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all through the temple: purim and our responsibility
february 2007
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Photo by
Chris Gaines |
This article is written by Rabbi Ettman in his prose, poetry style.
"Tis the month before our Purim ball…
Where we revel and dance.
And are grateful to have those movable walls…
We enter a world full of costumes.
Dancing and eating. Of mischief and madness.
And other things fleeting. Time to eat sweets.
To dance and to drink. To sing and to laugh…
And otherwise, not think.
We paint our faces. And we put on our masks.
We make noise. We celebrate being free and saved.
Now THAT is our task.
It is Purim…
And not just a holiday for kids. This is not just Jewish
Halloween with fewer goblins and many more Yids.
Sure we dress up in costumes, and we eat sweets
But we celebrate something more. And that is what is so neat.
At first glance, Purim may seem similar to Halloween
Or Mardi Gras, with merry making and the chance to be obscene
But to us, and for us, Purim is much more.
The holiday itself has a great story and a great message in store.
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We read the book of Esther, which in fact is a scroll
And curiously enough, God has no role!
How can this be? What kind of world are we in?
A holy book with no mention of God? Isn"t that sin?
God is supposed to help us…To overcome and succeed.
So what are we to do in this time of our need?
Whose hand will be mighty? Whose arm will be strong?
To whom do we address our praiseworthy songs?
What then is the importance reading this book?
And dressing up in costumes and looking like a schnook?
But the absence of God teaches us a very important thing.
The power of the human being.
We have the power to rise up. To challenge. To overcome.
We have the power to be ONE. To stand up and believe
And be who we are. And reveal ourselves. And not look afar.
From whom do we learn this…Who is the star?
It"s the woman for whom the book is named…
Our very own Esther.
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She stood up and said "I am here. I"m a Jew"
Despite knowing that Haman would say
"...I have a problem with you."
But she was the Queen and her bravery we applaud
She took off her mask when things got odd.
She was true to herself and her people as well
And this is the reason that for her do we kvell.
Had she not stood up and had she not spoken
The world that we know would have been broken.
The score would be Haman 1, the Yids zero
Thank goodness that Esther and Mordechai are the heroes.
And so too must we be…
We must learn from Esther"s strength and Mordechai"s bravery
Humans are the true heroes of our Purim tale.
We too have power. We must use it…and not be afraid to fail.
The true power of Purim is not the great revelry of our
celebration
Or our shpiel or our costumes…or for some, inebriation
Rather, the message of this wonderful holiday
Is that we have the power to stand up and say
I am a hero, I am here.
So I ask you, on this Purim…
Who are we? What masks do we wear?
And how can we all be more like Esther?
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