ENGLISH CORNER, CON LINDA JIMÉNEZ – This week we celebrate Purim, when it is customary to exchange gifts, so we decided to give our listeners a Purim story. This one, “The Purim Gift”, is taken from Isaac Bashevis Singer’s memoir In my Father’s Court. This translation is from Celebrating the Jewish Holidays, edited by Steven J. Rubin and published by Brandeis University Press.
Singer’s father was a rabbi, who often had to settle disputes between neighbors. This story tells of how one year the traditional exchanging of gifts, or shalach manos, at Purim, nearly led to a Din Torah, a court case, in the Rabbi’s house.
