Purim Joy!

14 Adar Bet 5784
Purim Sameach! 

By all accounts, a lot of people are taking issue with, or at least having a hard time reconciling their own mixed feelings about, "celebrating" Purim this year.  A tragedy is no less a tragedy if it is happening to one person or to millions.  If I am not mistaken, no personal or communal or even national tragedy or dire circumstance relieves us of the obligation to fulfill our mitzvot.  If anything, this is where we find both our comfort and our strength, if we have the correct perspective on it. 

It should come as no surprise, of course, that those having the most trouble with this are those who are furthest from Torah and mitzvot.  Some people view it like a goyish holiday, but then that's the way they "celebrate" it, too.  Then, some are wont to put their own spin on things, their feelings being a major consideration when they determine any course of action.  But, this is not a decision that is made from year to year based upon the current situation or how we are feeling at the moment.  In the thousands of years since the Megillah was written and the mitzvot established, Purim was only curtailed by force, not from choice.

The joyful celebration of Purim, even if we are crying on the inside, is a statement, to ourselves and to the world, that we have the same faith as our ancestors, in the same God Who delivered them, and we trust HIM to deliver us, too.  Whatever is going on in the world is being Divinely directed and we can be sure that - like the Purim story itself - it will all come to a happy end for those who love HKB"H.

Celebrate!  Because like Haman HaRasha before them, Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Nations, along with all the hate-filled enemies of God's people, will be caught up in their own traps and share his unhappy end.

VeNahafoch Hu!!!

[Note: This blog post was scheduled to publish automatically at the close of Shabbat.]