Following the precedent set last year, my sermon for the Shabbat before Purim was delivered in rhyming couplets. I’m also pleased to report this one was equally well received
It’s Purim again and you know what that means.
It’s time to revisit our Purim routines.
Gifts to the poor and baskets of fruit
Reading megillah as we holler and hoot
And the meal of course which should make you rethink
Just how much of whiskey and wine you should drink
But when we celebrate this particular season
We often ignore or forget its main reason
For unlike hagim when we reenact miracles
On Purim we mostly promote the satirical
We’re laugh, we sing, and we put on a spiel
One day to have fun – so what’s the big deal?
God saved us again, this time through means hidden
And where does it say letting loose is forbidden?
Now I don’t mean to stop anyone from enjoying
And I’m sorry in advance if I’m being annoying
But I’d like to remind everyone in this shul
We have deeper meanings as a general rule
There’s of course nothing wrong with our celebration
I’d just like to include a small contemplation
Yes we were saved from a terrible danger
From a drunk king and Haman – the whole plot’s arranger
We all know by now how the story begins
But consider the question – just when did we win?
With all of our parties we hardly give thought
To the end of the story and the war that was fought
Haman’s great plan was to have the Jews killed
And so he affected how the king willed
Ahashverosh decreed that throughout all his lands
The Jews could be killed just by his command
Esther and Mordechai worked out their own plot
To ensure Haman’s plan would come out for naught
It involved Achashverosh getting drunk one more time
Which it seems is as easy for this Rabbi to rhyme.
It is a long story and so I’ll condense
This “great help” from the king just allowed self-defense
The whole of the empire – still free to attack
The only change now is that Jews could fight back
Now as miracles go and what God can do
This seems kind of lame – to me if not you
At least by Hannukah we fought with poor odds
That we can say that we won with assistance from God
In the story of Purim there is nary a mention
Of even a hint of divine intervention
The groups of the Jews seemed to fight on their own
And any assistance was at best unknown
For Achashverosh too did not intervene
And the outcome of battle could not be forseen
And yet they took arms to fight for their lives
And because of their courage, our people survives
But there’s an important description our Megillah makes clear
That our deadly opponents were overtaken by fear
At the climax of Haman’s elaborate scheme
נָפַל פַּחְדָּם עַל כָּל הָעַמִּים
So why were they frightened – what need to be scared
Of a people for whom the king barely cared?
An answer I’d offer lies within all mankind
That it is towards freedom that we are all inclined
And when banded together to fight for what’s right
Few forces can stop us, no matter their might
The greatest response to a powerful bully
Is to stand up as one and oppose him quite fully
As we’ve seen recently, sitting here quite complacent
Middle East revolutions – some only still nascent
The price that it takes to create a free nation
Cannot be adjusted to any inflation
But people will tell you that despite lives that were lost
That sometimes the battles are worth every cost
To be perfectly clear and avoid all confusion
I am not advocating for armed revolution
But to remind everyone that in times of distress
We cannot remain silent while being oppressed
There are all sorts of reasons and tired excuses
For ignoring one’s pain and recurring abuses.
It’s too big, too hard, our opponents too massive
There’s no need to act, I’ll just sit and be passive
On Purim at least – for one day, or two
We put those aside for what we had to do
When we join together, united as one
There is no evil we cannot overcome
Unique to Purim, for all lessons learned
Is that sometimes our comfort and cheer must be earned
Having faith in God is all well and good
As long as our own role is as well understood
For the Jews in the Megillah, Purim meant to them
קִיְּמוּ וקבל וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים עֲלֵיהֶם
They reaccepted the Torah with total free choice
And only after committing, were they free to rejoice
So recall as we dine on meal that’s most hearty
That sometimes we must fight for our own right to party
