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We are living in a season of opposite and overlap.  It’s not every year that gives us an opportunity to consider two such unique, significant holidays exactly one month apart.  Yet Purim and Passover, as we speak, are doing just that.

Last weekend we celebrated the holiday of Purim.  Purim falls during Adar – the last month of the year on the Hebrew calendar.  According to Jewish tradition, in the month of Adar our joy increases.  And Purim is indeed celebrated with great joy… think of the raucousness of Megillah readings with graggers and stomping feet.  The fun and novelty of coming to synagogue in masks and costumes.  Making the hat of the one whose heart was bent on doing evil to us into a delicious, much anticipated treat!  In all these ways, Purim encourages us to cross boundaries and play with the unexpected.  While the message of standing up for our Jewish identities in an often hostile world is timely and serious, we absorb that message with light hearts and laughter. 

In early April, Passover begins.  Celebrated during the month of Nisan – the first month of the next year on the Hebrew calendar – Passover finds us back in the territory of order and structure.  The very word seder, the ceremony retelling the story, means order.  Where Purim pokes fun at the usual trappings of Jewish observance, Pesach reinforces them.  Where Purim liberates us from convention, Pesach bids us to think about what liberation truly means, and what lies beyond its initial exhilaration.  Purim paints the world much as it is – messy and irreverent and imperfect.  Pesach, with its emphasis on revelation of Torah and reaching for a higher purpose, gives us a glimspe of a world in which ideals like justice and freedom might be made manifest for all.

Finally, while Purim is celebrated at Temple, Pesach is a “hybrid” festival -- celebrated primarily in our homes or the homes of family or friends, with opportunities to celebrate with our Temple family as well.  Don’t forget to sign up for our community Seder on the second night of the holiday: Tuesday April 23 at 6:00pm.  Information is already on our website – we would love to have you join in!

As with our celebration of Purim, may Pesach bring us meaning and fulfillment, as our joy increases and another spring draws near.

L’Shalom,

Rabbi Rebecca Gutterman