Dear Friends:
Today is the second day of Adar Sheni, the month in the Jewish calendar highlighted by Purim. Purim seems like a purely whimsical festival, when we dress up in costume and read the story of Queen Esther and eat hamantaschen.
But just beneath the surface, it’s a profound story and set of practices that might be more contemporary than anything else on the Jewish calendar. Especially this year, after October 7, the story of Purim seems so on the nose in so many ways.
In a nutshell: It’s a story of a topsy-turvy, unpredictable moral universe. It’s a story where Jews are spread out through an enormous, world-dominating empire, and have to figure out how to be distinctive and how to fit in. It’s a story where Jews learn how to access political power, how to make alliances and what to do when we have power. It’s a story where Jews respond forcefully to anti-Semitism sweeping through society, and then decide whether to retell what happened as a story of fear or as a story of how we became an even more generous people. It’s a story where a young Jewish woman discovers herself in the process of saving her people. Those are some of the themes behind the masks and costumes, and the extra tzedakah we do on the day.
Learn some more by
reading the Megillah, and reading or listening to some of my commentary from
this year or
past years. Purim can be for sure a mirror for us in the topsy-turvy Jewish world of 5784/2024, and hopefully a a guide for us as well.
Chodesh Tov — May it be a good new month,
Rabbi Jon
