 To find out about a time in history when the Jews were persecuted for their religious beliefs.  By doing this, you will also be looking at a Jewish festival, called Purim.  Purim is a Jewish festival that takes place in February or March.  It is about a Jewish queen (called Esther) who saves her people from being persecuted & killed by the king’s chief government minister, Haman.  Purim is celebrated by the story of Esther being read out in the synagogue or a play of the story of Esther being performed.  Every time children hear Haman’s name mentioned in the story or play, they have to make as much noise as they can, by hissing, stamping their feet, banging drums or using special rattles, called greggors (greggors are a bit like old fashioned football rattles). They do this so that Haman’s name & what he says cannot be heard (a bit like boo-ing the baddie in a pantomime).

 In today’s lesson you are going to perform the play about Esther & Haman, that is performed at Purim.  You will need to use your ‘loud’ objects every time you hear Haman’s name mentioned or every time that he tries to speak. We need the following characters: King Xerxes - The king of Persia Esther - The new queen of Persia (Esther is Jewish) Vashti - The old queen of Persia Mordecai - Esther's uncle (Mordecai is Jewish) The king's advisor The king's guards (there could be more than one guard) Bigthana - An officer of the king Teresh - An officer of the king Haman - The king's chief minister in his government (Haman hates Jewish people) Haman's wife  The person who plays Haman will need to read loudly because of all the noise!  Also, everybody will need to be able to see a play script, so they can follow the play & be ready to make a loud noise when Haman speaks or his name is mentioned.

 Think about what you have learnt today about Esther, Haman & the Jewish festival of Purim.  Normally, you are given questions & you need to write the answers.  Today, it is the other way round!  Below, you have 6 answers – you need to write the questions that go with them. e.g. Purim – Question: Name a Jewish festival that remembers a time when Jews were persecuted & rescued by Queen Esther. Queen Esther Mordecai King Xerxes Haman Make lots of noise & try to drown out his name or him speaking. Queen Esther was Jewish.

Your aim for today’s lesson was…  To find out about a time in history when Jews were persecuted for their religious beliefs.  By doing this, you will also be looking at a Jewish festival, called Purim. What can you now tell us about a time in history when Jews were persecuted for their beliefs? Choose one of the main characters from the Purim play. Design their costume. Write notes next to the parts of their costume to explain why you have designed the different parts as you have.