Gift of Daniel M. Friedenberg

Id no. 2008.A.141, Judaica

Subject(s):  Purim, Ritual

Handmade wooden noisemaker, used in the synagogue during the reading of the Scroll of Esther, to drown out the sound of the name Haman, the villain of the Purim story. The custom is based on the Biblical verse in Deut. 25:19, to "blot out the name of Amalek," Haman's ancestor, who attacked the Children of Israel during their wanderings in the desert. During the Purim holiday Jews all over the world commemorate the victory of the Jews over Haman?s plot to destroy them, as recorded in the Book of Esther.