The Sound Of The Groggers
By ROBERT GARVEY
This year Gabriel had the honor
of reading the Megillah.
The other angels listened to his
sweet voice, nodding and
sometimes humming along, for they
loved every word of the beautiful old
story of Esther. When Gabriel read
the name "Haman," however, there
was a noise like a thunderclap that
topped Gabriel off his chair and
brought all the other angels to their
feet.
Where had the noise come
from? Surely there are no groggers
in heaven. In fact, there are no
noisemakers of any kind. Even the
heavenly orchestra, which is easily
the largest in the universe, has no
snaredrums, kettledrums, cymbals,
or other claptrap noisemakers.
And so the questioning eyes of
the angels turned to the Throne of
the Most High.
"Do you not know?" the Lord
said.
But none of the angels could
imagine where the noise had come
from.
Gabriel went on with the
reading. But when he pronounced
the word "Haman" again, a
terrifying roar shook the universe.
"How disturbing!" several
angels said, quite nervous. And
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Elijah shook his head sadly. I
guess it's Earth again, he thought.
He then checked on the dozen or
so thunderstorms breaking out
around the equator. But those
weren't loud enough to reach
Heaven.
And so he began a careful
search. He checked every house of
every street of every town and
village until he came to a somewhat
noisy synagogue.
Inside, the synagogue was
crowded with men and women, and
mostly with children. A man up front
was reading the Megillah, and every
time the name "Haman" was read,
the children swung their groggers.
Elijah knew this was an old practice
on Earth.
But the sound of the groggers
Archangel Gabriel said, "It can't be
was not remarkably loud. Not at all
a heavenly creature who is doing
as loud as guns or thunderbolts.
this. It must be someone from below The windows didn't even rattle. Only
— someone who is different from
the children kept swinging their
us."
groggers long after the name
And so Elijah — who was a
"Haman" was read, so that the
kind of Heavenly Messenger — was shammash had to hold up his hand
sent out to see where the noise was and tell them to stop or the reading
coming from.
would not go on.
Flying smoothly, he took a turn
"Good Purim to you, stranger!"
around Saturn and Neptune and
a man said to Elijah with a chuckle.
even Venus and Mars. But all was
"Did you ever hear such fun-
peaceful there as the planets moved makers? Once these silly kids get a
quietly around the sun and their
grogger in their hands they can't
moons moved quietly around them.
stop them!"
L-6
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1989
"Oh, dear, they are so wild this
year," an older man said, frowning
over his glasses. "And the rabbi
gave them such a nice sermon,
such a nice sermon. About being
different, you know." And he
whispered to Elijah: "You know? He
told them all about Haman — how
he couldn't bear people being
different from himself. And so he
tried to destroy these people who
were different. Now isn't that a nice
sermon? Isn't it? But in one ear and
out the other with these children.
Oh, they listened quietly while the
rabbi spoke. But now see how wild
they are. If only they were different!
Well, I do hope you will excuse us,
stranger. Our synagogue is usually
an orderly place, it is."
Elijah looked around. Some of
the children were giggling and
whirling their groggers just for the
fun, but some of them were turning
their groggers as if their lives
depended on it! Elijah asked one or
two of these children what they
were doing, but all they would say
was, "Oh, we're drowning out
Haman!"
Elijah stroked his beard. He
was sure that these were the noises
that were reaching Heaven, but he
did not know why. So he
concentrated very hard until he
could see right into the minds and
hearts of the children. And this is
what he found out.
The little girl in the blue dress,
swinging her grogger with all her
might, was thinking:
I'm drowning out the voice of
the man who told me not to play
with my friend because she has a
skin of a different color than mine.
The boy whirling his grogger
breathlessly had this on his mind:
I am drowning out the voice of
the woman who told me not to go to
school with my friend because his
skin is a different color from mine.
And the little boy tearfully
shaking his grogger was thinking:
Just because I'm littler than
him, the big bully won't let me play
in the basketball game. I'm
drowning out what he said to me.
And still other children were
making noises to drown out what
people said about other people
because they were different.
Elijah stopped concentrating
and smiled. He knew there was
nothing anybody could do to stop
these noises from breaking the
quiet in Heaven.
But he hoped the people on
Earth would just listen a little to the
grogger sounds and know what was
on the minds and hearts of their
children.
Reprinted by permission from More
World Over Stories.