Barbecue for Purim

Purim is about to arrive and to all my Jewish readers, let me be the first to wish you all a very Happy Purim.

"What's Purim?" you may ask, as I did one day when my son came home from his allegedary non-sectarian but run out of the local synagouge day care, with Purim masks, hamentaschen and asked when we'd be reading the Megillah.

Well, I'm not going to give you the whole run down on Purim, as I'm no expert, but Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates G-d working through Esther by tricking Haman into not wiping out the Jews who were living in Persia. As you can imagine, not being wiped out is certainly cause for a Jewish celebration and celebrate they do!

According to Judiaism 101: "Jews are commanded to eat, drink and be merry. According to the Talmud, a person is required to drink until he cannot tell the difference between "cursed be Haman" and "blessed be Mordecai," though opinions differ as to exactly how drunk that is."

"In addition, Jews are commanded to send out gifts of food or drink, and to make gifts to charity. The sending of gifts of food and drink is referred to as shalach manos (lit. sending out portions). Among Ashkenazic Jews, a common treat at this time of year is hamentaschen (lit. Haman's pockets). These triangular fruit-filled cookies are supposed to represent Haman's three-cornered hat."

"It is customary to hold carnival-like celebrations on Purim, to perform plays and parodies, and to hold beauty contests. I have heard that the usual prohibitions against cross-dressing are lifted during this holiday, but I am not certain about that. Americans sometimes refer to Purim as the Jewish Mardi Gras."

Now that's a holiday I can get behind! And so can the folks over at the only true BBQ Joint in the tri-state area that I know of that is also Kosher; Smokey Joe's. Check out his specials here.