Hello I am Gale Ginsberg and the topic of this video is Purim for today.
If you are not familiar with the background story of the great Jewish holiday of Purim, I encourage you to take out your bible and read the book of Ester. It is a great literature. It is a steering story and well worth your time.
You may also wish to check out Rabbi Jonathan Ginsberg’s videos on this subject which our available at jewyou and YouTube online.
Now when we talk about the story of Ester, we need to consider the fact that most scholars, all serious scholars today say that the book of Ester is work of historical fiction rather than actual history. From my perspective, this takes away not one bit from its interest, its beauty and indeed its value fro us today.
Great literature can contain as much or more truth than a dry recitation of historical facts. Now, in the book of Ester we see Ester Orgadasa through a quite interesting set of circumstance becomes Queen, wife to King Ahasuerus of Persia. And, it is put in a position by God; this is the implied in the book of Ester. It is the only biblical book that do not mentioned the name of God specifically, but it is implied that Ester was given this position specifically so she would be able to save the Jewish people from the threat post by evil Haman who decided to exterminate the Jewish people.
Now Ester was given the opportunity. This does not mean that she was forced to take up that opportunity. What characteristics can we looked at in Ester that can be a valuable lesson to us today?
First of all, Ester showed great courage. She was given the opportunity to do the right thing but she could have very easily rationalized the choice to do nothing. To do what she needed to do was putting her life at risk. She needed to appear unbeaten before King Ahasuerus which was generally rewarded with the penalty of death. However, because of her great beauty and charm, Ahasuerus did not kill her. So, she displayed great courage.
As I always tell my children, courage is not the absent of fear. Courage is doing the right thing even though you are scared to death. So, she displays great courage.
In addition she displays ingenuity and creativity. She comes up with a plan. The plan of inviting Ahasuerus and evil Haman to two dinner parties at her house to in a sense work her magic with Ahasuerus, win him over and make the plan of saving the Jewish people actually happens. So she displays creativity and in a willingness to take here time, buy their time and work through a plan to get the right thing accomplish.
Now, what are the challenges facing the Jewish people today? We can certainly look at the challenges facing the state of Israel, from within and without and we need to do everything we can to support Israel by our visits, by our donations to charitable causes, by talking to our neighbors.
We also need to look at political threats form nations like Iran, who pose least theoretical and if not actual danger to the state of Israel. But closer to home, I want to talk about 2 threats to Judaism that I think are really significant today.
The first is the situation involving half of marriages involving Jewish people to non Jewish partners. This as I discuss in an earlier video on the topic of inter religious relationships, is necessary consequence of living on an open and diverse societies. So we can mourn it or we can celebrate it, it is real.
One of the problems I see in Jewish families is the tendency to push aside, to push away, to be resistant to the non Jewish spouse or fiancé. My friends, you never gain anything by pushing someone away. You will gain a lot more by drawing that person close, getting to know them, have the courage, have the faith to get to know that person as an individual. Show them the beauty of Judaism. Show what it means to have heart filled with love and goodness and righteousness. You will get a lot further that way than by pushing someone aside out of fear, and really, honestly, ignorance.
The second challenge I see facing the Jewish people today a lock of spirituality. Judaism is has become very rational and many circles, very circular and we have lost that intimate deep beautiful connection with God which really is the soul and the heart of Judaism.
So I encourage you to study the mystical traditions of Kabbalah, pray, meditate, find a shawl that you love, go regularly, go celebrate Purim, and lead a full happy Jewish life.
Operate with courage. Operate with creativity. Operate with integrity in the memory of our great, great Queen Ester.
Happy Purim!
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