1. Female Empowerment Vashti

Why not get political in the midst of the latest debate about female nudity as empowerment vs. exploitation? The costume would take very little effort; all you need is, say, a crown and the illusion of nudity everywhere else.  Maybe try a large covering posterboard that says: “This is my choice,” or, “Not for Achashverosh’s eyes.”

2. Star Wars Characters

Is it a bit expected this year?  Maybe, but if you have the dough to drop, it shouldn’t be difficult to buy a readymade look from any costume shop. And Etsy, as it turns out, is full of baby BB-8 costumes.

For women who dress traditionally modestly, Leia’s original white dress is fully covering, and Rey’s look would take perhaps the most minor of tweaks to make it tznius as well. If you bring in one of Leia’s looks from the new film, you and your mom could even dress up together! Aw!

Besides, it is my personal headcanon that Rey is short for Reyzl.

3. Jesus

Purim is about being edgy and subversive, but unfortunately also often displays a lack of effort (serious cosplay at Purim gets a side-eye; I know from experience).  So why not be blasphemous and lazy at the same time with a costume of the Prince of Peace?

Let’s face it.  If you have long hair and a beard, you already look like him.  Just throw on a white robe and some sandals, and maybe carry some wine or matzah, and you’re good to go.

4. A Holy Ark

This one is a bit more detailed.  I dressed as an Aron Kodesh about five years ago, so this may partially be an excuse to brag on it.

My costume base was all black clothing, and on my body I wore a cardboard box that I decorated with marble-patterned contact paper and Hebrew letters like you might see on a real ark.

Then, the reveal. Open your box in the front to reveal a Torah on your torso. Mine was made out of paper, so it was lightweight and quick to make. I added a “Ner Tamid” in facepaint on my forehead, and voila! The ultimate Purim costume that works any year.

5. Donald Trump as Haman

This one is easy.  Wear a suit, orange face-paint, an ugly wig, a triangle hat, and a cartoonish moustache. Wait for a fascist at the megillah reading to get into a fight with you. Before fists start to fly, I suggest you use the line:

“I’m the designated driver tonight.  Good thing I’m only drinking until I can no longer tell the difference between Haman and Trump.”

MAKE PURIM GREAT AGAIN! TRUMP/HAMAN 2016 #trump pic.twitter.com/JwIQQkRVt4

— Rabbi Jason Miller (@RabbiJason) March 16, 2016

Feel free to tweet @Jewcy with any more ideas, or photos of any of these!  You still have a few days, so go go GO!

Image sources: Wikimedia commons, Facebook

The post What Should Your Purim Costume Be This Year? appeared first on Jewcy.

The purim ball was a fucking crazy time!

— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) February 28, 2013

Lena Dunham gave the Purimspiel at last night’s Jewish Museum Purim Ball at the Park Avenue Armory. “Welcome to my bat mitzvah!” she said as she faced the well-heeled 800-person crowd in the massive party space filled with balloons streaming from the ceiling and sparkly decorations (in the name of journalism, I got a glitter tattoo).

The play was inspired by Eloise, the city child who lives in the Plaza, who Dunham called an “international, intergenerational symbol of just general precocity”—and naturally her favorite fictional character—and was written in the voice of a young Lena Dunham.

What started out as a potentially cloying narrative (“I am Lena, I am six. I am an artist’s child, and I live in New York City”) turned into a surprisingly revealing look at Dunham’s own understanding of her Jewishness—though Dunham interrupted herself early on as ‘grown-up Lena’ to insist parts about her parents had been somewhat fictionalized. She also added a very meta while-we-were-tweeting message: “If anything I say offends you, please don’t fucking tweet it because it’s going to really stress me out.”

Dunham was headlining the annual fundraising event as a favor to Museum Director Claudia Gould, a close friend of her mother, artist Laurie Simmons. Gould had asked Simmons if Dunham would participate in last year’s event, way back in a pre-Girls era, and Simmons wisely urged her to “give her a year.” But back to the Spiel:

“I suppose I’m Jewish, depending on which way you look at me. For instance, my mother is Jewish, and you are a Jew if your mother is a Jew—at least that’s what the Jews say,” Young Lena began. Her next line—”The Jews also say, ‘you’re too skinny, eat,'” got a hearty laugh from the crowd, who had just finished dining on short rib.

“The Jews don’t care who your dad is, unless he’s on the board of a major hospital,” Young Lena added, also to big laughs. (Tickets for the event, which this year honored artist James Rosenquist and AIG CEO Robert H. Benmosche, started at $1,250.)

Young Lena’s WASP father (a “White Angry Saxophone Protestant”) would go to synagogue but not wear a yarmulke—it looked like a bird pooped on his head, he said. Still, Young Lena learned early on about the hazards of Jewish hair and developed a very negative opinion of parents who sent their kids to camp (Camp Ramah got its second Dunham mention—the first was during Season 1 of Girls).

Then Young Lena assembled a group onstage to play the different roles in the Purim story—her mother played the principled Vashti, her doctor played King Ahashuerus, and boyfriend Jack Antonoff’s sister Rachel played Esther. The story was told quickly, a less dramatic version of a Rugrats holiday special, and ended with—spoiler alert—Esther convincing her husband Ahasuerus (even though we’re warned that Young Lena’s doctor is way too old to actually marry Rachel) to save all the Jews from Haman.

The whole thing was sweeter than what we’ve come to expect from Dunham, but just as sharp. She also did drop the F-bomb at a fundraiser for a Jewish institution, so there’s that.

Dunham spent the rest of the evening being politely accosted by girls in high heels and sparkly dresses. I was barred by a publicist before I could ask Grown-Up Lena the age-old question: was she an Esther or a Vashti?

There’s always Passover.

(Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)

Previously: Lena Dunham to Direct and Star in Her Own Purim Spiel
You Can Buy a Ring With Lena Dunham’s Face on it on Etsy

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The post Lena Dunham Wins Purim appeared first on Jewcy.