
Hashivenu: A Podcast on Resilience
In this episode: Judith Rosenbaum reflects on the #metoo movement and the book of Esther.
Purim, falling on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar, revolves around the biblical book of Esther and its farcical story of the threatened genocide and eventual salvation of the Jews. The festivities surrounding Purim are the most outlandish and whimsical of the Jewish calendar. Most Jews associate Purim with costumes and carnivals, graggers (noisemakers) and hamantashen (three-cornered, filled cookies that evoke the three-cornered hat of Haman) that appeal to children. But it would be wrong to dismiss Purim as a holiday only for children. Whether considering the deeper messages of the Megillah, the scroll containing the Book of Esther, or joining in the self-mocking atmosphere of a Purim shpiel, a satirical skit or short play, adults deserve to celebrate and enjoy Purim.1
In this episode: Judith Rosenbaum reflects on the #metoo movement and the book of Esther.
Purim 2020 was the last in-person event celebrated by many Jewish communities around the country before the COVID-19 shutdown. Little did we understand that the essential psychological principle of Purim of hafichut – the reversibility of our world – would come to mean something even more profound than what we had come to expect.
On the Shabbat before Purim, we read the commandment to “wipe out the memory of Amalek…do not forget!” But is Amalek an external enemy — or something inside us and our society?
Purim teaches the dangers of accepting a single, simplistic story about others. As we uncover our own complicated selves this holiday, let us be willing to open to the complicated and nuanced stories around us.
Rabbi Elliott Tepperman shares four lessons for today that we can draw from the holiday of Purim.
The Torah commands us to “wipe out the memory of Amalek…do not forget!” (Deut. 25) But is Amalek an external enemy—or something inside us?
The Torah commands us to “wipe out the memory of Amalek…do not forget!” (Deut. 25) What exactly does “Amalek” represent, and what might it mean to remember (or blot out) that memory?
This song, based on the Book of Esther, praises Vashti and Esther for their challenges to the king.