Celebrating Purim far from home

Across the world, Jews will celebrate the holiday of Purim from the night of March 11 through March 12, with much fanfare and excitement. Families go door-to-door, wearing costumes and delivering candy and other foods, “mishloach manot” and then sit down to a lavish meal with friends and relatives to celebrate the holiday.

These gifts have a much more unique significance, a lesson for each and every one of us.

One of the most joyous days of the Jewish calendar, Purim is a fun and enjoyable holiday for all ages. It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from a royal decree issued by Haman, one of the king’s ministers, to annihilate the entire Jewish nation. Mordechai and Queen Esther, the heroes of the story, foiled the plot, and Haman and his sons were hanged.

The day before Purim includes fasting to mark Esther’s desperate plea to the king to save her nation. The Book of Esther, which contains the Purim story, is read. It is also customary to donate charitable gifts to honor the miraculous salvation.

According to the Book of Esther, Haman asserted to King Ahasuerus that the Jews were worthy of annihilation, as they were “scattered and dispersed from amongst the nations.” Haman pointed to a major flaw in the Jews of that time — the lack of unity and prevalence of strife in their community. To counteract the decree, the Jews unified plead to God to save them.

The story tells us that God believed in their new found unity. To celebrate this new spirit of togetherness it became customary to give gifts of food to friends and neighbors as a display of harmony.

The mishloach manot is to facilitate friendships and strengthen relationships between individuals. It is that same showing of achdut (unity) — one of the central themes of the Jewish religion — for which the salvation of the Jewish people in the Purim era can be attributed to.

Wrting this well past midnight in Kvutzat Yavne, Israel, more than 6,000 miles away from my cozy family home in Woodmere; I’m volunteering on guard duty at the gate to the local village, vetting cars as they exit off the highway to our rural Kibbutz and yeshiva in eastern Israel.

It’s pretty cold here and I have little to gain from doing this. But when I get bored, I think of the more than 1,000 children, students and adults living beyond this gate who are sound asleep. How lucky am I to have this opportunity to look out for my community? What a privilege it is to guard the village!

Because it’s not all about one person. Each and every one of us is privileged to belong to something bigger than ourselves — our neighborhood, house of worship, community organization — you name it.

And when we unite as one and resolve to come together for the public good, we can achieve the seemingly impossible. And as the shift ends early in the morning, I walk back to my dorm room, realizing this is what Purim is all about.

Carroll is graduate of DRS Yeshiva High School for Boys, who is studying in Israel.