Narrator: Today's Tale Tells the Tale of Love Fighting Hate, of Young People Learning To

Stop in the Name of Love: A Purim Spiel

Author: Rebecca Weiner

Content: Purim, Diversity, Anti- Bullying

Grades: 2nd-7thgrade

Objectives: This Purim spiel explores the Purim themes through the lens of the characters when they were young. The concurrent narrative is a middle or high school set in the modern day where students start a campaign to end bullying.

Note: The following is a script for a Purim Spiel that can be performed and/or adapted.

Stop in the Name of Love

Narrator: Today's tale tells the tale of love fighting hate, of young people learning to have courage and the triumph of standing up for what you believe in. We will now take you back to ancient, ancient Shusan when our Purim characters were young and becoming their true selves Let't take a look back, way baaaaack in Shusan history and learn more .

We now find Vashti when she was a young girl, just learning to stand up for herself.

Vashti- The girls at Shusan high school were mean to me today because they thought my new Harem pants were weird, mom.

Vashiti's mom- You have to be your own person Vashtila. Just because certain people think something, doesn't mean you have to believe it is true. You have to dance to the beat of your own dunbek. Don't let anyone else tell you what to think or who you should be.

Vashti- You are right mom, I am going to stand up for myself! I am not going to let those girls decide who I am. They won't rain on my parade.

Narrator- Now we find a young King Ahasuveras. His parents are a little worried about him.

King A's father- I am a little worried about our little king to be, he doesn't seem to have a mind of his own. I am worried that he thinks he will always get his way and he won't know how to stand up for what is right and wrong,

Queen- Perhaps we shouldn't have gotten him that camel when he turned sixteen. We might have spoiled him.

Little King A- I am so glad that everyone finally agrees with me that the world is flat! And that pretty much everything I say is right!

Queen- Ashi, I know you think know that bring right is the most important thing. But there will come a time that learning to listen to the right people will be more important then having everyone agree with you. In your life, many people will try to influence you -- remember to look for those that have good hearts and good intentions!

Little King A- I am listening right now, to my stomach grumbling. Is it time for the royal feast yet?

King- I see that the greatest influence on our little A will be through his stomach.

Narrator- Shooting forward a few thousand years, dramas are also unfolding at Shusan Middle School, year 2011. A group of bullies has overtaken the school and are making it miserable for the rest of the students. This is the story of how some students, said “Oh no, you better Stop In the name of Love and we are going to reclaim the school.”

Narrator- We find our heroine Esti, at school talking to her friends. Her best friend Vashti has just been tormented by a group of bullies because she is different. Esti is mad as heck and isn't going to take it anymore and is making sure that all HER friends do something about it!

Esti- I can't believe those bullies. They were so mean to Vashti, just because she is a little different. What has this school come too?

Teacher Morty- Well Esti, do you want to just stand by and watch it happen, or do you want to stand up to those bullies and make a difference?

Esti- I am just not sure what I can do. Oh no..... here comes one of the ringleaders, Howie! He never has anything nice to say and was the one who wrote the mean things on Vashti's locker.

Howie- Hi Esti. Nice to see you, teach.

Mean Girls (to Howie)- Well, well, well, look who is coming this way. It is Vashti. (Vashti walks towards them.) Nice outfit Vashti, You look so Gayreat.

Vashti- If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all!

Zohar- Yes, just keep your mouth shut. See…..open…. shut!

Teacher Morty- I have to get back to class. Howie, I expect you to treat your fellow classmates with respect.

Howie- Of course...!

Mean Girls- Howie, I guess you have to be on good behavior now.

Howie- Well, I guess it depends on how you define respect. I think it is respectful for the cool kids in school to rule and the nerds and rejects to know their proper place. It is only going to serve them later on in life, so they aren’t disappointed.

Mean Girls- How are we going to do it? I mean rule the school.

Howie- By creating an invite-only Facebook page of course, where we say mean things about the other students and make sure they know where they belong: not with us.

Esti and Vashti and Zohar (listening in a corner) - Jumpin’ Jellybeans! What are we going to do, Batman? We have to do something! Time to organize.

Narrator- We leave our brave middleschoolers as they find a way to overcome bullies at their middle school. In ancient times, we go back to learn what made Esther so brave in her childhood.

Moderchai- Esther, I have some very hard and sad news to tell you: your parents have been killed in a camel accident. I am going to be your guardian now.

Esther- What ever will I do, how will I survive? I won’t be able to go on. What if the other kids at school are mean to me? What if I get afraid at night? I am so scared.

Mordechai- This is the hardest and saddest thing you will ever have to face Esther, but I will always love you and look after you. You are strong and beautiful. The strength you need comes from inside. I know you will be okay.

Esther- I will try every day to be brave, to stand up for what is right. That is what my parents would have wanted.

Moderchai- I am very proud of you, my brave niece.

Narrator- Haman’s childhood on the other hand was quite different. He had hard times too, but responded very differently. Instead of becoming brave, he just became mean…. Let’s go back to long ago to see why he became the person he is…..

Mean Boy- Hey Haman, nice hat you are wearing. Why do you have to be so weird?

Haman- You better not talk to me that way. I swear I will come back and hurt you. My parents said if someone is mean to you, you just hurt them in any way you can.

Mean Boy- You will never have the power to hurt anyone; you are just a big Shusan wimp.

Haman- Just you wait and see: when I get my chance, I will hurt a lot of people and they will know how powerful I am.

Narrator- Back in 2011, the Vashti and Esti have created a Stop in the Name of Love group and Facebook page. Every time they see an act of bullying they address it by jumping in and spreading love instead!

(Bullying examples, kids sing“Stop in the Name of Love.)

Esti- I know: call a meeting of the Stop in the Name of Love anti-bullying group.

Vashti-Our goals are to support anyone who is getting bullied AND to get them to take down that mean Facebook page.

Zohar- And show those bullies, that they don’t have the power!

Esti- But how are we going to do it?

Teacher Morty- I think we need to have a BIG LOVE Rally. If we start a sign-up campaign to end that Facebook page, with enough signatures and support, that Facebook page will come down. Here’s what I think we should do….

(Whispers to Esti and Vashti)

STOP IN THE NAME OF LOVE DANCE

Howie- Hey, why are you folk with the love team? I thought we had the same idea that we were going to rule the school.

Mean Girls- Face it Howie, it just seems cooler to be cool, you cool with that? Why should we spread hate when we can spread love?

Narrator- And so it was that the Stop in the Name of Love crew overcame the bullies, and we have learned what made the Purim characters who they were and why they grew up to be the adults they are.

Narrator- We still believe that if you believe in yourself; you can overcome hate and love will triumph.

Sing: We are beautiful!

When reproducing this document, please credit the author and Keshet.