MARCH 2, 1990

THE JEWISH NEWS

A Toast
To Jewish Living

ft

Making A Purim Custom Safe

By RABBI BRUCE D. AFT
Rabbi Bruce D. Aft is
educational director for the United
Hebrew Schools' Community Jewish
High School and the author of this
month's To Our Readers.
For each issue of L'Chayim, a
rabbi, a Jewish educator or other
notable will present an overview of
the month's theme.
We need more time to celebrate
as a people. Our victories have
been too few and far between so
that with the arrival of the Hebrew
month of. Adar, we are commanded
to "Be Happy." Living during the
1990's has presented us with limits
to the way we celebrate our
happiness. A contemporary song
tells us "Don't worry, be happy!"
During the month of Adar, we
observe the holiday of Purim which
offers us the opportunity to rejoice.
In Megillat Esther (9:17) we read,
"On the thirteenth day of the month
of Adar and on the fourteenth day
of the same month they rested and
made it a day of feasting and of
gladness."
Many traditions of how tO
celebrate this joyous holiday have
emerged over time. In the
Introduction to The Scroll of Esther
in The Five Scrolls, edited by
Herbert N. Bronstein and Albert H.
Friedlander, a range of celebrations
is presented.
"The more we search, the more
we find in the text. Thus, in the
celebration of Purim, one can find
archaic observance surviving in
some forms even today. Among
ancient peoples, prior to the New
Year or the spring New Year festival,
there ensued for a day the
observance of chaos before the new
Creation. A deliberate upset of
institutional norms was practiced
prior to returning to the -established
order through the New Year rites.
For one day, the normal course of
events was overthrown. Fools or
children were crowned or installed
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Purim And Its Hidden Message

By RABBI DOV LOKETCH
The great 16th century mystic
teacher, Rabbi Issac Luria, widely
known as the Ari Hakodosh, was
once asked by one of his students
to reveal the true nature of the
holiday of Purim. He thought for a
moment and answered simply and
sharply "Yom Kippurim!" (The
formal Hebrew name for the Day of
Atonement, Yom Kippurim, can also
be read: Yom Ki Purim, a day like
Purim.)
This cryptic response seems

both strange and perplexing. If we
were asked to choose the most
dissimilar days of the Jewish
calendar, they would surely be Yom
Kippur and Purim. Yom Kippur
evokes feeling of reverence, fasting,
meaningful thoughts and
forgiveness, and serious prayers for
the health and prosperity of our
families and people. Purim, on the
other hand, is a day of reverie,
feasting on the best of food and
drink, merrymaking at home and in
shul, parties adorned with costumes

and lighthearted singing. How then
do we reconcile Rabbi Luria's
seemingly strange comparison? It is
done by analyzing the essence of
these traditions from a slightly
different vantage point.
One of the most anticipated
customs of the Purim festival is the
tumultuous burst of noisemaking
with graggers and other creative
instruments that accompanies every
mention of the name Haman while
reading the Megilla, the book of

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