{Originally posted to Rabbi Weinberg’s website, The Foundation Stone}
A possible second holocaust, one generation after the first, is avoided through human effort and results in an earth-shattering military victory. There is ecstatic joy beyond the relief, and now the religious leaders of the generation debate how best to reify the experience. This was the situation after Haman threatened his Final Solution just a generation after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the Jews from Israel. Mordechai and Esther successfully stopped Haman, and eventually won a great military victory over those who wanted the Jews to be wiped off the face of the earth.
This could be the scene after Israel deals with Iran’s nuclear arms, or a picture of the religious community immediately after the Six-Day-War. The religious response to the Six-Day-War is still debated. Perhaps we can derive a lesson from Esther’s approach that we will be able to emulate after the hoped for victory over Iran.
Esther asked for only two simple things: Each of us should send gifts of food to add to each other’s Purim feasts, and provide meals for at least two poor families. That’s it! She didn’t ask for a Day of Prayer, recitation of Psalms, repentance, or any complex religious ceremony. Esther was convinced that the best way, the only way, to permanently incorporate the joy into the life of all of us was to accept responsibility to make each other happy. Esther experienced the Purim story as God making us happy with our efforts, and she wanted us to emulate God by helping each other rejoice in our striving.
There were no debates about God’s role in the miracle, whether we should sing Hallel, or add prayers. There was only the eternal simplicity of expressing and sharing joy in being alive.
We don’t have to wait for the dreaded and hopefully avoidable confrontation with Iran to respond before we need a miracle. We can begin now, on Purim, by centering our religious lives around the joy of living and committing ourselves to helping others find happiness in life.
I wish each of you an infectiously joyous Purim that will permanently extend itself through your entire life and will inspire others to live with the sense that God wants us to rejoice in our efforts.