Purim
- 14 Adar
In celebration of Purim, the holiday of eating, drinking,
and merriment, SocialAction.com brings you a host of action ideas, educational
and organizational resources related to the social justice requirement that the
holiday simultaneously commands of us. Our partying is balanced with the mitzvah
of matanot l’evyonim, giving “gifts to the poor”.
Produced by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Some people have called Purim “the holiday of opposites.” Just
as the story of Esther, which starts with Haman ordering the killing of all the
Jews and ends with the execution of Haman himself, is full of “upside down,” so
too are our celebrations. Yet, in spite of this silliness, Purim continues to be
a holiday about social justice.
There are three main commandments (mitzvot) associated
with the holiday of Purim, apart from the commandment to hear the reading of Megillat
Esther: feasting (seuda), sending portions of food to friends (mishloach
manot), and sending gifts to the poor (matanot l’evyonim). Sybil Shaver
explores some themes that emerge from the Rambam’s discussion of these three mitzvot
in his Mishneh Torah, and what they tell us about our response as a community
to the poor among us.
The Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations is leading
an effort to focus community efforts on the increasing needs of infant and children
living in poverty. Over 40% of the children in Milwaukee live in poverty and the
city poverty rate ranks seventh in the nation.
Check out Areyvut for ideas galore!
As we prepare for Purim, perhaps the most raucous and boisterous
celebration of the Jewish calendar, we pause for Shabbat Zachor. It is on
this Shabbat, preceding Purim that we recite the seemingly paradoxical commandment
to remember Amalek and to wipe out the memory of this notoriously treacherous tribe.
By JOSH EAGLE, YOSEF ABRAMOWITZ, and RABBI SUSAN P. FENDRICK
Purim—A Jewish party—celebrating our blessings and our joy,
in our own lives or for our people—is never complete without thinking about
what is still broken in the world. Think of the broken glass at a wedding, and
the custom of inviting the poor to the banquet. In the giddy relief and mad
celebration at their survival, even the Jews of Shushan did not forget that
moments of joy do not—should not—obliterate our awareness of pain and need.
By RABBI DAVID ROSENN
Mordecai and King
Ahasuerus wrote accounts of the events surrounding Purim. Fortunately, so did Esther. Otherwise,
on Purim we might be reading, not the Scroll of Esther, but the Scroll of
Mordecai.
Forty-one years ago this month, the ground shifted under American
democracy. In March, 1965, 600 people attempted to walk from Selma, Alabama to the
state capital, Montgomery, less than 70 miles away. They wanted to ask Governor
George Wallace for just one thing: the right to vote.
