Jewish Peoplehood and Unity In Our Celebrations 

I often share with folks newer to Judaism or Jewish learning that we celebrate the High Holidays, the Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Sukkot, Passover, and Shavuot), and that pretty much every other Jewish holiday is a variant of “They tried to kill us, we survived, let’s eat” or it’s corollary, “They tried to kill us, it didn’t go so well for us, let’s fast.” 

That said, this year, reading the megillah (Scroll of Esther) and enjoying the holiday seemed a bit harder in light of the situation in Israel.  This year, I doubt many of us needed a reminder that there are those that seek our destruction and to annihilate us, or of our vulnerability to easily influenced political leaders, or to the cost of standing up for ourselves.  Those are messages I get every time I open the news.  Purim is about turning the world upside down, but the world already felt upside down.  And yet, I firmly believe that Jews across the world, still needed to read the megillah, to celebrate, to find joy this Purim. 

One teaching around Purim is that Haman uses the lack of unity among the Jews against them and that Purim not only celebrates the Jews’ survival, but the fact that we did so because of taking united action.  The four major mitzvot involve coming together.  We come together to read the megillah.  We come together to feast and celebrate.  We come together to make and send gifts to one another.  We come together by making charitable contributions. 

We had wonderful volunteers that helped arrange our adult Purim celebration, our family-friendly megillah reading, the TIDY Purim lunch and carnival, and additional volunteers who are bringing some mishloach manot – Purim goody bags – to some of our community members.  Even those who weren’t able to physically be here for our Purim celebrations can feel connected.  Through their efforts, we had a wonderful Purim at Temple Israel.  And, whether we see ourselves in Queen Esther as a public leader, a Mordechai working diligently behind the scenes, or as a Jew of Shushan joining the cause – all had a role in shaping the outcome of the story.  So too, each of us have a role in shaping our Jewish narrative today.   

In this challenging post-Oct 7^th year, what I reveled in this Purim was the sense of Jewish Peoplehood and unity in our celebrations, and hope that we can carry that comradery with us as we return from feasting to our usual routines that we can be stronger together as a community.