Hi,
We’ve spent quiet a while on the portion of Kedoshim. “Be holy.”
We’ve seen many rituals and many moral and ethical obligations.
Which brings me back to Purim!
(It doesn’t take much)!
… Haman. The villain of the Purim story.
The prototype of the anti Semite.
He convinces the King to destroy the Jewish People. Man, woman and child.
It’s very interesting to see how he describes us.
“There is a nation… their laws are different from every other nation’s”. (Megillah.)
In other words?
The Jews are weird!
The rest of the world says yes. We say no. They say no? We say yes.
They work? We rest. They celebrate? We fast!
… Suppose Haman would return today.
He’d have a lot of catching up to do.
And lots of surprises!
If he would pick up a daily newspaper? Anyplace in the world!
He would read alot about a country called Israel.
And he would wonder, “How can you have a Jewish State without Jews”!
He would be shocked to see that we’re still “alive and well”!
And would wonder how we survived all the “Hamans” that followed him!
… Haman would look at Western Civilization. Its laws and its values.
And he’d be shocked by that too.
At what those strange people, with their strange laws, accomplished.
How the Jews taught the world about morals and ethics. And about human dignity.
He would see that the Jewish People changed the world!
… Purim is the time to celebrate the miracle of Jewish survival.
And commit ourselves to be part of the Jewish future!
To celebrate being Jewish. To feel like hugging a fellow Jew.
(Even if you don’t agree with them)!
It’s the time to join CTN’s Purim celebration.
To be inspired by the reading of the Megillah. To enjoy great food. A great comedian.
And it’s the time to meet the guy who writes these Torah Minutes!
If we have met, but it’s been a while?
Purim is the time!
All the best,