, Peninsula that, West Bay that; rarely do we do something all together,” said Toba Strauss, youth services director at the Center for Jewish Living and Learning at the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.
“We thought, ‘How amazing would it be for students to come to the party closest to their house, but also be a part of something that includes the entire Bay Area?’”
Coordinators hope to bring together teens involved in a variety of youth groups — BBYO, USY, NFTY, NCSY — and also those who are not involved in Jewish youth organization.
“This is a real sign of Jewish continuity,” said Adam Reingold, teen coordinator at the Peninsula JCC, who is helping coordinate the Peninsula/South Bay site.
The dance in San Mateo will have a DJ, a live band, a raffle and video games.
In Berkeley, teens can dance, hang out by an outdoor fire pit and play arcade games and Dance Dance Revolution.
In San Francisco, teens can jump in a “mega bounce house,” participate in a poker tournament and an inflatable joust.
Some of the dances are also incorporating tikkun olam.
In San Mateo, for example, the $5
ticket price will help fund tutoring
programs at Jewish and Family Children’s Services’ Parents Place.
Tickets for San Francisco’s “Purim Party in Persia” cost $15 to $20, a portion of which teens will get back in the form of gelt. Upon arrival, they can drop the gelt into various tzedakah boxes per their charitable preference.
Dance coordinators are also trying to make the dances accessible for teens who don’t drive. In the East Bay, buses will transport teens from Walnut Creek and Pleasanton to the dance in Berkeley. Likewise, in the South Bay, buses will transport teens from Los Gatos and Palo Alto to the dance in San Mateo.
Dance coordinators recommend contacting your synagogue or local JCC to get transportation details.
“We’re trying to make it so everybody can be there,” said Jill Pottel, program director for BBYO Central Region West. “And even though they can’t all be in the same room, we’re trying to do something together, to acknowledge that we are all one community.”
Purim times three on March 22
East Bay
Where: Frances Albrier Community Center, 2800 Park St., Berkeley.
When: 9 p.m.
Cost: $5, $3 with costume
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com
More information: toba@jfed.org
San Francisco
Where: Jewish Community High School of the Bay, 1835 Ellis St., S.F.
When: 9 p.m.
Cost: $15 in advance, $20 at the door
Tickets: www.jchsofthebay.org
More information:
lschuman@jchsofthebay.org
South Bay
Where: Peninsula Temple Beth El, 1700 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo
When: 8 p.m.
Cost: Free before March 19, $5 at the door
Tickets: www.pjcc.org
More information: areingold@pjcc.org
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California