In the years to follow, balls were held in such notable venues as the Metropolitan Opera House, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Music Hall, and the Pikes Opera House, which the Association inaugurated at its March 9, 1868 ball. The annual Purim balls proved to be a smashing success and, as news spread about this exceptional opportunity to enjoy a masquerade, each ball increased in attendance and ticket price and became a social recreational highlight for both Jews and non-Jews.
Shown on this page two very rare tickets to the Purim festivities held on Purim day under the auspices of The Purim Association – a ticket to the Fancy Dress Ball held at the Academy of Music on Thursday, February 25, 1869, and a ticket to the Charity Ball held at the Metropolitan Opera House on Thursday, March 10, 1887. The proceeds from the latter ball were “in aid of the Hebrew Technical Institute,” a vocational high school in New York City. The school was founded in 1884 after three Hebrew charity organizations formed a committee to promote technical education for the many Jewish immigrants arriving in New York, and students could specialize in wood-working, pattern making, metal working, instrument making, mechanical drawing, architectural drawing, free-hand drawing, or applied electricity.
In 1883, the Association published the aforementioned Purim Gazette, a souvenir journal with various articles and advertisements as well as regulations that were to be “strictly enforced by order of the committee,” including rules that no unmasked attendees would be admitted on the floor before midnight; that ladies wearing hats or bonnets, unless in fancy costume, would not be admitted on the floor; and that all masks had to be removed at 1 a.m. The affair was reported in the March 16, 1883 American Hebrew as follows:
The grand fancy-dress ball of the Purim Association at the Academy of Music last night was a brilliant success. The festivities opened at 10:30 with an elegant tableau. On a lofty throne covered with rich drapery with Eastern decorations, were seated the good Queen Esther, accompanied by the Prince and Princess Carnival, attended by brilliant retinues in gorgeous costumes. The robes of the royal personages represented were the richest ever seen in this country; that of Queen Esther was claimed to be a correct copy of the original, whatever may have been the source of authority on this interesting point.
Indeed, it would be intriguing to learn the source of the allegation that the “Queen Esther” at the ball wore the original robes actually worn by the Queen Esther of the megillah back in Shushan!
The Association, whose balls one founding member characterized as an exercise of “social Judaism,” provided a way for Jews to escape societal pressures and revel in the festive celebration of a Jewish holiday while simultaneously showing the non-Jewish American community their humanistic and philanthropic qualities.
Over the years the Association raised approximately $180,000 for more than two dozen educational and religious organizations, with the highest receipts from the 1880 ball, when $18,725.29 was raised for Mount Sinai Hospital. This display of sophisticated high society entertainment with a philanthropic emphasis had a positive effect on the attitudes of both Jews and non-Jews toward Judaism in America.
To raise substantial funds for its recipient organizations, the Association purchased bonds, charged an initiation fee and annual dues for its members, and held many social fundraising events in addition to the Purim balls, including anniversary dinners, theatre and ballet performances, and private celebrations.
Each year members of the Association determined the distribution of the raised funds, including whether a single organization would be the sole beneficiary or if many worthy organizations would share in the Association’s annual proceeds. Association beneficiaries included the Russian Emigrant Fund; the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of New York; the Hebrew Technical Institute; the Hebrew Free Schools; the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society; the Hebrew Relief Society; the Relief Fund of the Essex St. Sufferers; and the Hebrew Benevolent Association.
