thought for Purim
i
On Hanukkah we take the Menorah—
light kept inside the Temple,
light kept inside our homes—
and bring it to the window
to the door
to the street
light for passersby
for all to see.
*
On Purim we drink wine.
The Talmud says:
wine enters, the secret emerges—
we drink,
we share what is within.
On Purim,
we also give alms to all who ask
and give gifts of meals.
Money for all,
food for all,
our selves for everyone.
ii
The Greeks sought to take Judaism away.
Haman nearly massacred us.
The dangerous wide world crept in to our very center
to rip it out.
God saved us.
iii
The world having reached so deep,
now the sharp lines between the world outside us
and the world within
between the hidden light
and light to be revealed
between our quiet secrets
and our conversation
between what we own
and what we offer
were shown as permeable.
*
This was a gift:
across such porous borders
we can finally carry our inner holiness outward
and share what makes us up.
At last we can be one with each other.
____
Chag Purim Sameach,
Abe
With thanks to Kathi and to Yossi Nissenfeld