The late Jewish comedian, Alan King, once quipped, “A short summary of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us. We won. Let’s eat.” It certainly seems like Purim was squarely at the front of his mind when he said this.
Sharon Melnicer and her husband Rafe at an adult Purim party at the Rosh Pina Synagogue (north-end Winnipeg) in the late 1990s.
“Haman sought to annihilate the Jewish people, the Divine Puppeteer then pulled a few magical strings behind the scenes, and the turnabout was no less than spectacular. A nefarious adversary was hanged, many a foe were killed, and we had one of our own second in command over the entire kingdom”
– Efim Svirsky, educational director of Aish Ha’Torah’s Russian program and founder and director of the Psycho/Spiritual Institute.
There was, of course, great reason to celebrate – and Purim calls for festive culinary feasts, with plenty of wine and – most atypically – Jewish intoxication. We even throw in our version of a masquerade ball! And all this is considered a mitzvah!
Rabbi Eytan Feiner, a senior lecturer at Yeshivat Aish HaTorah, in reflecting upon Purim wonders, “if this is this really the choice way to celebrate? Better yet, is this the Jewish way to celebrate?” He goes on to compare the solemnity of Yom Kippur with the frivolity of Purim:
“Lest we think that these Purim festivities pale in comparison to the sanctity of our holy Yom Kippur, the lofty Day of Atonement, the famed Arizal, based on the chief mystical text, the Zohar, reminds us that it is actually just the opposite. The culmination of the High Holy Days is referred to as ‘Yom HaKippurim,’ the day that is merely like Purim (kiPurim), highlighting the fact that it is Purim that sits atop the pedestal of Jewish holidays. Although Yom Kippur, which focuses on serious introspection and sincere repentance, and also serves as a much needed wake-up call stirring us to heed our true, spiritual calling and mission in life, all that abstention and hard work of a Yom Kippur is second-tier to the most joyous Purim.”
“But,” Rabbi Feiner argues, “we simply cannot live on such a plateau throughout the hustle and bustle of our daily lifestyles. When Purim arrives “we encounter the opposite side of the Yom Kippur/Purim coin.” Rabbi Feiner encourages us to “go ahead; have a drink. And another one or three. Enjoy the sumptuous feast. In other words, be human – and be a real part of this physical world with the mundane delicacies it has to offer. But through it all, let the real you come out.”
Svirsky in his book, Connection: Emotional and Spiritual Growth through Experiencing God’s Presence, poetically tells us that on Purim we learn to tap into the joy of the miracles of the day, the exhilaration experienced by those Jews years ago who witnessed God’s hidden hand securing a miraculous reversal of fate for his people.
“We look around in the world and find it difficult, at times, to see the constant intervention of God on our behalf, to rid Mother Nature of her camouflage and manifest the Divine Presence which produced, and is presently directing, her wonderful performance: every act, every scene, every second of the day,” he declares.
Come Purim time, we take a very active part in worldly pleasures as we try, once again, to realize that the physical world around us is but a mere façade, hiding a multitude of miracles. Rabbi Feiner controversially suggests that we become intoxicated primarily as a means of revealing the true, hidden self that lies beneath the protective veneers we’ve tried to erect. “The real me (hopefully only the holy side) will be unleashed as the alcohol sets in, all while the Purim masks and costumes shield our outer appearance, the part that can never really express our true selves. If Purim reveals to us who is really behind the scenes of the world’s stage, then we owe it to ourselves to reveal the true person dwelling within our outer beings as well. And this we can certainly take with us for the rest of the year.”
Svirsky, views Purim as a series of lessons. He sums things up this way: “First, on Purim we celebrate our victory over antisemitism. We rejoice in the victory over an enemy who wished us physical annihilation. The second lesson that Purim teaches is that a coincidence in a Jew’s life is in reality nothing but a link in a chain of predestined events. It is like watching a professional painter. The splashes of paint he puts on the canvas seemingly without any order or sense suddenly emerge as details of a very well thought-out painting. It is only after it is complete that one realizes that not one of the details was accidental.”
It’s interesting to note that both Rabbi Feiner and Svirsky raise similar questions around the role that predestination or coincidence plays in our lives: “The issue is not about whether things will develop the way the Creator wants them to; that will happen anyway,” says Svirsky. “Esther’s challenge in the Purim story – as well as every Jew’s – is what part we are going to play in the events, and what shall become of us as result of it.”
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