The Young Jewish Conservatives’ Purim luncheon at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) had everything: a speed reading of the Megillah by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, hamentaschen, a kid from Brooklyn dressed in a red squid costume, a comedian in a Rush Limbaugh sweatshirt, and a comparison of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar to Haman.
Image by Sarah M. Brown
Shmuley Boteach speed reading the Megillah at Purim luncheon sponsored by Young Jewish Conservatives at CPAC.
True, the festive gathering of 80-100 Jewish conservatives at the Hyatt Regency Hotel was only a sideshow to CPAC, the annual, weekend, right wing extravaganza. But what it lacked in numbers, YJC’s Purim luncheon and Shabbat services made up for in enthusiasm. If some in the Republican Party have been turned off by former President Donald Trump and the chaos that ensued when he rejected the results of the 2020 election, they weren’t in evidence in the Orlando ballroom.