Purim ~ To Life!

This year we go into Purim with a cloud of war in the world and great danger to our Jewish brethren in the Ukraine. Israel is doing what it can and hundreds of volunteers are doing their best to alleviate a terrible situation. So how can we be joyous at such a time? Or maybe better yet, how can we not be joyous on this day? For without the joy of our holidays and the trust in God who has gotten us through thick and thin for millennium, where would we be. So let us be joyous but also remember all those who have tried to destroy us and failed. Someday we will look at war as something of the past. Let us draw a future of redemption into the world now.

L’Chayim!!!! Good Purim!!!!

Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman

Joy permeates my life today.

It does not mean that I do not care about what is happening in the world, at the time I am typing this post. It only means that joy is an experience I can have at the same time I experience deep care and concern for those in distress.

Giving and receiving joy is active work. It is born out of intention. I constantly make a decision to choose joy over gloom.

It may not be easy, but it is very simple.

My mind loves to overcomplicate everything.

So I choose to stop my mind from running into chasing squirrels all day long.

I pause, I breathe, I smile, I let the vision of warmth, love, and safety engulf me.

Once I have received that feeling, it becomes so much easier to send it back to the universe.

I am looking forward to the holiday, this coming Thursday.

Have a joyous Purim! to all who celebrate.

This year those who do not celebrate: Happy Saint Patrick’s! to those who celebrate. Stay safe and not too disorderly. Joy and exuberance can go together with caution and care if we choose moderation and balance.

To Life! L’chaim!

#BlogElul 5776 #ElulGram – Elul 23: Begin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo: Shofar, apple and honey on Pixabay

Are you prepared? The first day of Rosh haShana is on this coming Sunday at sundown.

Many are busy preparing menus because Jewish holidays revolve around food immensely and there are so many reasons for this: families gather at the time of holidays in all traditions and when we gather, we partake in rituals of sharing sustenance. Food is an expression of love in pretty much all cultures, what nourishes our bodies should also nourish our spirits and certainly our souls. The work that it takes to prepare a feast is also a reflection on the many gifts that we receive during the year.

There is a tradition to eat sweet things at Rosh haShana. This is why we dip a piece of apple in honey, a fruit of the season in the sweetest food that bees have provided us with and that exemplifies the love and abundance of the Earth.

We do not wish each other a “happy new year” like we do at the turn of the secular year in the middle of winter. We do not wish each other happiness but a “good and sweet year”: we wish the year can be filled with good actions and we know that it will not avoid difficult times but we wish they do not blow us too hard, and that there still be sweetness in everything that is coming our way.

In the Sephardic tradition I follow, the meals at Rosh haShana begin with a “seder“, an order of many symbolic foods that will be the opportunity to say a blessing for each one in relation to the hopes we have for the coming year. Some play on words in Hebrew (using a pun on the meaning of the Hebrew word that is the name of the food). The jokes are not very obvious most of the time but the important is to say the blessing: I have always liked this tradition a lot and it reminds me of all the affirmations that we want to repeat as often as we can so that to convince ourselves to stay positive in all circumstances!

The list of foods that can be used for these blessings, in no particular order here, and not limited to these: carrots, leek, beets, dates, gourd, apple, sesame seeds, spinach, beans, garlic, fig, pomegranate, and fish. I always make sure I buy a fish that will still have its head because the blessing on the latter expresses the wish to be heading our people amongst nations: there is a big responsibility in such a wish, to be the leading light for others.

I cannot avoid thinking of all this at the same time we are heading into a season of political debates in the United States that are also a reflection on how our country should be heading policies as a leading nation. I pray for wisdom and courage, and most of all for the beginning of the return of peace.

 

This year, I have committed to a daily blog in English to participate in @imabima’s project of Elul. I will dedicate my endeavor for the רפואה שלמה complete healing of   מרדכי אלעזר בן חנה מרים (Mordechai ben Chanah).

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Purim is here

©Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The holiday of Purim is here!
Celebrations beginning at night on February 23rd, going into Sunday, Feb 24th.
There are four main obligations to the holiday:

• hear the story of Esther (the megillah),
• give food gifts to friends and neighbors,
• give to the tsedakah (the right thing to do)
• and enjoy a festive meal…

Let’s do it!!

Sukkot, a time for a harvest of mitzvot

 

Sukkot is the Jewish/Biblical Harvest Festival. From an agricultural perspective, Sukkot marks the ingathering of produce in the early autumn, marking the end of the main growing season. From a mythic standpoint, Sukkot recalls the narrative of the Israelites dwelling in temporary structures during their 40-year wilderness trek.

 

Sukkot is a joyful holiday in which we  acknowledge the glory of God-in-Nature; but it is also a time to reflect on life’s fragility and our own mortality. The Sukkah, a flimsy temporary dwelling, is a reminder that all things must pass — a fitting message as we take in and enjoy our harvest but also acknowledge that winter is around the corner.

 

As for any Jewish celebration, food is at the center of the holiday too. You are commanded to eat in the sukkah at least, for the duration of the holiday, if you don’t sleep in it, which we rarely do at this season where we live (North East Coast of the United States).

 

But rejoicing and celebrating never precludes our obligation to keep thinking of our duties towards those who are hungry, and the more so at a time when we celebrate harvest and the bountiful grace of nature. It is an opportunity for us to remember to be always sustainable, and to give back, to communities who dedicate their effort to helping the poor and the needy.

 

Tomorrow, our religious school bnei-miztvah students will collect the bags filled with food for the Community Center of Northern Westchester‘s food bank. They will deliver the food and sort everything on the shelves. They will experience the mitzvah of providing for the hungry.