Purim 5768/2007

Purim Message to Congregation Beth Sholom, Tri-Cities, Washington 5768

Rabbi Joseph Lukinsky

This year, 5768, is a leap year, which means that we have two months of Adar, Adar I and Adar II. Since the Jewish year is a lunar year, each month, starting with the appearance of the new moon [in ancient times reported by witnesses who came to the court in Jerusalem to report that they had seen it, a practice long made obsolete by rabbinical astronomical calculations] the lunar year falls short, by several days, of the solar year.

The rabbis figured out that adding an additional month seven times in 19 years would keep the two systems in synch. [Every 19 years the dates fall on the original civil date]. Islam follows a lunar calendar too, but in the Islamic tradition, there is no intercalation of an additional month, so Ramadan can fall any time during the year, difficult when the month-long daily fasting comes out during the long days of the summertime.

In the Jewish calendar intercalating the month, keeps Pesah as "Hag Ha-Aviv" [the spring festival] and Sukkot "Hag Ha-Asif" [the harvest festival]. Otherwise, we would find, for example, Pesah celebrated in December every few years, Shavuot in January, Rosh HaShanah in March!!

This year in Israel, i.e. in Jerusalem, we have what is called "Purim M'shulash" [Triple Purim] because Purim falls on Friday. Shushan Purim, celebrated only in Jerusalem, is on Shabbat when it can't be fully observed, and is therefore carried over to Sunday. A triple Purim!

Purim is celebrated in Adar II when we have a leap year. I think that I have written one or more times about how Marshall McLuhan's "the medium is the message," helps us to understand the meaning of Jewish practices and observances, which is another way of saying, in one context, that the "way" a holiday is observed is a clue to the underlying ideas and deeper meaning of the holiday.

I suggested earlier that the paradigm of "an upside down world" derived from the various "upside down" practices of Purim [Cf. Esther, 9:1] such as noise in the synagogue, a mitzvah to get drunk, wearing costumes as a disguise, and the like, as well as much material in the Megillat Esther itself, [see my earlier piece and watch for examples in the Megillah reading!] reflect the message that the world is "upside down," i.e. not the way it "ought" to be.

The Purim message expresses thus the hope that the ideal of the "world as it ought to be" should always be our hope, no matter how discouraged we may become sometimes. This Purim message kept hope alive throughout the dark centuries of Jewish life, and kept the Jewish people alive too.

Another practice that has a message is the practice of sending "shalah manot," portions of food, to family and friends in celebration of Purim. Yes, it's a generous and happy practice for a joyous holiday, but what is its meaning? [See the last chapter of Megillat Esther for the instruction that we are to send "Shalah manot" to one another]. It is, in light of McLuhan's principle, more than just a celebratory gesture, an expression of joy at Purim time.

I suggest that it relates to the idea of "community." You can easily buy baked goods at the bakery. They may be even better than the goodies we receive and send to our friends. But "shalah manot" reinforces the bonds of community. Each person cannot send shalah manot to everyone in a large community, but the very act of fulfilling the mitzvah, of sending to at least two friends and receiving in return, is an expression of the basic Jewish principle of "Kol Yisrael arevim zeh ba-zeh [Talmud Bavli Shavuot 39A] All Jews are responsible for one another."

Esther and Mordecai cared enough to risk their lives to save the Jewish people. They were responsible in a crisis. We may not be called to such a lofty endeavor, but there are things we can do, especially in these troubled times, to insure that we are doing what we can. In both Israel and the Diaspora, in communities large and small, there are many problems, many needs. We have to be ready to care and to act.

The symbol of shalah manot has broader implications it seems to me, and generates expanding our actions to include non-Jews too. Why not? In an election year, with so much divisiveness, the Jewish concept can be extended. All people are responsible for one another. We can't do it alone. We need each other. That's one of the deep level messages of Purim, that each of us can find a way to implement.

Purim Sameah!! from Betty and

Rabbi Joseph Lukinsky