Teaching and reading the Megillah at NSHA

Twenty six students of the North Shore Hebrew Academy (NSHA) Middle School in Great Neck read Megillat Esther for their schoolmates and faculty on Purim day. The group of students, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, were taught by Dr. Paul Brody, seen at left holding a Megillah case, to the left of Head of School, Rabbi Jeffrey Kobrin. Dr. Brody also coordinated some of the more than 175 students that he has instructed at NSHA over the years, to read the Megillah at synagogues, hospitals, nursing homes and private homes. Dr. Brody is wearing the 100-year-old Tallit of his grandfather who originally convinced him to learn to read the Megillah. Brody has read the Megillah for the past 41 years, once at the Great Synagogue in Leningrad in the presence of “gabboyim” who were actually members of the KGB.

“These students have achieved a unique accomplishment,” said Brody, “joining a small, qualified group who possess the knowledge to publicly chant the Megillah. I hope that this will serve as an impetus for other yeshivot to institute a program for teaching students how to read the Megillah. This will enable young Megillah readers to help those who are home bound or in hospitals and nursing homes who are unable to come to the public reading in shuls.”