(A Song by my favorite Esther, Israeli rockstar Esther Rada.)
I just checked — in my 42 years, I have experienced 41 Purims. As I just learned with a quick AI supported google search, in 1983, Purim fell in February, and so I just missed my birth year’s holiday.
I owe a lot to Purim. If it weren’t for the Park Slope Jewish Center Purim party, I would have never started dating my wife, and I wouldn’t have my family today. Purim also kept me in Waterville through a tough first year. I remember after our first big Purim bash at Beth Israel congregation, my synagogue president at the time saying to me, “Can’t every day be Purim?!” The joy of the holiday inspired her — for at least one day a year, synagogue could be the most fun place to spend a night in Waterville. It kept us both going.
Fourteen years later, last night’s Purim inspired me again. Over kosher lamb stew and local Maine beers — the synagogue basement was packed with kids preparing gifts for friends and portions for the poor. After our meal, we walked upstairs and I just sat back watching our Hillel leadership put on a beautiful multigenerational schpiel and multiple congregants ascending the bimah to chant megillah.
Yes, the world is upside down right now. It’s not the first time. But Purim remains — a constant that guides us through the chaos.
Purim teaches us each year: when everything is on the line — including our own people’s survival — the future is guaranteed by singular moments. At the apex of the Book of Esther, we encounter the famous line of Mordechai entreating Esther to speak up despite the risks (4:14):
וּמִ֣י יוֹדֵ֔עַ אִם־לְעֵ֣ת כָּזֹ֔את הִגַּ֖עַתְּ לַמַּלְכֽוּת׃
And who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a moment.
Ultimately, the fate of the Jewish people is secured by a woman deciding to summon the courage to reveal her true self and serve her community. Purim is about how a single moment of moral courage can change the course of history, even when it looks like the path ahead is perilous and impervious to change.
While none of us have the stature of Esther and Mordechai, we do all have moments in our lives that determine the fates of others. We all have the ability to look at our own lives with a sense of curiosity and awe and ask ourselves, “Maybe it was the hand of God that brought me to this point, and it was for some greater purpose?”
As I reflect back on this past Purim, I could not help but feel that everything came to this moment for a reason. Due to a nasty cold, I had mostly lost my voice. It didn’t matter. After cultivating community for the past decade and a half, students, congregants, and friends all pitched in to chant megillah, to boo Haman, to keep their eyes on their kids and others. I could sit in the back of the sanctuary and relish a moment — the kind of moment that brought joy, comfort, and a sense of home to a community swimming in a sea of chaos. Purim — a story of an upside down world — anchored us for yet another year.
I felt then and feel now as though I was brought here for a greater purpose, and am filled with gratitude to live and enliven the Jewish tradition in small town Maine. I cannot imagine doing it anywhere else. There are moments that just show you where you are meant to be.
Even though I don’t usually do this, I’ll make a request if you’re feeling a similar kind of gratitude:
I publish Small Potatoes for free, and don’t plan to charge for it. However, as I mark my 41st Purim in my 42nd year, I want to ask you to support the Torah of Maine — the Torah that my family and I have been called to write and teach at this moment.
You can donate to the Center for Small Town Jewish Life here, supporting small town Jewish communities in Maine and throughout the nation.
You can also support my beautiful little synagogue, Beth Israel Congregation — Waterville — the little shul that could.
Purim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom to all. We have all been brought to this moment for a reason.
A new piece:
PS: You can see the most recent piece I wrote about the Center’s support of small town Jewish life in Illinois!