Hear Our Voice

While I hope to see you when CSK will be celebrating Purim tomorrow night and the next (3-24 & 3-25), it is true that the official date of Purim (14th of Adar) begins this evening. And if you happen to be a little “Type A” about observing the holiday on its official date, I have a recommendation for how to observe Purim tonight without having to go to a synagogue. There are 4 official commandments for Purim. They are: hearing the Purim story, enjoying a Purim feast, giving gifts to friends and giving gifts to the poor. Its only 5:30 pm and you may soon be leaving work or driving a sports carpool or picking up somebody from the airport or making dinner. No matter what you’re doing, you can do at least one of these alone or with your family in the observance of Purim:

You Tube-It! Especially these days, connecting with the story of an evil leader who seeks to subjugate all those who don’t agree with him (and those who do too!) isn’t too difficult. Search “Purim Spiel” on You Tube for, I kid you not, 16,200 possibilities!
Kids’ Choice! Whether you’re a parent, a kid yourself or a kid at heart, tonight, in honor of Purim, let your kid stomach fly! In honor of Purim and exercising our freedom, break the diet, have seconds, and without any doubt at all, have dessert! Esther commanded it (sort of) after all!
Bathroom Cabinet clean out – Make Blessings Bags – Its time to gather z bunch of ziplocs and clean out all those hotel soaps, shampoos and conditioners and dentist’s toothbrushes and tooth pastes, little waters and whatever else you would want and need if you were homeless, fill your bags with individual blessings bags and on your way to dinner, home, the movies etc, pass them out to our city’s many homeless citizens at most every freeway entrance and exit.
Cook/Bake for Your Neighbors – Make a double recipe of dinner and open that cake mix or chocolate chips or use up those ripe bananas and surprise your neighbors just for the heck of it!
Jewish tradition is certainly about continuing the rituals and practices of our people. But its also about remembering that all of our rituals and practices are meant to draw us closer to ourselves, to each other, to our friends and to the stranger. Now go get em Jody & David Gibson team!