A deafening live band — thump thump thump — provided the metronome fueling the frenetic atmosphere overnight inside synagogue Kollel Ner Avrohom, tucked behind Georgian Court University on Arbutus Drive. Take a look inside the party in the video at the top of this story.
Richard Roberts, a former pharmaceutical company executive and political donor famous for his philanthropy, handed out checks and vouchers from a police guarded-table in a corner of the synagogue, which he supports, occasionally taking a break to dance dance dance along with the thump thump thump, too.
The holiday, often equated to Halloween or dubbed “Jewish Mardi Gras,” is marked by donning costumes, giving and receiving charity and food gifts, fasting and feasting. It’s a 2,500-year-old tradition that celebrates the salvation of the Jews from a plot to annihilate them in ancient Persia.
Read Stacey Barchenger’s full APP Story