This Taylor Swift Purim Parody Features the Holiday’s Biggest Showgirls

When Rabbi Jaclyn Cohen of Temple Isaiah of Los Angeles first heard Taylor Swift’s “Life of a Showgirl,” she had a vision.

And now that vision is a reality with her just released Purim parody — “The Life of a Royal” — an imagined conversation between Vashti and Esther to the tune of Tay-Tay’s latest album’s titular song.

In the video, Cohen plays a young Esther (toting a “Frozen” suitcase, no less) entering the royal palace of Shushan, wondering if she can handle the life of a royal. Vashti, her predecessor, played by voice coach and songwriter Rachael Lawrence, is doubtful at first. But the song turns out to be, just like the tune that inspired it, one about female empowerment and friendship, with Vashti and Esther professing their deep affection for each other in the end.

It’s really the ultimate feminist Purim tune! And the costumes could put any Taylor Swift music video to shame — these ladies start off wearing very traditional regal dresses but end up in full glam, bedazzled microphones and feathers included.

While the two women are definitely the stars of the show, the video also features some fun cameos from Leonard Kleinrock as Mordechai, who drops Esther off at her new residence and encourages her to “give them the business.”

Temple Isaiah’s Rabbi Dara Frimmer and Rabbi Zoe Klein Miles appear as members of the Persian court, Cantor Randall Schloss stars as King Ahasuerus, and Rabbi Adam Allenberg shows up as a leather-clad e-biker, who comes to take Vashti away and ride into the sunset together (we love this happy and eco-friendly ending for the former queen).

I’m obsessed.

Also, an important reminder: If you want your holiday parody to get the Rabbi Jaclyn Cohen treatment (how could you not??), enter Kveller’s Passover parody contest today.