A Wild Party . . . Seriously : Religion: Purim is the most festive Jewish holiday, a time of prizes, noisemakers, costumes and treats. It commemorates a major victory over oppression.

For a couple of hours Wednesday night, Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes became the capital of ancient Persia.

“Welcome Back to Shushan,” boomed Rabbi Ronald Shulman, who was dressed for the occasion as a court jester festooned with bells. “The king has asked me to tell you a few things. First of all, notice my legs. Second of all, notice his legs,” he said, pointing to Cantor Sam Radwine, who was cloaked in a shower curtain.

“And in the beauty contest, you know who to vote for,” Shulman added.

The jester was joshing about the beauty contest, but the rest of his romp was just one example of how Jews throughout the South Bay spent this week commemorating Purim, the most festive of all Jewish holidays.

The holiday, which marks the victory of an endangered Jewish community over its Persian enemies, is one of the only days in which the imbibing of alcohol is overlooked, if not encouraged.

“It’s a lot of fun, it’s crazy,” Shulman said. “We look forward to Purim because it gives the kids an opportunity to see their heritage and religion in a fun way and it gives them the idea that in a synagogue, they are not always going to be preached at.”

To celebrate the holiday, the rabbi and his staff decorated the entrance of the synagogue with children’s renderings of a Persian bazaar. Inside, about 300 costumed children and their parents sat in a circle around the rabbi in a gazebo fashioned out of balloons and blue and red streamers.

As part of the festivities, celebrants read the Megillah, or scroll of Esther. Children and adults dressed as key characters in the Purim story paraded around the sanctuary before being rewarded with prizes.

On cue from the rabbi, celebrants wildly swung noisemakers and blew whistles, while older children played tag on the edges of the sanctuary.

But the holiday, which some liken to a Jewish Halloween, isn’t only for children.

At Temple Beth El in San Pedro, about 25 elderly men and women--one dressed as a witch, another as a bride and another as Little Red Riding Hood--met for lunch Thursday afternoon before reading the Purim story.

“I feel that Purim is for adults too,” said Erna Landau, 74, who came to the synagogue dressed as a jogger. “Purim gives you a chance to dress up and be happy and pretend you are somebody else. And that really gives you a good time.”

For all the frivolity, the Purim story elucidates a serious theme in Jewish history.

The legendary story, commemorating something that took place about 2,500 years ago, largely centers on Queen Esther, a beautiful Jewish woman who became the favorite wife of Persia’s King Ahasveros.

According to Jewish tradition, a man named Haman, who had just become the chief adviser to the king, was upset because Mordecai, a Jew, refused to bow down before him. At Haman’s prompting, the king decides to severely punish the disobedient Jews and a lot is drawn decreeing the 13th day of the month of Adar as the day when all Jews will die.

When Esther learns of Haman’s plot, she risks death by revealing that Mordecai is her uncle and that she is also a Jew. Because the king cannot revoke his original decree, he issues another one that gives Jews permission to defend themselves.

Ultimately, Haman and his cohorts are defeated and Haman is hanged on the very gallows that he built for Mordecai.

“(The Book of) Esther is a story of a woman’s self-reliance and her uncle Mordecai’s great faith and perseverance,” said Temple Beth El Rabbi David Lieb. “It’s a real good story of triumph over anti-Semitism.”

Jews today celebrate their victory on the Hebrew calendar’s 14th of Adar--which this year is March 19--by making parodies of the story with Purim spiels, or plays. They poke fun at their fallen enemy by feasting on Hamantaschen, a triangular pastry folded over to resemble Haman’s hat. They also exchange small gifts and delicacies, and give freely to charity.

In keeping with the biblical injunction that Jews should blot out the memory of Haman’s ancestors, celebrants blow whistles and swing noisemakers every time Haman’s name is uttered in the story’s retelling.

And as a measure of just how intent Jews are about enjoying the holiday, a Hebrew expression encourages them to drink alcohol “until you don’t know the difference between these two sentences: Cursed is Haman and Blessed is Mordecai,” Lieb said.

Although the actual day of Purim fell on Thursday, some South Bay Jews began celebrating the holiday as early as last week.

Last Sunday, about 1,200 people attended a carnival hosted by Temple Menorah in Redondo Beach that featured game booths, food and a dunk tank.

And children who attend Chabad of South Bay’s Maimonides Torah Academy have taken several field trips to local convalescent homes in the past week.

On Tuesday, St. Patrick’s Day, a class of Chabad’s third-graders sang Jewish songs to about 50 residents of Torrance’s Pacific Inn. The presentation took place in the grand parlor, which was decorated with green shamrocks for the Christian holiday.

The children, many wearing colorful feather masks, later shook hands with the audience before dropping off boxes of Purim delicacies to the Jewish residents.

One Jewish resident, 88-year-old Emil Lane, began to cry after the children left. Another, Russian-born Lottie Zlotkin, 85, said the visit reminded her of her own childhood. Although her family was too poor to exchange gifts, her mother always made enough Hamantaschen to give away to their friends, Zlotkin said.

“It gave me a thrill,” Zlotkin said of the children’s visit, “but it made me homesick for the time when I was young and with my parents. . . . We always looked forward to Purim.”

Additional festivities planned for Sunday include a special education program for mixed-faith couples at Temple Beth El in San Pedro, and a carnival at Congregation Ner Tamid in Rancho Palos Verdes. About 500 people are expected to attend the carnival, which runs from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The Jewish Holiday of Purim

* Commemorates the victory of an endangered Jewish community over its Persian enemies.

* Is celebrated on the Hebrew calendar’s 14th day of Adar, which this year falls on March 19.

* Is the merriest of all Jewish holidays, and one of the only times when Jews are encouraged to drink alcohol.

* Encourages children and adults to dress in costumes, sing, dance and feast on traditional pastries.