We Jews have been accused of many things over the centuries but not valuing knowledge, and not striving to distinguish between good and evil have not been amongst them.\u00a0 The rabbis devoted a great deal of their energy and thought to highlight the contrasts in life, specifically between right and wrong, good and evil.\u00a0 Our teachers have taught us that we are buffeted by our good and bad inclinations, always pulling or pushing us in one direction or another.\u00a0 Our commandments and rituals strengthen us to listen to the good.\u00a0 We distinguish time, separating Shabbat from the other days of the week, holding on to its sacredness and goodness above all other days.\u00a0 We praise God in the morning for \u201ccreating light and fashioning darkness\u201d, highlighting that even in the natural world, there are separate and distinct entities.<\/p>\n
Even while we acknowledge clear distinctions between right and wrong, good and bad, we are wise enough to know that it is not always a simple matter to distinguish between them.\u00a0 Just as the dawn or dusk, when light and dark become confused, there are times when it is difficult to distinguish the contrasts and distinctions in our physical and spiritual worlds.\u00a0 It is exactly when discerning between good and evil is most difficult that our efforts become most determined.\u00a0 Knowing that the distinctions are not always clear, we dedicate ourselves to seeking the boundaries of the competing entities in life and to ensure that we stand guard on the right side of the borderline.<\/p>\n
All of Jewish law and tradition supports us in this effort.\u00a0 Almost all.\u00a0 On Purim, we are confronted by a seeming contradiction.\u00a0 On Purim, a blurring of this boundary between good and evil is commanded.\u00a0 In the Talmud (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 7b) Rava said, \u201cIt is one\u2019s duty (levasumei<\/i>) to be intoxicated on Purim until one cannot tell the difference between arur Haman <\/i>(cursed be Haman) and\u00a0baruch\u00a0Mordechai\u00a0<\/i>(blessed be Mordechai).<\/p>\n
How could our rabbis who were always so vigilant about encouraging decent and respectful behavior during every moment of our lives simply remove all boundaries and limits so that we might become so intoxicated on Purim that we cannot tell the difference between arur Haman <\/i>and\u00a0baruch\u00a0Mordechai<\/i>?<\/p>\n
What, realistically, is a Jew to make of such a duty?\u00a0 Certainly, there can be no merit in drunkenness for its own sake.\u00a0 While wine plays a prominent role in our rituals and simchas<\/i>, overindulgence is never encouraged. \u00a0Chazal\u2019s intent could not have been to have Purim become a showcase for drunkenness and vulgarity.\u00a0 Our drunkenness, if that is what is commanded of us, must be a means to an end; but even if we argue that the drunkenness has some merit, the ends remain likewise troubling \u2013 to confuse good and evil in the personages of Haman and Mordechai!<\/p>\n
There are those who would interpret the duty so that a genuine blurring of good and evil is not the true intent.\u00a0 They suggest that one should drink to the point of being unable to calculate the gematria<\/i> of \u201carur Haman<\/i>\u201d and \u201cbaruch\u00a0mordechai<\/i>\u201d, aware that they share the numerical value of 502.\u00a0\u00a0 Or they might suggest that one should drink only to the point of not being able to recall which came first; the curse on Haman or Mordechai’s rise to be Achashveirosh’s\u00a0 viceroy.<\/p>\n
Is there more to it?<\/p>\n
The answer to our conundrum cannot be discovered by skirting the issue.\u00a0 Just as the essential contradiction and confusion of the command for drunkenness on Purim confounds us, so it is within that contradiction that we find its value and meaning.<\/p>\n
Looking directly at the command to lose our ability to distinguish between good and evil on Purim, we must ask, Why?\u00a0 \u00a0While a number of explanations for the directive to become so intoxicated that we cannot distinguish between arur Haman<\/i> and\u00a0baruch\u00a0Mordechai\u00a0<\/i>exist, ultimately, the command directs our attention not to the issue of good and evil, but to the unity of the Jewish people.\u00a0 The inability to distinguish between villain and hero speaks most profoundly to the need within the Jewish community to remove distinctions so that we can experience and know genuine equality and respect for every member of the community.<\/p>\n
Just as God is One, so too is the Jewish people.\u00a0 We embrace God as a community<\/i>.\u00a0 It is for this reason that true happiness for Jews is only possible when there is unity amongst the Jewish people. \u00a0Absent an embrace of our unity, we will always be diminished by festering anger, angst, and anxiety. \u00a0\u00a0Yet, our lives and dealings are too often defined by pettiness, jealousy, misunderstanding and disrespect toward our fellows.<\/p>\n
There can be no greater blessing for Jews than unity, and no greater curse than discord. Yet, despite the clear blessing of unity, we are too often defined by our divisions rather than our common purpose. How timely then, that Purim, with its joy and lessons of community, is before us! How good it is that the ultimate purpose and focus of this, the happiest of Jewish holidays, and of its central source, Megillat Esther, is to create and reinforce unity and harmony among Jews!<\/p>\n
The lesson of Purim is to embrace the entire Jewish community; not only those Jews whose observance is like my own but also those whose practice is \u201cfar distant\u201d, \u00a0who come \u201cstretching out their hand\u201d and by doing so, ask me for my understanding and generosity.<\/p>\n
On Purim we must reach out to one another; all who \u201cstretch out their hand\u201d must be responded to. If only for this one, marvelous day, we must get beyond our stubborn refusal to acknowledge others who are \u201cnot like us\u201d. If only for this one day, we must reach out to anyone and everyone in the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
Anyone can embrace one who is like him.\u00a0 The challenge is to share the Purim\u00a0seudah\u00a0<\/i>with someone who is different.\u00a0 Yes, even those who are as different to one another as Haman is to Mordechai<\/i>!\u00a0 Certainly if the command is to be unable to distinguish between these two, one can see past any differences that exist within the community so that we all embrace unity.<\/p>\n
Ad d\u2019lo yada<\/i>!<\/p>\n
So, the intent of Chazal\u2019s challenging directive becomes clear; not to encourage drunkenness but to facilitate a bond and love between Jews.\u00a0 \u00a0Stop labeling your \u201cfriends\u201d as Mordechai and your \u201cenemies\u201d as Haman!\u00a0 On Purim, we are to become intoxicated\u2026 not with wine but with love for our fellow Jew!\u00a0 \u00a0We are to forget our ill will toward those who are not \u2018just like us\u201d and embrace them as fellow Jews. \u00a0On Purim, we are called on to eliminate the animosity (arur Haman<\/i>) \u00a0<\/i>we have for fellow Jews, and to simultaneously free ourselves of the jealousy (baruch\u00a0Mordechai<\/i>) <\/i>we feel for those who have achieved what we have not.\u00a0 On Purim we are challenged to transform the Hamans in our lives into Mordechais, just as we are commanded in Torah that precedence be given to one\u2019s enemy in the law of unburdening an overladen donkey. \u201cIt is preferable to force one\u2019s evil inclination (to not hate a fellow Jew)\u201d<\/p>\n
Becoming intoxicated on wine is easy.\u00a0 As we know only too well, any fool can do it.\u00a0 The greater challenge is to become intoxicated with love and compassion.\u00a0 \u00a0Does not this \u201cintoxication\u201d speak more powerfully to what it means to be a Jew in a Jewish community?<\/p>\n
On Purim, we belong neither to those who berate Haman or who extol Mordechai.\u00a0 On Purim, we are equal in our life mission to uplift and respect every Jew, without regard to his status or station in life.<\/p>\n
For myself, I consider myself fortunate indeed, as I never saw my father drink more than a small \u201cglaizel schnaps<\/i>\u201d!<\/p>\n
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Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu Safran serves as OU Kosher\u2019s vice president, communications and marketing,<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We Jews have been accused of many things over the centuries but not valuing knowledge, and not striving to distinguish between good and evil have not been amongst them.\u00a0 The rabbis devoted a great deal of their energy and thought to highlight the contrasts in life, specifically between right and wrong, good and evil.\u00a0 Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":41648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purim"],"yoast_head":"\n