Mishe Nichnas Adar Marbim Besimcha! That's all we heard this past week throughout the halls of Midreshet Moriah. Finally, on Purim day, we really got into the spirit with a "bar hop" in the Gush. All the students, led by our wonderful madrichot, joined together and traveled to different teachers' homes for a selection of meals. Since everyone living outside of Jerusalem was celebrating Purim on that day, we too dressed up. We started off in Alon Shvut at the house of Leora Bednarsh for a happy and healthy salad bar. Next came an awesome potato bar at the house of Bracha Krohn in Efrat. And finally we ended off in Neve Daniel at Rav Eitan's home for everyone's favorite, ice cream bar! A beautiful dvar Torah was given at each home by our welcoming teachers and enthusiastic singing and dancing took place as well. After the "bar hop," we went back to school to eagerly prepare for Megilah reading and the chagigah, which were both to take place later that night. We participated in a chessed called shake n' donate, where we all bought pasta boxes to use as groggers and then those boxes were to be donated to families in need. Go Matanot Le'evyonim!

After Megilah reading, the party started! We loaded the buses and headed off to our chagigah! This year’s theme was "it takes two to tango" and each girl was paired up with a partner to dress up with. Some dressed up as: Cruella De Vil and a dalmatian, Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc, and a devil and angel, of course. At the chagigah we danced and ate breakfast for dinner, French toast and eggs, while a marvelous student named Melanie Chustkie gave us a dvar Torah about Esther's character development in the Megilla. At the end of the chagigah, our madrichot surprised us with a hilarious purim shpeil. They then took us back to school and tucked us into bed. It had been an exhausting but great day.

We woke up the next morning, Shushan Purim, Jerusalem’s official day of Purim pumped up for our seudah. We went to shacharit and Megilah reading clad in all different costumes. At the seudah, we all had a blast, eating and laughing. We enjoyed some divrei Torah from our incredible teacher, Sepha Sheinebien, and another great student, Devorah Schwartzman. Then our festive teacher, Rav Ron, showed up to put on a show; he sang us the song "I'm All About That Bass," creatively changing the title to "I'm Always In The Beis." I think we can all agree that this was a Purim we will never forget! Thank you for reading! See ya next week!

Elizabeth Mandelbaum, Racheli Matis and Jordi Mayer