| Purim – “How can we celebrate this year?” and “Underlying theme of Purim”
Dear Friends,
This year as we celebrate Purim millions of people still remain in war-torn Ukraine including tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters of Ukrainian Jewry. Last Shabbat I posed the question that is plaguing many of us at this challenging time: How can we celebrate fully Purim when so many people are suffering? Is it not callous for us to drink red wine in fulfilment of the Mitzva whilst blood is being spilt some two thousand miles away?
I believe the answer lies in understanding the distinction between what western-secular culture terms fun or entertainment and what our Jewish heritage terms Simcha/Joy. Entertainment is primarily about distracting us from the stresses of life. Entertainment provides people with relief from the vicissitudes of life. Used properly, entertainment can help relax us so that we can return to living life with a zestful energy and purpose. But for many people entertainment becomes a way to avoid life and fill the void of our existence. Our Torah teaches just the opposite. Simcha for the Jew means to be aligned with God’s plan and purpose as revealed to us in the Torah. Simcha is not about joy that amputates our awareness of the tragedies that exist in our world. On the contrary; with Simcha we are fully aware of what is happening around us yet fully dedicated to living a life that celebrates the infinite Glory of Hashem. True Simcha is not just an attitude of “life must go on” though this has a element of truth to it. Simcha is about living deeply connected to our purpose. Put another way, it is not that we live in search of Simcha. It is that simcha enables us to search out a truly meaningful existence. So when we celebrate Purim it is not a selfish pursuit. On the contrary; it is about uplifting our souls which lights up others around us.
Furthermore, every Jew is interconnected as we are taught: “Every Yisrael are responsible for one another” (Talmud Shevuos 39a). There is an underlying unity amongst the Jewish people. We are like one organism and so if one part is hurting then all of us are hurting. But conversely this means that when we celebrate Purim properly – celebrating the miracle of the survival of the Jewish nation throughout history – then we provide spiritual strength and merit to those who are unable to join the celebrations this year. This is true of all the Mitzvot we observe but none more so that Purim whose underlying theme is the unity of purpose of the Jewish people.
The four Mitvzot on Purim reveal this: Gifts to the Poor and Food parcels to friends as well as the Mitvza to have a special feast all engender a sense of interconnectedness and deep caring. In fact there is a special law on Purim that “whoever extends their hand requesting charity we must give”. Even the Mitzva of Megillah has a unique law that it is preferable for it to be read in a large crowd, as the verse indicates: “in the multitude of the people is the Glory of the King” (Proverbs 14:28).
I wanted to take this opportunity on Purim to wish you and your family Chag Sameach and share with you a thought on one of the underlying themes of our wondrous Purim story.
Purim on a deeper level represents the redemption from seeing life as a tragedy.
Tragedy is a legacy from ancient Greek culture which in many ways the Western world has inculcated. Tragedy is premised on the belief that there is ultimately no meaning or purpose to our existence. Haman, the archenemy of the Jewish people, is descended from Amalek who attacked the Jewish people after they left Egypt. Despite all the miracles displayed by God they had the audacity to challenge the people. The text states that Amalek “happened (Korhca) upon you on the way”. The Hebrew Korcha reveals to us the mindset of Amalek. They believed everything was by chance (Keri). As Rabbi Lord Sacks wrote, some believe “we are here because of a mindless sequence of genetic mutations blindly sifted by natural selection”.
Judaism emphatically challenges this idea. Judaism’s obsession with celebrating life is predicated on the notion that every moment of life is pregnant with divine meaning and purpose. The entire elaborate structure of Mitzvot all the way to the most minor of customs are all about elevating every aspect of life to reveal the Divine light. And Purim is the crowning jewel when we celebrate revealing the Divine amid the chaos that existed in Persian Jewry.
We could sum up Judaism as the sustained transformation of the ordinary to the extraordinary. Just one example: when we make a blessing on a piece of food prior to consuming it then we elevate eating from being a mere biological function of satisfying hunger and providing our bodies with nourishment, or even the higher function of satisfying our pleasures, to a moment of Divine intimacy as we recognise the Godliness that is at the core of the food!
The Purim story written down by Queen Esther contains no explicit mention of God’s name because God’s hand is hidden within nature. Yet the name Megillat Esther means revealing (Megaleh) the hidden (Hester)!
In a sense this is the job of every Jew: to reveal the hidden Hand of Hashem in his or her corner of the world and that is why everyone must hear the Meggilah. Its message is as relevant today as it was then!
The very name of the festival poses an irony. Purim comes from Pur, the lots that Haman cast to choose the best date to destroy the Jewish people. But the Jewish people deep down know that life is not a lottery. Every single detail of existence is guided by Hashem and is part of a greater plan.
When the Jewish people awoke to this reality (Esther summoned all Jews to fast on her behalf) then it resulted in true redemption, and as the verse states (and we recite it in every Havdallah after Shabbat):
“To the Jews there was light, joy, ecstasy and glory”.
MAY HASHEM SIMILARLY BRING REDEMPTION TO TO ALL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS WHO ARE SUFFERING, AS WELL AS TO OUR FRACTURED WORLD.
WHEN THIS HAPPENS NOT ONLY WILL THERE BE LIGHT,JOY, ECSTACY AND GLORY FOR THE JEWISH PEOPLE BUT FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD.
Happy Purim!!! |
