{"id":36015,"date":"2014-03-10T14:51:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T14:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=36015"},"modified":"2016-01-06T15:35:43","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T15:35:43","slug":"behind-masks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/behind-masks\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Am I?: Behind Our Masks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who am I?<\/p>\n

In the musical, Les Miserables, Jean Valjean was a good and decent man who stole a loaf of bread to feed his family.\u00a0 Imprisoned for his crime, he is given a chance to become good and decent again only to have events he has long sought to escape come back to threaten him time and time again.\u00a0 To protect his hidden status, he need only allow Javert, the police detective, to take another into custody in his stead.\u00a0 But, what kind of person could allow such a thing to happen?\u00a0 And so he sings, Who am I? giving voice to that deepest of human needs, to know who we truly are.<\/p>\n

Who am I?<\/p>\n

We are all called to ask the question and yet we wear masks, figurative and real.\u00a0 They hide who we are, our emotions and personalities.\u00a0\u00a0 They sometimes reveal, but most often disguise, conceal, deceive, pretend, protect and allow the wearer to not be \u201cwho he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if masks are so clearly deceitful, why do we wear them on Purim?\u00a0 What is it that we hide and disguise on this holiday?<\/p>\n

Pesach, Sukkot, Chanukah recall obvious miracles, miracles defined by their \u201cunnaturalness\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0But on Purim, even the miracle was \u201cdisguised\u201d as natural, as if to suggest that God can \u201cwear a mask\u201d and remain concealed within natural, everyday events.\u00a0\u00a0 The plot is familiar.\u00a0 King invites wife to ball, she doesn\u2019t show, she is eliminated, anti-Semite, evil minister plots against the Jews, king remarries, she happens to be Jewish; she arranges to annul decree\u2026 These seeming natural events conceal the true\u00a0Manhig<\/i>\u00a0Who is very involved.\u00a0 True, there are no plagues, no boils or darkness, but there is just as certainly the Hand of God at work.<\/p>\n

God proclaims in the Torah\u00a0anochi haster astir<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 I shall hide My face.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, there are times when God is hidden, when it is not apparent that He is involved in every minute of history.<\/p>\n

On Purim all are commanded to give to those whose hand is outstretched.\u00a0 To minimize the shame of the poor, we wear a mask \u2013 so the pauper doesn\u2019t need to \u201cface me\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0Indeed, the Purim story ends with Mordechai and Esther both dressed in royal clothing.\u00a0 Imagine, a story which began with Esther being the only candidate to not \u201cbeautify\u201d herself with makeup and perfumes, and Mordechai wrapped in sackcloth praying for his people now in such impressive costumes!\u00a0 Who but God could author such a \u201cmasquerade\u201d?<\/p>\n

But then, what of our masks?\u00a0 There are those whose lives are lived behind masks, hiding from others, hiding from themselves.\u00a0 \u00a0There are those in the Jewish community who don\u2019t seem to know who they are so they wear masks on their faces \u2013 masks of their choosing or masks imposed upon them.\u00a0 As the Yiddish song goes,\u00a0A ganz yahr Purim<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 It\u2019s Purim all Year!\u00a0 They fool most people most of the time.\u00a0 But they suffer! \u201cI want out!\u201d\u00a0 \u201cI want to get an education.\u00a0 I want to be an enlightened member of society.\u00a0 I want to be somebody! I want to be me!\u201d<\/p>\n

No man can show one face to others and another to himself and not lose track of which is the real one.\u00a0 Too many people live their lives being a person they are \u201cexpected\u201d to be; being \u201csomebody else\u201d.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

On Purim, we are called to masquerade behind \u201cthe other one\u201d.\u00a0 On Purim, we join hands with God and identify with the natural course of events.\u00a0 How much easier to be \u201cwith nature\u201d than the awesomeness of parting seas!\u00a0 How much easier to have God work \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d! But, unlike man, whether hidden or obvious He is the One God.\u00a0 The God of Pesach is the God of Purim.\u00a0 But we, we are lost in our hiddenness, lost in \u201c\u2026one of the greatest tragedies of life\u2026\u201d by losing our sense of self in favor of a version expected by everyone else.<\/p>\n

But if masks are so negative, how can we be permitted to wear them, even for just one day?<\/p>\n

On Purim our masks are made sacred by Yom Kippur, because Purim\u00a0K\u2019purim<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 the Ba\u2019alei Kabbalah teach that Yom Hakipurim is like Purim!\u00a0 Frivolity is the same as awesome spirituality.\u00a0 The two are integrated within one human being, a being made up of smiles and tears, memories and dreams, fears and hopes, body and soul.\u00a0 Neither can exist without the balance of the other.\u00a0 No Purim without Kipurim; no Kipurim without Purim.<\/p>\n

Joy and solemnity.\u00a0 Do not the bride and groom fast and recite\u00a0Al Chet<\/i>?\u00a0\u00a0 Do they not sing and dance?\u00a0 Life is Kipurim and Purim, together, in balance.\u00a0 The frivolity of Purim is ushered in by the\u00a0Ta\u2019anis Esther<\/i>.\u00a0 Yom Kippur concludes with the building of the Sukkah.<\/p>\n

We do not \u201chide\u201d on Purim. We embrace the complexity of what it is to be human!\u00a0 As we should every day of the year!\u00a0 We must all be real every day.\u00a0 No one should fear what they love \u2013 Torah, halacha, education, our commitment to Israel, a relationship with society at large.\u00a0 These things need never be in conflict.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Many years ago, when I had more energy and less body mass, I was an all-around Purim cheerleader.\u00a0 I danced, sang, clapped, lifted children up on my shoulders.\u00a0 I leapt atop tables, chairs, stages\u2026 anything to see the happiness on the faces of beautiful Jewish\u00a0kinderlach\u00a0<\/i>in Pittsburgh.\u00a0\u00a0 Even in my youth, I was exhausted for days after the celebrations in the Hillel Academy which followed Megilah\u00a0laining\u00a0<\/i>at our Poale Zedeck synagogue.\u00a0 Not just the dancing and singing, my Purim celebration included a Yerushalmi kapote and a Yerushalmi hat gifted to me by a Yerushalmi yid.\u00a0 Oye, this hat was my prize possession, as dear to me as gold and diamonds.\u00a0 It came out only for very special family simchas, like the weddings of my nieces Leora and Debbie, and for Purim.\u00a0 My Yerushalmi hat always came out for the Purim merriment.\u00a0 Year round, I wore my dignified suit, tie and hat.\u00a0 But on Purim\u2026 all that went by the wayside as my Yerushalmi hat made my Purim joy and happiness obvious!<\/p>\n

\"PHOTO2\"
Rabbi Safran with his Yerushalmi hat \u2013 circa 1982<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Until one Purim night.<\/span><\/p>\n

I do not recall the year.\u00a0 I was singing, dancing, jumping and, sweating.\u00a0 Just joy and happiness!\u00a0 One child on my shoulders after another.\u00a0 What happiness!\u00a0 And then, the little boy on my shoulders \u2013 he could not have been older than six \u2013 began to cry.\u00a0 What could make this little Israeli boy cry?\u00a0 His father, not very religious, had brought him to celebrate Purim in a warm and embracing Pittsburgh community, where all were as one, caring for one another, non-judgmental.\u00a0 \u00a0And all of a sudden, this cute little boy began to cry and shout.\u00a0 It took a moment for me to understand his sobbing plea.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ani rotzeh et ha\u2019kova shel ha\u2019Rav\u00a0<\/i>\u2013 I want the Rabbi\u2019s hat!<\/p>\n

Oye!\u00a0 What could I do?\u00a0 This little boy did not want just\u00a0any\u00a0<\/i>hat!\u00a0 He had not cried for just any groegger!\u00a0 He wanted\u00a0my\u00a0<\/i>Yeruahalmi hat!\u00a0 What would I do?\u00a0 How would I be my \u201cPurim self\u201d without my hat?\u00a0\u00a0 Without my Purim hat, how could I be Rabbi Safran on Purim?<\/p>\n

The little boy could not understand my dilemma.\u00a0 He only knew what he knew, which was that he wanted the\u00a0kova shel ha\u2019Rav<\/i>.\u00a0 What could I do?\u00a0 I whipped the hat off my head and put it upon his!\u00a0 His tears immediately vanished, replaced by a broad smile.<\/p>\n

In truth, I have missed my hat.\u00a0 This precious gift from Reb Avramal\u2019e Freund\u00a0z\u2019l<\/i>, this gift that I delighted in so dearly.\u00a0 But I gave it away; to a child I did not even know!<\/p>\n

Do you think it is silly that I think of that hat often?\u00a0 That I wonder about giving it away to a stranger?\u00a0 It has taken a long time to realize that as much as I loved that hat, it was not the real me.<\/p>\n

It was a costume.\u00a0 A mask.\u00a0 Which allowed me, its wearer, to act out of character, to have a new persona.<\/p>\n

A Yerushalmi hat.\u00a0 Imagine, a hat conferring such a thing!\u00a0 But we see it to be so every day.\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0shtreimel\u00a0<\/i>in communities of yesteryear spoke of impeccable spiritual purity, devotion, and holiness. \u00a0Those who lived every day in the garb of yesteryear were renowned for everything sacred and pure.<\/p>\n

After all, how many\u00a0yidden\u00a0<\/i>in the shtetl of old wore a\u00a0shtreimel<\/i>? \u00a0So very few.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet where I live today, who does\u00a0not\u00a0<\/i>wear a\u00a0shtreimel<\/i>?\u00a0 Only strangers to the community.<\/p>\n

Is it a costume or a true reflection of your inner being?\u00a0 Be real!\u00a0 Don\u2019t wear what is not the real you!\u00a0\u00a0 If your hat speaks to a certain\u00a0hashkafa<\/i>\u00a0be sure that every facet of your life is true to that hat. \u00a0If your hat bespeaks\u00a0perishut<\/i>\u00a0as the Yerushalmi hat once did, then be sure that you live with that\u00a0perishut<\/i>\u00a0in all facets of your life. \u00a0And if you wear a\u00a0shtreimel<\/i>\u2026<\/p>\n

Let your \u201ccostume\u201d reflect your true self, not hide it!<\/p>\n

Which gets me to wondering\u2026 who is wearing my Yerushalmi hat this Purim?\u00a0 Is he singing and dancing with all his heart and soul, embracing the joy of the holiday?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who am I? In the musical, Les Miserables, Jean Valjean was a good and decent man who stole a loaf of bread to feed his family.\u00a0 Imprisoned for his crime, he is given a chance to become good and decent again only to have events he has long sought to escape come back to threaten […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":296,"featured_media":36024,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purim"],"yoast_head":"\nWho Am I?: Behind Our Masks - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We are called to ask the question, yet we wear masks, figurative & real that hide who we are. 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