{"id":2594,"date":"2023-11-13T18:40:20","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T00:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/?page_id=2594"},"modified":"2023-11-14T12:47:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T18:47:19","slug":"2594-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/?page_id=2594","title":{"rendered":"Purim Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Hallel<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Trinity Album<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Early Songs\u00a0<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Purim Songs<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 Audio Archaeology<\/a><\/p>\n

Our church celebrates the Jewish festival of Purim every year. Back in the 1990s I wrote some songs with the idea that we would put on a Purim Play. The play never came together, but the songs remained in a rough rehearsal cassette tape I recently found in a file cabinet. Matt McShane accompanied me on guitar with Powell Holloway on Bass. After I rediscovered these songs , I decided to write a new one – Esther’s Dilemma – to round out the story.<\/p>\n

Little Flower<\/a>
\n– Music and Lyrics by John Rutledge<\/small><\/em>
\nAfter Esther is chosen to be the king’s new queen, she wonders if she is growing up too fast.<\/p>\n

Mordecai’s Song<\/a>
\n– Music and Lyrics by John Rutledge<\/small><\/em>
\nJews in exile lived in a precarious relationship with the Persian Empire.<\/p>\n

Radical Thought<\/a>
\n– Music and Lyrics by John Rutledge<\/small><\/em>
\nTwo of the kings chamberlains Teresh and Bigthan (love that name) plot to kill the king in a coup. Mordecai overhears their planning and alerts the authorities.<\/p>\n

Haman’s Demand<\/a>
\n– Music and Lyrics by John Rutledge<\/small><\/em>
\nHaman, the kings advisor, wants to humiliate Mordecai.<\/p>\n

King Ahasuerus Blues<\/a>
\n– Music and Lyrics by John Rutledge<\/small><\/em>
\nMordecai had told Esther to conceal her Jewish identity. The king feels something’s not right between them, but doesn’t know what.<\/p>\n

Esther’s Dilemma<\/a>
\n– Music and Lyrics by John Rutledge<\/small><\/em>
\nTo save her people from Haman’s plan to exterminate the Jews, Esther must enter the king’s throne room with her appeal. But to come unbidden risks the death penalty.<\/p>\n

Spoiler: Haman is hanged on the same gallows he prepared for Mordecai.<\/p>\n

For more information about the fascinating feast of Purim:<\/p>\n

Notes on Purim<\/a><\/p>\n

Haman, Agag and Amalek<\/a><\/p>\n

Purim and Yom Kippur<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Hallel\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Trinity Album\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Early Songs\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Purim Songs\u00a0 \u00a0 Audio Archaeology Our church celebrates the Jewish festival of Purim every year. Back in the 1990s I wrote some songs with the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2594","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2594"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2614,"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2594\/revisions\/2614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communityoncolumbia.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}