Message
Dear JCC Community,
The approaching Purim holiday offers a deeper message than just reenacting part of our collective memory. Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR in Los Angeles goes so far as to say that Purim is the exact reflection, the mirror-image, of another Jewish holiday—Yom Kippur.
Yom Kippur? And Purim? Probably the last thing you would ever expect me to say! Yom Kippur is a day of reckoning. How could we compare this solemn and even somber occasion to the most joyful and, dare we say, hedonistic day on the Jewish calendar? Yet, the Talmud reveals a play on words that at first glance could not be more contradictory. Yom Kippurim, the proper biblical title of the holiday, should actually be read as "yom," a day, "k'Purim," like Purim!
Despite the fact that Yom Kippur and Purim appear to be total opposites, a common theme emerges. At their core, both are holidays when everything and anything can be turned on its head. On Yom Kippur we realize that someone who has been healthy could become sick, someone who is wealthy could become poor. Purim teaches us that one day you could be an orphan from an oppressed minority, and the next you could become the Queen of Persia! These holidays offer us two different strategies for dealing with the reality of cosmic unpredictability. Yom Kippur is a day to abstain, to withdraw and contemplate. Purim is the day to indulge, to celebrate, to throw a party. Not every day can be Yom Kippur, and not every day can be Purim, but the beauty of the Jewish calendar is that there is one day for each.
This year, let's share Purim in a way that still celebrates the child-like glee that suffuses every member of our community, no matter how old they may be, but also recognizes the human complexity of every individual. In a way that offers thanks and gratitude for the miracles of existence, but also values how our fortunes can shift in an instant. As we celebrate, may our joy and laughter echo in the walls of the JCC, and our gratitude and love be carried out with us into the rest of our worlds.
Chag Purim Sameach!
Rabbi Yael Rapport
Director, The Gottesman Center for Jewish Living
and The Selma and Lawrence Ruben Center for 20s + 30s