I
just realized earlier today as I was thinking about this post that I haven’t
written about Purim for a few years. The last time I wrote about this joyous Jewish holiday was at a completely different
point in my life as my wife and I were in the midst of the Aliyah process. Obviously
there were different things on my mind and events surrounding our life but much
of the post remains relevant even with things having changed so drastically over
the years.
In
fact, it is rather poignant given the speech that we heard yesterday and what
is happening in the region as I write these words. So instead of trying to
write the same thing over again, I am simply going to include most of that blog content
below. After all, we still need to make some noise!
The joyous, and sometimes raucous, celebration
is a community act. No one acts alone. Everyone works together and supports
each other, to turn the voices of many into one to make one collective noise.
However, beyond these community gatherings of
support and joy, the voice of the Jewish people is shattered. I am not talking
about the differences between the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, etc.
communities but of a more fundamental and deeper chasm… supporting Israel.
Purim is a time when we should recognize what we
can do as a people. We can’t just sit around and stuff ourselves with Hamentashen, we must rally
to support our homeland, we must speak with one voice, we must stomp our feel
and blot out the accusations being made against our home. Whether it is by
writing, by praying, by making Aliyah, make your voice heard!
We all need to regularly show our admiration for
those who live in the land that G-d has granted to us, support for those in the
IDF who protect us and defend our right to exist as a people and our right to a
homeland, and respect for the holy men who pray for us all and carry on the
traditions that many take for granted.
We live many different kinds of lives but we are
one people with one home. We all want peace and we will all fight for peace
because no one should live in a home being torn apart by conflict or
partitions. We must ensure that we will not be cast out into the Diaspora again
to be gripped with the longing to return and the inability to do so. We need to
ensure that we and all our future generations have a place to call home! We
need to make some noise!
No comments:
Post a Comment