A fishy fun Purim Spiel collaboration builds bridges between two congregations

(AJNews) – This March, for the first time, the Conservative Beth Tzedec Congregation (BTZ) and the Reform Temple B’nai Tikvah (TBT) in Calgary joined forces for a collaborative Purim spiel. BTZ’s Holly Shifrah and TBT’s music director, Katie Baker, acted as co-directors for the Little Mermaid-themed musical spiel written by Shifrah. The cast and crew was comprised of members of both congregations. Shifrah, who also wrote and directed BTZ’s Wicked-themed spiel last year, proposed working together with Temple because “like all religious organizations in 2026, we have trouble getting enough volunteers to make something like this happen. After struggling to get enough participants to cast last year’s show, I thought it might help if we could pull talent from a larger pool and hopefully build some community-strengthening bridges. Plus, I was familiar with Katie and how talented she is. I knew she’d be lovely to work with, and I was right, she was.”

Baker expressed similar positive sentiments about her co-director. She also said that when she first heard the proposal to collaborate, that she was “excited about the idea” and that it was “was appealing to work with the Conservative congregation from the perspective of building a stronger Jewish community (and to break down a bit of the siloing that exists),” a notion that feels ever more relevant as Jewish communities across Canada continue to face hostility from the wider community.

The re-telling of the Purim Story pulled elements from Disney’s the Little Mermaid to give the story a fishy twist full of aquatic puns and new lyrics to three of Alan Menken’s songs from the award winning soundtrack to the 1989 animated film: “Part of Your World,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” and “Kiss The Girl;” which was reimagined as “Tell The King,” an ensemble number in which “Mordecrab” (a character combining Mordechai of the Purim story and the crab Sebastian from “The Little Mermaid”) and the “Jewfish” denizens of the sea try to convince Esther to plead to the king on their behalf.

A highlight of the spiel was that it featured Rabbi Mark Glickman of TBT and BTZ’s Rabbi Russell G. Jayne in starring roles as Scuttle, the seagull narrator, and “Ursulaman,” the sea witch villain of the story, respectively. Both rabbis delighted the audience in humorous costumes and through their enthusiastic willingness to lean into the silliness of the spiel. The excellent on-stage collaboration of the squawking, feathered Rabbi Glickman and the singing, feather-boa’d Rabbi Jayne reflected the success of the collaboration that made the spiel possible and resulted in the largest turnout for the Purim spiel and dinner that BTZ has had in recent memory. According to BTZ Executive Director, Jennifer Girvitz, 130 people in total from both congregations attended the event.

Rabbi Jayne said, “The minute I heard about the idea of a collaboration between the two congregations, I thought it was a magnificent idea.” He explained that “Purim is all about transcending…limitations, and it’s the easiest holiday for any two congregations to work together,” noting that he is “always looking for more ways to get the non-Orthodox congregations working together, and this was a perfect entry point for that.” In addition to praising the spiel as “witty” and “very engaging” for all ages, he also described the collaborative aspect as “a wonderful thing for the community.”

Rabbi Glickman made clear that the positive assessment was mutual, stating, “Putting on the spiel with our friends at Beth Tzedec was a true joy, and it was wonderful to be able to share our Purim celebration with both congregations. We were touched by the hospitality that Beth Tzedec showed, and we look forward to allowing the partnership we created to continue to deepen the ties between our two synagogue communities.” He also noted that “seeing Rabbi Russ as “Ursulaman” provided a memory that I’ll cherish always!”

Though some congregants might have initially found the idea of collaboration between a Conservative shul and a Reform shul worrisome or even alarming, the success of the evening will hopefully put to rest any doubts or fears. The two congregations were easily able to navigate teaming up for an aspect of Purim which, as minhag rather than mitzvah, required neither community to compromise the values of their movements. Despite some uncertainty from some corners, one thing is certain, the on-stage and backstage participants have overwhelmingly expressed that they found it a positive experience and one they look forward to doing again next Purim.