Rabbi's Blog

The world feels so crazy and every day I am afraid of what the headlines will be when I turn on the radio in the morning.  Today I awoke to the horrific news of the bombings in Bruxelles.  As a European, this feels so close to home and like an attack on all of us.  How can we even begin to process this insanity and go on with our everyday lives?  How much more is this true as we stand on the threshold of this topsy turvy holiday of masks, parties and sugary treats, and the story of a queen who saved the day against impossible odds?  Purim is a difficult holiday for so many of us and especially when the world around us is so disturbing.  I wondered after hearing that news how I was going to find the emotional resources for fancy dress and frivolity.  Should we just cancel it this year?  Then I remembered a Purim in Jerusalem years ago where the Megillah reading was punctuated with gun shots and shelling over Bethlehem and Beit Jalla.  The chorus of sounds to blot out Haman’s name was in an awful discord with the sounds of real time conflict.  History and fantasy alongside a harsh reality.  Somehow there were moments that Purim that were incredibly high and joyful in some inexplicable way that belied what was in the air.

Purim is about transcendence and a fantasy of hope in a broken world.  It may feel like an insult to the victims of terror around the world to put on a mask, to raise a glass and read the ancient tale of victory and revenge, yet what else are we to do?  Yes, there is something dark and sinister lurking in the Purim story, yet there is also a mystical promise that takes us beyond the chaotic forces of light and dark, good and evil, hope and despair, Haman and Mordechai, where we glimpse a higher reality beyond this grim world; it comes through an embrace of joy and absurdity and letting down our guard to reveal a deeper truth in us and in our world.  The images of destruction will not leave me and nor should they; the Purim-like circus of would-be presidents is not about to disappear from my consciousness either, but I am not giving up on Purim!  I am going read and hear that story again and boo and cheer and dress up and drink and laugh and give food to friends and gifts to the poor and try to transcend, but not forget, just for a moment this crazy world of duality and suffering, of anguish and pain.  I hope you will join me if you can.

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