Purim- a Jewish treat.

Purim - a Jewish treat.

The Jewish festival of Purim has always had its symbolism, its very distinctive characteristics and its positive messages to an outside world that may choose to ignore it. It remains though an overwhelming favourite to Jewish children who so readily embrace its joyous arrival. It is all about the rejoicing, the jubilation unconfined, a day given over exclusively to those who believe very clearly that nothing should ever get in the way of unbridled celebration.

For here on the borders of Stamford Hill, the good people of North London are gathering together for the yearly homage to hamantaschen, a deliciously sweet cake or quite possibly biscuit according to your definition of these things. Purim is that very open expression of its clear Jewish identity. There are the kids who dress up in all manner of glorious fancy dress outfits, smiles and laughs emblazoned richly across wide eyed faces of merriment and mirth.

Then as if timed to perfection a large float will steadily make its way along the bustling roads and streets of Stamford Hill with the practised air of a float that had been doing this for thousands of years. The long standing Lubavitch and predominantly hasidic families who have lived here for so many years will take to the streets and announce their presence quite categorically with rousing music, the crown of Queen Esther, and a day of dazzling, dancing revelry.

In these confusing and often inexplicable times when nothing seems to make any sense or add up, perhaps we should be grateful for Purim, the one Jewish festival where unity and harmony provide a blessed relief to the festering anxieties of a troubled world. Surely there is something heartening and uplifting about the only festival where Jewish kids can get away with looking like Spiderman, Batman and a member of the Mafia without being reduced to quivering laughter.

You may be sure that by late on in the evening the fine, upstanding citizens will still be doing the conga, still in the grip of those frenzied rhythms that make up quite the most extraordinarily upbeat party you're ever likely to see. Purim is Stamford Hill's very own street carnival, a delightful combination of everything that is life affirming, traditional and hugely enjoyable.

Leading rabbis, senior rabbis, noble patriarchs and matriarchs will assemble in their homes with joy pounding away excitedly in their hearts. These are the people who will lead the procession, learned men and women who have studied the Torah over and over again, who have fed and watered, nurtured and encouraged the next generation of children because they represent the future.

They will stroll past the mouth watering delicatessens, the fashion shops, the bookmakers, the newsagents, the butchers, the stationeries, the pizza restaurants and the banks that constitute everything that is commercially good about Stamford Hill. They will engage in lively Jewish banter, gossip good naturedly about the price of schmaltz herring, those wonderful cakes in Grodzinski and how chopped liver simply melts in the mouth.

But they will hear, listen and appreciate the music because that music is the most stirring of all music, a sound that will resonate and reverberate through their souls, that tingling sensation that lifts them to the highest plateau. They will pray and sing, raise their black coats in a way that Topol in Fiddler on the Roof would have heartily approved. It will be a scene of togetherness and solidarity, of kindred spirits, joie de vivre and esprit de corps, voices of peace and intelligence rather than fear and suspicion.

So it is that today Jews of the world including yours truly, will look upon the festive glad tidings of Purim and ask those who preach intolerance to stop and think for a moment or two. Purim is all about that age old subject of belonging and inclusivity, reaching out to our neighbours in the hope that the Hamans of this world will just disappear into the ether, sink into the ground and never show their faces ever again. This is certainly the right time to tuck into another tasty hamanstaschem.