Purim a joyous Jewish celebration of life

Ron Berman has a reason for relishing the Jewish holiday of Purim on Tuesday.

The reason is called life.

Berman, 42, who now lives in Lakewood Ranch, contracted blood poisoning while living in Costa Rica in 2001.

Threatened with losing his left arm and perhaps his life, he awoke from a coma to see a rabbi near his bed.

“The rabbi, who was from a Chabad in Costa Rica, said, ‘I didn’t let them cut off your left arm because a Jewish man needs his left arm to wear the t’fillin,’ ” Berman said.

T’fillin, which means “to pray” in Hebrew, are two boxes containing Scriptures, one worn by Jewish men on the forehead and one strapped to the left bicep.

Berman’s experience in the Costa Rican hospital drew him to Chabad and will have a special meaning Tuesday, when Chabad of Bradenton, of which he is now a member, celebrates Purim.

“I wouldn’t know how to celebrate Purim if it wasn’t for everything that happened to me,” Berman said.

Purim celebrates a time when when Jews in Persia were saved from death, according to the Web site Judaism 101.

The King of Persia listened to his advisor, Haman, who said the kingdom would be better off without its Jewish residents.

But Esther, a beautiful Jewish woman from Persia, went to speak to the king on behalf of the Jews.

The king changed his mind after listening to Esther, and Haman was hanged.

The word “Purim” literally means “lots,” for Haman determined the day of annihilation of the Jews by throwing a lottery, said Rabbi Mendy Bukiet of Chabad of Bradenton.

Purim, which is celebrated March 14, is the most joyous of Jewish holidays, with much gaiety, Bukiet said.

“We have a wonderful event to bring out spirit of Purim,” Bukiet said. “It’s a time to express ourselves and bring out Judaism in a happy way.”

Chabad of Bradenton’s Purim celebration at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall will have a Hawaiian Luau theme, Bukiet said.

The celebration will begin with a reading of the Megillah, which is the Book of Esther, followed by a buffet dinner of Hawaiian food.

“There will also be a children’s program,” Bukiet said.

Those who are in Hawaiian costumes will be judged for most innovative or funniest, Bukiet said.

Temple Beth El also will hold a festive Purim family service, including a costumed Megillah reading, said Binny Williams of Temple Beth El.

Adults and children are urged to come in costume, and there will be triangular fruit-filled cookies called Hamantaschen, which will represent Haman’s three-cornered hat.

The reading will be in English, and volunteer readers are welcome, Williams said.

“Purim is a favorite children’s holiday because it recounts the story of a king, a queen who saved her people and the wicked villain Haman, who everyone loves to hiss,” Williams said.

Chavurah Ner Tamid will be making hamantaschen during Sunday school at Lakeside Clubhouse on Sunday and will have a Purim service , said Meg Durshimer of Chavurah Ner Tamid.

Berman, who moved to Costa Rica simply to fulfill a lifelong desire to learn how to speak Spanish, considered himself – before his life-changing experience – a Reform Jew, one who didn’t follow the strict Orthodox ways.

But Berman has now changed and has made a decision to learn what it means to be a Jew.

And now Purim has a new intensity for him.

“It was the carnival,” said Berman, who grew up in Coral Springs.

“We never did anything at home, but at the synagogue, they had a Purim carnival and it was one of the most fun days of the year, especially for kids.”

Now, 41, Berman is an engineer with G.E. Security, a division of General Electric, based in Lakewood Ranch.

“We make fire alarms, homeland security products, bomb-sniffing devices, security cameras and anti-terrorism devices,” Berman said.

Berman takes care of the telephone system at the company.

“There are 6,000 employees worldwide and I have a responsibility to make sure they can all talk to each other,” Berman said.

Berman owned a bed and breakfast in Costa Rica. He got blood poisoning when a dentist broke a drill bit in his jaw while doing a root canal, he said.

“I got a staph infection from that oral surgery,” Berman said.

When he later took an accidental fall, the blood poisoning spread to his injured elbow.

“If I were anywhere else they would have probably amputated my arm,” Berman said. “But they listened to that rabbi and I had eight surgeries on my arm to save it.

”I told myself that I would wear that t’fillin one day. And now, I do.”