Articles in Purim
Purim: A Nation United
The die was cast. King Achashverosh granted Haman a genocidal license against the Jewish nation. Mordechai was one of the first to learn of the plot and he appealed to Queen Esther for help. Esther explained that it was dangerous even for her to enter the king’s chambers unbidden. Mordechai …
The Buck Stops Here
The buck stops here, was a sign on the desk of President Harry S Truman. It is a spin off the aphorism, “pass the buck”—punting responsibility to someone up the line. When you are president, Truman would often say, the buck stops here. You are responsible. If you don’t like …
Purim: The Boring Moments
The boring moments are, well, boring. Why do we need them, can’t G-d just give us a short life filled with thrills rather than a long life with long stretches of boring moments? Who wants to be stuck in traffic or wait on line at the supermarket? Who wants to …
Chanukah: The Dreidel
The dreidel for Chanukah and the gragger (Ra’ashan) for Purim have the exact same structure, have you ever noticed? Both have a round bulb from which a stem protrudes. The difference is that the dreidel’s stem protrudes from the top of the dreidel and points upward, the gragger’s stem protrudes …
Purim: The Response to Antisemitism
Purim represents a victory over antisemitism. Haman was the preeminent antisemite. He didn’t need a reason to hate Jews. He hated them because they were Jewish. Any of his reasons were excuses on which to hang his hat, but they weren’t his primary reasons.
Let’s look at the story of Purim …
Purim: Together as one
Together, we survive. Jews have always been responsive to fellow Jews in need. If a Jew was in debtor’s prison, the community would raise money to pay the debt. If a poor widow was struggling, the community would close ranks around her and help her. Together, is how we survived. …
Purim: Jewish Identity
Can we deny our Jewish identity? This question was a subject of debate among Jews since the advent of the Jewish enlightenment. Reeling under the burden of antisemitism, many Jews concluded that if they were to conform in dress and behavior to the wider population, they would blend in and …
Purim: The Nature of Miracles
Haman wasn’t the first villain in his family. He came from an illustrious line of Jew haters. He was a descendant of the infamous Amalek, the first to advise Pharaoh to enslave us and the first to make war against us after the exodus.
The Torah describes the dramatic war that …
