Dear Friends,
As Purim approaches, many of us find ourselves asking: “What Should I Wear?” to the Megillah reading. Of course, we ask ourselves a similar question on many other ocassions as well….What Should I Wear? Fun clothing? Old clothing? New clothing? Fancy clothing? Relaxed clothing? In our society, for the most part, we have so many choices!
And yet, most essentially, each and every morning in our Birkot HaShachar [morning blessings] we say:
Baruch Attah Adonai, elohaynu melech haOlam, malbish arumim! Blessed are You, Ruler of the Universe, who provides us with clothing!
No matter what we choose, the basic blessing is that we have clothing to wear. You may remember that the first thing that God did for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was to make them some clothes! This distinguished them from the other creatures that inhabited the Garden of Eden.
Our Torah portion spends a lot of time describing the special clothing that would be worn by the priests and by the High Priest during their service in the Sanctuary in the desert. Clothing is not just some incidental factor in our lives. Clothing goes a long way to reminding us of who we are and what we are striving to represent in this world.
May our choices of what to wear each day lead us to appreciate the blessings of God’s presence in our lives and to better understand our role/s in helping to increase blessing in our lives and in the lives of those around us.
This week is the Second Special Shabbat before Passover. It is Shabbat Zachor – the Shabbat in which we read the special Maftir Aliyah (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) about the senseless, unprovoked, attack of Amalek on the weaker elements of our society as we travelled through the desert toward the Promised Land. This is the one and only Torah reading that we are commanded to hear read from a Torah scroll, in person. Perhaps it is because so many of us find it unimaginable that such evil exists in the world. Sadly, these days, the hightened attacks on innocent Israelis in Israel, coupled with the hightened threats and attacks against Jews in the United States, makes the existence of pure evil more believable, though still incomprehensible.
May we bring more blessing, more fun, more joy, more laughter, and more celebration into our lives, even as we remember that the world around us is far from perfect. May our choices of clothing enhance our lives, reminding us of who we are and of what we represent.
May peace become our dominant reality, and may we be messengers of mutual respect and growing understanding, bringing a sense of warmth and of healing to us and to those around us!
So, decisions decisions….what should I wear????? Whether you come in costume or not, please join us for the Purim Megillah reading and for lots of fun this coming Monday evening!
Shabbat Shalom and a very happy Purim soon thereafter!
Rabbi Gilah Dror
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