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Reality is a Mask- Purim Ponderings

Purim Thoughts: Reality is a Mask Every Jewish Custom carries deep meaning. This applies to not only customs with a Biblical or Rabbinic Basis, but indeed all customs of the Jewish People- even those that are folk-customs. These customs (as long as they do not contradict Jewish Law) flow from the collective soul of the People and express fundamentally important ideas. One of the common folk-customs of Purim in many communities is the wearing of costumes and masks as part of the festivities. One of the reasons given for this is that concerning the events Purim marks - everything was “disguised”: Events consistently took turns that defied the “common wisdom” • The Jews had a secure and important place within the Persian Empire and all of a sudden that security evaporated like a morning mist and all of a sudden, they were faced with starkly utter annihilation. • The intelligent, refined and pious Esther is kidnapped and forced into the mindless existence of the harem of a coarse and des

Reality is Perception

Parshat Bo: Moses is told “This renewal (of the moon) is the first of renewals (of the moons)”. With these words the Jewish people were given their calendar, one using lunar months but faithful to the seasonal cycle of the solar year. Unlike the solar year, where nature undergoes fundamental changes throughout the cycle, the lunar cycle engenders no changes to the moon or indeed, the earth. The only substantial change is our perception of the moon –how much of it we, on Earth, can see. This tells us something powerful: Count, live, according to the Moon, to your perception as articulated in the Torah. What is ultimately important is not raw existence- but how we perceive it, how we use it, how we elevate it. We perceive the Brightness of the Moon -e.g. the G-dly presence and potential in using the world for the positive things we are asked to do. We perceive the Darkness- the negativity of relating to the world in way we are asked not to it. It is this perception that we choose; thi

A Wonderful Article on Gazaa by David Harris of the AJC

Hypocrisy! by David A. Harris Executive Director American Jewish Committee January 26, 2009 Dear Ms. Trine Lilleng, You were an unknown Norwegian diplomat till this month. No longer. As first secretary in the Norwegian Embassy in Saudi Arabia, you recently sent out an email on your office account in which you declared: "The grandchildren of Holocaust survivors from World War II are doing to the Palestinians exactly what was done to them by Nazi Germany." Accompanying your text were photos, with an emphasis on children, seeking to juxtapose the Holocaust with the recent Israeli military operation in Gaza. Clearly, you are miscast in your role as a diplomat, all the more so of a nation that has sought to play a mediating role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. In fact, you're desperately in need of some education. Let's begin with your current posting. You've been in Riyadh since 2007. If you're so anguished by human rights violations, perhaps you could have begun b

Freedom Needs More than a Revolution

History tells us of many revolutions that began with sublime ideals and visions of liberty, only to be followed by deep disappointment and even greater tyranny and oppression. The French revolution began in a magnificent blaze of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" and rapidly evolved into the Reign of Terror and the horrors of the Napoleonic Wars that so devastated Europe. In the end, the French exchanged bondage of neglect under the Bourbon Monarchs for bondage of abuse under the revolution. True freedom remained as elusive as ever. The Russian people had suffered under the autocratic rule of the Romanov Kings for centuries. When they rose up in revolution in 1917, they and the world were filled with hope for a life of freedom and a new, more just and equitable society. This hope was slaughtered in the cellars and torture chambers of the secret police and frozen in the slave camps of the Gulag. The slavery to the Romanovs was paradise compared to the bondage, absolute lack o