Dancing Through the Sirens
By Tobias Siegal
There was something deeply and unmistakably Israeli about Purim celebrations this year. As missile sirens blared across the country, costumed partygoers, drink in one hand and an alert app in the other, squeezed into crowded shelters and underground parking lots that quickly became improvised dance floors.
From the outside, some could view this as a surreal contradiction. But anyone who knows this country and its people quickly understands what is going on.
This is not denial. It is defiance. It is a people insisting, yet again, on celebrating life no matter the circumstance.
As missile alerts sent Israelis into protected spaces during the conflict with Iran, celebrations did not so much stop as relocate. In cities across the country, Disney princesses, ninja turtles, and cowboys ran to shelters when sirens sounded and simply kept the party going. Underground parking lots became improvised Purim venues. Shelters turned into spaces of celebration, prayer, humor, song, and dance.
To some, that may have looked absurd. To Israelis, it was more than familiar. It was obvious. Dancing has long held a powerful place in Jewish history, memory, and identity.
One of the most iconic scenes in the Jewish story comes just after the crossing of the Red Sea, when Miriam takes a timbrel and leads the women in song and dance. It is one of the earliest examples in Jewish tradition of movement becoming a communal language and a unique way
The Charlotte Jewish News- April 2026- Page 13
to not only celebrate God but also to process hardship, grief, relief, gratitude, and victory.
The relationship between Jewish tradition and movement runs deep. In Jewish life, dance is never just about entertainment. It is closely tied to weddings, festivals, celebrations, spirituality, and collective release. In Hasidic tradition especially, dance became a way of elevating joy, of serving God not only through words or ritual but through the body itself. For a people who have carried so much grief across generations, dance has become one of the oldest tools of resilience.
Modern Israel inherited that tradition and has completely intertwined it into its national ethos. The hora is more than a folk dance; it is a symbol of collectivity, equality, and nation-building. Early Zionist pioneers danced in circles in a way that expressed the kind of society they were trying to create: communal, rooted, and physical. Israeli folk dance absorbed influences from across the Jewish world and beyond, but what emerged was something distinctly local.
That is why the scenes from this year’ s Purim felt so powerful. They were not just examples of Israelis making the most of a difficult situation; they were part
of a much older phenomenon.
Purim itself is built around the tension of joy and danger coexisting. It’ s a holiday that commemorates a narrowly avoided annihilation and grief-turned-celebration. That symbolism felt especially alive this year, as the Jewish state marked a holiday about Jewish survival in ancient Persia while facing a threat from modern Iran.
This is part of the Israeli ethos at its best. No performative toughness, no slogans, just the ability to insist on living under pressure and doing so together.
The meaning of dance in Israel also changed forever after October 7, 2023. The Nova music festival massacre turned a space dedicated to music, freedom, and peace into a national wound, but it also gave rise to one of the most powerful promises of the post-October 7 period:“ We will dance again.”
The powerful phrase became far more than a memorial line. It became a pledge that terrorism and violence would not be allowed to claim joy itself, that the trauma would not have the last word, and that dancing and the life it represents would return.
That is what Purim captured so powerfully this year. Not escapism, but spirit. Not avoiding reality, but a stubborn refusal to be broken by it.
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Our family has been fortunate to have found not only a daycare, but an extended family at JPS. We currently have two children enrolled and are constantly impressed by the level of care our children receive. When our youngest daughter took her first steps, the security guard cheered right along with us in shared joy. When our oldest was out sick for a few days, her class called to sing her a“ wish you well” song in support. The interest in our children’ s development has been beyond what we expected with excellent feedback and regular communication about how they can support our child’ s needs. The attention and education they receive will prepare them for kindergarten, while still emphasizing traditions and culture of Judaism. Hearing our daughter sing songs in Hebrew or recite the story of Purim is what we hoped JPS would instill in our children. We have found a community at JPS with not only close friendships for our daughters, but also with the other parents outside of the classroom. We consider ourselves lucky to have started our daughters’ educational and social foundation at JPS.”
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