Rabbi Yossi's Blog

The call went out and everyone responded. Some grabbed what they had but others - the wealthy leaders - said that they’d let everyone else donate, and then they would fill in whatever was missing. The only problem? In the end there was a surplus, nothing was lacking.

This is what happened when Moses announced the building campaign for the Tabernacle in the desert. Everyone ran and got what they could but the Princes, the leaders of the tribes, decided to wait. They certainly had good intentions but at the end of the day, they missed an opportunity.

The next time Moses announced a collection, they were the very first to donate; they had learned their lesson.

The Torah tells us about the Princes and their relatively small donation; Rashi elaborates about their mistake and how they learned from it. While they weren’t able to fix their mistake, they did learn from it.

Sometimes we can rectify a mistake that we’ve made, and other times nothing can be done; we can’t change the past - but we can always learn from our mistakes to make a better choice in the future.

Everything that we experience, whether they’re things that we perceive as good, or things that seem to us as bad, must be a lesson for us in our Divine service and personal growth.

“If G-d is real, why doesn’t he show Himself?” Is a common question that I’m asked in various forms at least once a week. And it’s a good question which we can discuss in detail at some point. But the simplest answer is - He does. G-d does reveal Himself, but He only reveals his back.

Just like it’s harder to recognize a person from behind, sometimes it’s difficult to recognize G-d. But just like someone whom we know well is easily recognized - even from behind; with enough familiarity we can recognize G-d in this world, too.

One of the most disturbing stories in the Torah will be read this Shabbat. It’s the narrative of the Golden Calf: Only 40 days after experiencing the unprecedented G-dly revelation at Mount Sinai (itself after witnessing the miracles of the Exodus), the Jewish people created an idol and worshiped it.

I’m not going to get into it’s creation and worship by the Jewish people, rather I’d like to highlight what Moses’ is told after obtaining G-d’s forgiveness for the Jewish people. Moses requested from G-d “show me your face” and G-d replied and  explained how it’s impossible to experience that level of Divine insight. However, G-d continued, “I will place you into the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by… you will see My back but My face shall not be seen."

It doesn’t take much to see G-d’s presence in everything we do - especially when we think back to how things worked out over time. How often has it happened that you’ve experienced something that was frustrating at the time but later turned out to be good?

One of the most important Jewish holidays takes place this Sunday. It’s so important that even Yom Kippur is second to it (in some ways). This holiday is called Purim (the formal name of Yom Kippur is Yom HaKippurim which can be translated as the Day That is Like Purim, i.e. second to Purim).

And no, Purim is not a kid’s holiday. Purim is for everyone and it’s observance should be celebrated by everyone. The customs to dress up, make loud noises when Haman’s name is mentioned and to inordinately celebrate somehow made it be thought of as a holiday for kids. (Since when did dressing up, making loud noise and celebrating become the exclusive domain of kids??)

But it truly is a significant holiday with powerful and relevant take away messages  - and everyone would do well for themselves to join the celebration.

Contrary to popular belief, Purim is not the Jewish Halloween and those hamantashen really have nothing to do with Haman. (I mean, do you think it makes sense to highlight the villain who we defeated by naming special cookies after him?)

Then why DO we dress up on Purim? And what’s the deal with Hamantashen?

If you think about it you notice that  all Jewish holidays celebrate some sort of miraculous event. Passover there were 10 plagues, splitting seas and some other amazing miracles sprinkled in for good effect. Chanukah there was a miraculous military victory and oil that miraculously kept on burning.

But Purim, there’s nothing. Take a look at the Megillah (The Scroll of Esther that recounts the story of Purim) you won’t find a single miraculous event. In fact, it’s so un-miraculous (you might say it’s miracle-less) that G-d’s name is not even mentioned in the entire story!

That’s exactly why Purim is so amazing!

Purim celebrates G-d’s behind-the-scenes hand in everything. We don’t experience miracles of biblical proportion today - but we sure do experience G-d’s behind-the-scenes miracles. Those miracles that are from such a lofty G-d source that they become embedded in nature instead of shattering the natural order.

And that’s why we dress up and eat hamantashen (and hide the best candy from the kids) - to celebrate the hidden miracle. We disguise ourselves and eat cookies with a special hidden filling, like G-d was hidden in the story of Purim - but behind the scenes caused the Jewish people to be saved.