As many of you know, the holiday of Purim falls in just under a week. Purim tells the story of the Jewish community of Persia in the time between the two Temples in Jerusalem – of their near annihilation, and the people and circumstances that saved them. In the spirit of getting us ready to celebrate (at services Friday March 14 and Religious School March 16) I offer you my “Ten Favorite Things About Purim.” And don’t worry… if nothing else your favorite thing about this column will be that I’m only going to share the top three!
3. My third favorite thing about Purim, is – very simply-- when it falls. We celebrate Purim during the Hebrew month of Adar. The rabbis of Talmudic times had a saying: Mishe nichnas Adar, marbim b’simcha – when Adar arrives, we increase our joy.
The pace we live at – the distractions that we face, the news that claims our attention -- encourages us to move forward with ever increasing speed. Pausing to let joy in is neither easy nor automatic. Besides, how and why should joy increase when we’re painfully aware of all the reasons not to feel it – assailed as we are near and far with concrete evidence that we are living in intensely dark times.
Our sages reached forward with these words about Adar to bring a bit of light, right here in Cheshire in 2025! Winter notwithstanding, Purim usually finds us at a time when energy and high spirits are hardest to come by. And so while our tradition conveys that while there is reason to despair – then and now, there are also tinges of warmth, buds about to bloom, reasons to hope. When Adar arrives our joy increases, but we can’t always get there on our own. Enter Judaism, to give us a push in the right direction.
2. My second favorite thing about Purim is that the Shabbat that precedes it – this Shabbat as a matter of fact – is called Shabbat Zachor, or the Sabbath of Remembrance. The last section of Torah we traditionally read reminds us of Amalek—the Israelites notorious enemy who attacked the people starting with the weakest among them as they made their journey from slavery to freedom. Haman, the villain of the Purim plot, was in fact a descendant of Amalek. When you come to safety, the people are told, blot out the name of Amalek out from under heaven – you shall not forget.
Blot it out and… don’t forget?
Is there another place for allowing Amalek with all it implies to inform us without defining us? And is there a way to read these last two words – lo tishcach – not as don’t forget; rather as “you won’t forget.” You may fear forgetting, but you won’t. Even as you walk forward, even as your new lives take you far from where you started, you won’t forget. Shabbat Zachor doesn’t lay out simple one size fits all solutions for these struggles, but it does remind us to grapple with them.
1. And finally, my top favorite thing about Purim. I like to call this one “everything else!”
Purim is liminal space. There’s chaos and noise and a sense of the unexpected. The story hinges on sudden and entire reversals of fortune: a villain who meets his end via the gallows he intended for us, a queen living in fear of revealing her true identity whose revelation ends up saving herself and her people.
And in our celebrating all this time later – there’s still comedy and laughter – also unexpected, considering how the issues laced through this story – assimilation, how easy it is to create a climate in which any group of people finds itself ostracized and imperiled – are deadly serious, and painfully relevant. Yet on this one day, what do we do? We poke fun at them – we find the humor, against all odds. Because that’s part of the story too – the story of how we make it through.
So from this Shabbat Zachor and forward – may increased joy find us all.
May we find your own favorite reasons to celebrate.
L’Shalom,
Rabbi Rebecca Gutterman
