With winter at long last giving way to the coming of spring, Jewish congregations mark the occasion with some frivolity and foolishness this week for the holiday of Purim.

One tradition is a comic take on the Megillat Esther (the Book of Esther), which tells of the saving of the Israelite people from Haman, who was planning to murder them all. These comic playlets are call Purim schpiels.

This year, the B'nai Abraham congregation will perform “The Jewish Princess Bride” for its ninth annual Purim schpiel at its Purim service Friday at the synagogue, 519 N. Main St.

The Purim schpiel is a version of the 1987 movie “The Princess Bride,” a nonmusical that calls for a varied cast of villains, heroes, a giant, princess, pirate, witch, wizard and more.

Purim, a celebration of the Book of Esther, is not celebrated on a specific date but takes place in March in the Hebrew calendar year, said B'nai Abraham's Cantor Michal Gray-Schaffer.

Many Jewish and Christian holidays are timed on top of early agricultural or time-of-the-year celebrations, such as the winter solstice and the spring equinox.

“It's kind of like a Mardi Gras type celebration,” Gray-Schaffer said, which falls under the spring equinox.

“We are actually commanded to be happy on Purim,” Gray-Schaffer said. “People who come for the first time mustn't think this is the way we conduct all our services.”

Prayers are said by Gray-Schaffer in silly ways, including in Munchkin voices, shouts, whispers or even backward.

The Book of Esther, known in Hebrew as “the Scroll” (Megillah), is a book in the third section of the Jewish Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible) and relates the story of a Hebrew woman in Persia, born as Hadassah but known as Esther, who becomes queen of Persia and thwarts a genocide of her people.

Purim schpiels, are typically takes on Broadway shows to relate the story of Esther.

“The Jewish Princess Bride” marks the ninth year for a Purim schpiel in a lineup of performances, including a “Gangnam Style” video, Little Orphan Esther as a variation on “Little Orphan Annie” and The Wizard of Shushan as a take on “The Wizard of Oz.”

Gray-Schaffer writes the Purim schpiels.

“You adapt the characters that you can to the Purim story,” she said.

Gray-Schaffer, whose first career was a theater costume designer, will also portray Valerie, who is Miracle Max's wife, and make costumes.

“You can tell why I like Purim,” she said. “I've always been involved in theater on stage and off stage professionally.”

The villain of the Purim story is Haman. In last year's Purim schpiel “Hamilton,” the character was named Hamanton, she said.

She changed the songs in that performance to make it easy for the congregants who participate.

“I love doing it,” she said. “I love taking a Broadway song and adapting it.”

This year's cast consists of 11 congregation members ranging in age from 12 to 89 with a runtime of about 20 minutes.

Compared to how she usually writes, Gray-Schaffer used dialogue verbatim from the funnier scenes, such as when Fezzik and Inigo rhyme and the Miracle Max scene, she said.

Adapting the characters from the Purim story to “The Princess Bride” was a stretch, she said.

Esther's name will be pronounced with a Yiddish accent, she said.

The King wants a blonde, leggy bride, Gray-Schaffer said about the story. His adviser says Scandinavia is not one of their 127 provinces, but they can check traders.

When the king picks Esther, who looks like the Princess Bride, he tells her in a Joan Rivers voice, “You're voice is like butter, you're my little buttercup. I'll call you Princess Buttercup.”

Mordecai, who is a hero type character in the Purim story, becomes the Westley character, Gray-Schaffer said.

At the end of the story, he reveals to Esther that he was not truly her uncle, but that she was an orphan. They also confess their love for each other.

The villain Haman in the Purim story wears a tricornered hat. Gray-Schaffer transformed the character Count Tyrone Rugen, who has six fingers, into a six-pointed hatted man for Haman.

In the story, the six-pointed hatted man does not kill Inigo Montoya's father, but came to his village when he was younger and murdered the Jews, which is Montoya's reason for vengeance, she said.

Props range from realistic to hokey.

Instead of swords, the characters will use undecorated, plain PVC pipes.

“When they whack each other, they're going to make a big noise,” she said, which adds to the silliness.

Other farcical aspects include two people who will wave fabric around simulating water during the sailing scene, she said.

After the Purim schpiel, there will be an oneg, or reception, featuring the cookie called hamantash, a filled-pocket cookie or pastry recognizable for its triangular shape, usually associated with Purim and Haman.

Purim schpiels add levity to the Purim service, Gray-Schaffer said.

“It's kind of a silly holiday even though the underlying message is that once again somebody tried to kill the Jews,” she said. “The old Jewish joke is, 'They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat.'”

WHAT:Purim Service and Purim schpielWHEN: 7 p.m. FridayWHERE: Congregation B'nai Abraham, 519 N. Main St.NOTE: People who are interested are asked to attend the service. The Purim schpiel is at the end of the service.