Sharing Hamantaschen with Friends at Sea

My wife and I love cruises and, when our cruises fall on Jewish holidays, we do our best to celebrate while at sea. We have enjoyed the company of our fellow passengers as we celebrated Shabbat, Hanukkah, Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, Shavuot, Lag BaOmer, Simchat Torah, Tishah B'Av, Sukkot, and Purim. Today, I want to share about our wonderful Purim experience during a six-month-long voyage on the high seas.

Although I had my King Neptune costume (which could double as any king), we could not host a Purim carnival on our ship due to time and logistics. However, hamantaschen seemed like a fun possibility. I met with the head pastry chef (a good person to know at ANY time on a ship), Sheila, and described the "cookie" that is made on Purim. I tried to explain the dough and fillings. Without missing a beat, she said "don't worry, but please write down that LONG NAME of the cookie so I can get a recipe." She provided us with a variety of hamantaschen. I even had to increase my order a few times when interest in the cookies spread around the ship.

When we decided to share hamantaschen, the cruise director suggested that I speak at the daily trivia event, which was a popular event. I made a short presentation, discussed Purim, described hamantaschen, and asked that anyone who might be interested give me their name and room number. Afterwards, the line of excited people wanting to give me their information was long. They were interested for many reasons, mostly because they heard of Purim and wanted to know more or because they hadn't celebrated the holiday for many years and wanted to reminisce.

The ship's hosts, who led Sunday's non-denominational church services, then asked me to give the same presentation at the next Sunday's services! Once again, I got an incredible response; our phone began ringing with requests for hamantaschen.

My wife, Karen, bagged the cookies in our room and I personally hung them on each door that had requested some. People talked about the experience for days and discussed what they learned about Purim, Judaism, and inclusiveness.

When the trays of hamantaschen were delivered to our room, I wrote an explanation of the holiday, told the Purim story, and shared the significance of hamantaschen. Karen packaged everything up. Then, I began my "Mitzvah Mensch" deliveries all over the ship. Behind the scenes, the general manager, Laurence; assistant cruise director, Robbie; and social hosts Casey, Carolyn, and Paul all worked with us to help bring our vision to life.

The ship was buzzing; people loved the idea, the story, the meaning, and the cookies! We gave out so many that Karen and I had only one hamantaschen left to share. The best part was that a large group of passengers had a totally new connection: Purim. Hamantaschen broke the ice and opened the door for them to discuss other topics, with some becoming friends for the remaining months on the ship. Although a Jewish holiday began the process, it was not just Jews who bonded with each other; people from different backgrounds met and found community...all from a little triangle pastry.

After this, I was asked two more times to speak at church services about topics that Jews shared with other cultures. I began to attend church services and Bible study on a regular basis. A group of people with no other connection to Judaism began regularly attending Shabbat services. After church, we would all go to brunch to discuss the Talmud and Bible. We compared our understandings of similar stories and explored the various interpretations.

Two years later, I am still in touch with many of these people. Cruises are an incredible way to learn about other religions, share our similarities, and learn from our differences. If you book a cruise, be ready to meet new friends, learn about their traditions, and share some of your own. As we say at the end of the Passover seder, "next year on the high seas!"