Chag Purim!
"Purim in Crown Heights is so much fun.
This place is so boring.
You don't even feel like it's Purim here."
These were the words that greeted my groggy ears this awesomely, happily, wonderfully day of Purim 5767.
My dear crown heightser definitely had a point.
Los Alamitos CA is no place for a Jew on Purim.
But it reminded me of another place and time...
..................
"In Israel everything was Jewish.
We didn't have to do anything to know it was the holiday.
Here in America you have to work so hard to have a Jewish identity."
These were the words that greeted my slightly less groggy ears that freezing wintery day at HTHS, Manhattan Hebrew School 5763.
The Israeli woman also had a point.
But was it a complaint?
A critcism?
..................
Welcome to the front lines in the battle against the evil inclination. (a.k.a. golus, n.h.)
Drum roll please...
Yeah, back at headquarters the chiefs and commanders have the music full blast.
The meals are at five courses.
It's black tie only attire.
They just roll out of bed and are seemingly attacked by a barrage of holiday cheer and familial warmth.
Here on the battlefield things are a little different.
We are strangers in a strange land.
The holiday is covered with a blanket of ignorance and indifference.
For us it takes a little more effort to find the joy.
You actually have to create the feeling.
But once you've ignited that spark in the bunker, the whole room fills with light and spreads the happiness to all who feel it's glow.
Welcome to Purim in the trenches.
Proud
to
be
here
with
you.
:)
c
4 comments:
how true it is!
have to create the feeling even more so in sf
but i am proud to be a soldier on the very front lines until n'eN comes!!!!
Happy Amazing Purim!!!
This is a too true phenomenon. Here in CG things dont purimize themselves, but thank G-d thru Purim cheer.
Just yesterday my family and I were walking home from shul. It was the average Saturday, a couple of bicyclists passed by. My father sort of sticks out like a sore thumb, the black hat, white shirt, tie thing is not a common sight down here. As a child I always felt very out of place, thinking i wonder what theyre thinking? As we walked a talked Yesterday a women on a bicycle rode by, my father said Hello, She replied " Good Shabbos!"
BABOOM! AAAAAAAH! That was refreshing.....
I thought WOW, The streets of CG are no longer foeign to the garb of shabbos, to the language of shabbos, this place is pumped up with holiness! But best of all, the appearance of a Jewish family, no longer calls for people to hide behind a tree, the sight of Jewish continuity draws out the greates depth of the Jew, the oil of the soul, The PROUD JEW of the soul.
Nothing beats that.
So not only are we on the battlefield, but we are ripping across enemy lines.
Goodbye to Golus!
Hello Geulah!
Moshiach NOW
wooooohoooooooooo!
tfs people.
ATT: All soldiers.
Please stand by for future instructions.
This is it.
The joy has spread.
It's infectious.
We let it out and there's no stopping it.
May the joy of purim spill over to the entire year.
amein,
L'CHAIM!
AMEN!!
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