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Divrei
Rabbi Jerry
Rabbi
Jerry Seidler
TempleSinai
What Purim Teaches About Freedom
I like Purim because we allow ourselves to let loose, be silly and engage in light-hearted foolishness. It is a mitzvah to become so jovial that we cannot tell the difference between Mordecai and Haman. In other words, we are spiritually obliged to pursue mindless frivolities. Why, you may ask? Because, I would respond, we are free and should celebrate our freedom with reckless abandon.
The Megillah of Esther is a biblical text that speaks directly to us. It is a book about Diaspora Jews living freely in a Jewish community in a non-Jewish country in which Jews actively participate in the general society. The story takes place in the Diaspora, does not mention or involve God directly, and offers no suggestion that there is something wrong with living outside the Land of Israel. It is a success story, where Jews survive a serious existential threat and transcend the dilemmas of their historic moment to live freely as Jews.
Human freedom is a central Jewish theme. It is the spiritual opposite of slavery, when we understand the latter to mean being under human rule and material power, enslaved to the debilitating consequences of their supremacy. The Exodus is all about liberating ourselves from the yoke of arbitrary human sovereignty and corrupt materialism to become a free people living harmoniously in tune with divine teaching.
We can derive insight into the meaning of freedom by considering the gemmatria, its Hebrew numerical value. The word for freedom in Hebrew is cherut, (9&;, and its corresponding numerical equivalent is 614 (( = 8, 9 = 200, & = 6, ; = 400). In Judaism, 613 signifies the mitzvot, or commandments, that embody God’s torah teaching. As wonderful as these teachings are, they are lifeless and empty unless people choose to live by them in this world. The extra "one" that gives us freedom’s 614 value is the addition of individual free choice to accept the spiritual discipline of Judaism, a religion that liberates the human being by the holy pathways of justice, kindness and compassion.
Freedom is possible if we choose courageously to make it so. Esther and Mordecai show us that we can make it happen even in a country whose general culture is not Jewish. God cannot make it happen for us. That is our responsibility and role – and greatest joy! When we do, we choose to make freedom, happiness and joy shine forth; and if we allow ourselves the pleasure, to blind us from seeing evil. This means, ultimately, that evil is defeated and blotted out once and for all.
Come, join us as the Temple Sinai community celebrates Purim this year on Saturday evening March 3. Let’s have fun together. Let’s celebrate our freedom as Jews and people together. See you all there!
Blessings,
Rabbi
Jerry
Rabbi
Jerry H. Seidler
Temple
Sinai
50 Alberta Drive
Amherst
, NY
14221
(716) 834-0708
www.jrf.org/templesinai
Updated:
Sunday, March 11, 2007
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