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Events Calendar

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Sat 29

Torah Study
Saturdays 9 am – 10 am

April 29 @ 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Fri 28

WTBA Winter & Spring Virtual Yoga

April 28 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Sat 22

Torah Study
Saturdays 9 am – 10 am

April 22 @ 9:00 am - 10:00 am
Fri 21

WTBA Winter & Spring Virtual Yoga

April 21 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Sat 15

Torah Study
Saturdays 9 am – 10 am

April 15 @ 9:00 am - 10:00 am

Purim 5783
Megilat Esther 

Rabbi Gary Pokras 

Purim is unique among all the Jewish holidays. One might think it is because we are commanded to drink to abandon, until we are so drunk, we cannot tell the difference between Haman and Mordechai. Or it could be the many delicious Hamantaschen we enjoy, or humorous and sometimes wildly creative spiels that retell the Purim story.  

These are certainly things that are specific to Purim, but they are details of observance rather than meaning. What makes Purim utterly unique among other Jewish holidays is that Purim is the only holiday entirely focused on the Diaspora experience. Every other holiday, in one way or another, references our relationship to the Land of Israel. 

The book of Esther takes place in ancient Persia, without any mention of Israel. Furthermore, it is the only book in the Jewish bible which makes no mention of God. While we laugh our way through Purim, we also confront an underlying historical question our people have repeatedly faced. In the Diaspora, we live at the mercy of the host countries where we make our homes. We may be active and even proud citizens, such as Austrian Jews in the 1920s and 1930s, but without Jewish sovereignty of our own, we are always facing potential and sometimes immanent risk. Farcical as it is, the book of Esther describes a time when the Jews of Persia fell from safety to danger, and how – even when God seemed hidden – we managed to survive and then thrive. It is the ultimate holiday expression of the Jewish joke: “They tried to kill us, they failed, let’s eat.” It is also an early expression of what Abraham Joshua Heschel taught when he said that we should “pray as if everything depended upon God, and act as if everything depended upon us.” 

Sometimes, when things are dark, laughter is an act of courage. Purim teaches us to laugh in the face of danger, and to act based on what the times require. And, of course, to celebrate what we have, and then eat. 

What could be more Jewish than that? 

Torah Blog Archives

  • Tzav (Shabbat HaGadol) 5783  Lev. 6:1 – 8:36 
  • VaYikra 5783  Lev. 1:1 – 5:26 
  • VaYakhel/Pekudei (Shabbat HaChodesh) 5783 Ex. 35:1 – 40:38 
  • Ki Tissa 5783  Ex. 30:11 – 34:35 
  • Purim 5783 Megilat Esther 
  • Tetzaveh 5783  Ex. 27:20 – 30:10
  • Terumah 5783  Ex. 25:1 – 27:19 
  • Mishpatim (Shabbat Shekalim) 5783  Ex. 21:1 – 24:18
  • Yitro 5783  Ex. 18:1 – 20:23 
  • BeShallach (Shabbat Shira) 5783  Ex. 13:17 – 17:16 
  • Bo 5783 Exodus 10:1 – 13:16 
  • VaEra 5783  Exodus 6:2 – 9:35 
  • Shemot 5779  Exodus 1:1 – 6:1 
  • VaYigash – 5783  Genesis 44:18 – 47:27
  • Miketz – 5783 
    Genesis 41:1—42:27 

  • VaYeishev – 5779  Genesis 37:1 – 40:23
  • VaYishlach – 5779  Genesis 32:4 – 36:43 
  • Toledot – 5780  Genesis 25:19 – 28:9 
  • Chayei Sarah – 5780  Genesis 23:1 – 25:18 
  • VaYeira – 5779  Genesis 18:1 – 22:24
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Temple Beth Ami, 14330 Travilah Road Rockville MD, 20850
301-340-6818