--- title: Photos: Children Celebrating Purim in Israel in 1955 description: On Purim, a look back at unpublished images of Israeli children wearing costumes to celebrate the holiday in 1955. canonical: https://time.com/3731931/purim/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-05T14:30:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:05:14.596Z og:title: See Photos of Children Celebrating Purim in Israel in the 1950s og:description: On Purim, a look back at unpublished images of Israeli children wearing costumes to celebrate the holiday in 1955. og:url: https://time.com/3731931/purim/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c69bebd2043a2de/69878217428a9e6477cc7709/150304-purim-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Celebrating Purim, 1955 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Photos of Children Celebrating Purim in Israel in the 1950s twitter:description: On Purim, a look back at unpublished images of Israeli children wearing costumes to celebrate the holiday in 1955. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c69bebd2043a2de/69878217428a9e6477cc7709/150304-purim-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See Photos of Children Celebrating Purim in the 1950s > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 5, 2015 2:30 PM UTC  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Mar 5, 2015 2:30 PM UTC In a 24-page [feature on Judaism](https://books.google.com/books?id=bVYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA103&dq=purim&hl=en&sa#v=onepage&q=purim&f=false) in 1955, part of a multi-issue series on world religions, LIFE Magazine introduced the religion’s holidays to readers in order of their spiritual importance. First came the high holy days, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, followed by Passover (which Charlton Heston would bring to the silver screen the following year) and Simchat Torah (which celebrates the end of the annual cycle of reading the Torah). Fifth on the list, just edging out Hanukkah’s festival of lights, was Purim. “Purim (February or March) finds the children dancing and dressing up, recalling how beautiful Queen Esther saved the Jews from persecution at the hands of a politician named Haman.” That’s all the real estate the holiday received, accompanied by a black and white photo of a Hasidic man dancing in Jerusalem. Left on the cutting room floor were a number of color photographs made by Alfred Eisenstaedt of Israeli children wearing costumes for the celebration. Some dress as the characters in the Purim story (Esther, no surprise, is a crowd favorite), while others, like one little Lone Ranger, draw from popular culture. The celebration itself centers around the reading of the Book of Esther, which begins with the Persian King Ahasuerus banishing his wife Vashti for disobeying orders. He arranges a beauty pageant to find a new wife and selects Esther, who keeps her Judaism a secret. Esther’s cousin Mordechai, leader of the Jews, gains Ahasuerus’ favor by alerting him to an assassination plot, but incurs the wrath of anti-Semitic prime minister Haman, who issues a decree ordering all Jews to be killed. Esther valiantly stands up to Ahasuerus, disclosing her true identity and leading to Haman’s hanging on the gallows built for Mordechai. Purim is a favorite among children, who for just one day are encouraged to indulge in several activities that might otherwise be frowned upon. Dress-up hour is extended to a full-day activity. Cookies are offered up in abundance, their triangular shape conjuring evil Haman’s hat. And noisemakers are distributed, with children instructed to exercise their full vocal capacity whenever Haman’s name is uttered. But Purim is not just for the kids. Adult revelers are urged to drink until they can’t tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman—Talmud’s orders. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955. Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A.overalls of cities , personalities, tombs B.preparations for Sabbath & Passover , PURIM C.reading and repairing of Torah , Talmud & misc. celebrations Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3731931/purim/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3731931/purim/"},"headline":"See Photos of Children Celebrating Purim in the 1950s","datePublished":"2015-03-05T14:30:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:05:14.596Z","description":"As the Jewish holiday is celebrated around the world, here is a selection of never-published photos by Alfred Eisenstaedt","url":"https://time.com/3731931/purim/","keywords":["Israel","Religion","photography","alfred eisenstaedt","LIFE Magazine"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c69bebd2043a2de/69878217428a9e6477cc7709/150304-purim-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c69bebd2043a2de/69878217428a9e6477cc7709/150304-purim-08.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrating Purim, 1955","caption":"Celebrating Purim in Israel, 1955.","creditText":"Alfred Eisenstaedt—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3731931/purim/","name":"See Photos of Children Celebrating Purim in the 1950s"}}]}] ```