Purim, the Jewish Mardi Gras. The holiday of deception. A holiday not quite as important as the High Holidays, but one that is celebrated with a similar amount of fervor throughout the young professional Jewish communities.
The idea of the holiday is simple: get as drunk as you possibly can so you cannot distinguish between “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordechai”. Many online Jewish texts say this is the one day of the year the Jewish people can go absolutely crazy, unaware that these young professionals also celebrate New Year’s, Christmas Eve, St. Patrick’s Day, the start of March Madness, July 4th, and Labor Day in similar fashions.
There’s also a Purim narrative about how Mordechai helped save King Ahasuerus, who returned the favor by denying the decree that had called for the persecution of the Jews of Persia, but more emphasis for these young professional events is placed on the open bar.
The open bar allows single men and women the liquid courage to be able to cast “lots” among the attendees and to see which ones bite on possible dates. This also works in the case of one-night stands, where the lot cast may be two hours from the time you took that first sip of your vodka soda.
Purim, it’s that simple.