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Purim 2026/5786: Greetings from "Shushan on the Shores of Green Lake"
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Originally shared with the SJCS Community in a message on Purim 2026/5786, at the outset of the war between the United States & Israel and Iran. BaYamim HaHem BaZman HaZeh ... No Purim in memory has resounded more fully with echoes of the original story than this one. The context, in a true expression of the human condition, generates responses in tension with each other, along with diverse ranges of reactions. The frivolity of the holiday can land as incongruous, and it can also land as welcome, if ephemeral redirection. The context also gave us an opportunity this morning to consider together a topic that could have been too esoteric in different contexts: why humans have told varied stories since time immemorial, including stories like the Purim story that surely present as tragic on their face, but have been turned over time by generations of storytellers into farce. Processing tragedy through farce is human nature. It comes to us, too, with very deep roots in the history and customs of the Jewish people. |
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For my part -- true confession -- Purim has never been anywhere near the top of my list of favorite celebrations. That says nothing good (though also nothing bad) about me; it's just my character. And this year hardly set up a context likely to bump Purim up my list. Except for this: Observing nearly all of the children giving themselves over to frivolous fun felt so good, so right, so much a part of what they should experience and feel -- not separate from, but as a key ingredient (among others; including quite different ingredients) in the grounding and the bonds we are establishing for them to lead lives of purpose and meaning in the contexts of Jewish community, in all the diverse ways they will engage with their communities. |
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I am grateful to alum parent and former Board member Danielle Nacamuli for sharing her time with us and her expertise in the traditional cantillation of the megilah. I am grateful to my colleagues for giving themselves over to the frivolity, even as doing so compounds all that they shoulder in guiding children in complex times. I am grateful to Director of After-School Programs and Jewish Life Ray Opatowsky for their organization of a full and special day for the students. I am grateful, most of all, to the children, for transforming what my character might have been inclined to sideline as "frivolity" into something more meaningful and powerful: joy. Chag Purim Sameach David Zimand, |