Turnabout

O

ne of the most original Purim costumes I ever encountered was the “upside-down boy.” This creative young man wore a shirt instead of pants, his legs squeezed through the armholes, and placed gloves on his feet. He wore pants over his arms and raised them high above his head, his hands adorned with sneakers to complete the look.

Everywhere the upside-down boy went, he went elicited shrieks of delight: “Look! He’s walking on his hands! He’s upside down!” The only drawback of this extraordinarily original costume was the unfortunate detail of his arms; to preserve the “upside-down” effect, he had to hold them above his head all Purim-day long. Ouch.

During our requisite 800 trips across the neighborhood to deliver mishloach manos to every person we had ever known (this gilgul and the last), I crossed paths with the upside-down boy numerous times. (And yes, I caught him with his hands down more than once.)

Chain of Reversals

Truthfully, the upside-down boy is a perfect Purim costume. “V’nahafoch hu,” the turnabout, is one of the major themes of Purim.