Don't Worry, Be Happy
The Jewish Standard
This year we have the good fortune to be celebrating a Jewish leap year, which has two Adars. Unlike the secular calendar, in a Jewish leap year we add an entire month to the year, not just a single day. And what better month to duplicate than the joyous month of Adar?
A double Adar does not merely double the number of extra-joyous days in the year, but rather it creates a whole new paradigm: “60 days of joy.” The number 60 is significant. In Jewish law, an undesirable thing becomes nullified and transformed when outnumbered by a ratio of 60:1 – in Hebrew, “bitul bishishim [nullity with 60].” In oversimplified terms, this means for example, if a non-kosher meatball were to fall accidentally into a pot that contains at least 60 kosher meatballs and the non-kosher meatball cannot be identified, then the entire contents of the pot, including the meatball that had fallen in, are kosher and may be eaten. Accordingly, through the rule of “nullity with 60,” not only do the undesirable aspects of a thing become nullified, but the thing itself is transformed into good – something previously non-kosher is transformed into kosher. (In an actual case, a rabbi should be consulted because the rules are complex and beyond the scope of this article.)
The Lubavitcher rebbe tells us that the 60 joyous days of Adar in a leap year have the awesome power of “nullity with 60.” The period of 60 days of Adar/joy has the power to nullify the negative or “unkosher” aspects in our life and even transform them into good. All we have to do is to tap into the joyous energy found during the months of Adar.
Read more: Don't worry, be happy | The Jewish Standard http://jewishstandard.timesofisrael.com/dont-worry-be-happy/#ixzz42FO2uWsX
Discussion Question: What is a way that you costume yourself in your everyday life, positively or negatively? Are clothes a form of protection or expression for you? Do you have a cozy sweater you wear to get you through difficult days, a significant piece of jewelry you wear to remember someone or bright colors you wear to project your mood?
Ba'al Shem Tov
“It is a mitzva...to dress up on Purim” - Indeed, it is a great mitzva, because in this way one cannot tell the noble man from the poor. And therefore they [the rabbis] instituted the mitzvah of gifts to the poor on Purim, because when people dress up, the mitzvah of tzedakah may be performed in its most appropriate manner [כתיקונה]. One does not know then to whom they give, and the one who receives does not know from whom they receive, and thus no one is embarrassed to appear needy and dependent on human kindness. This is the best manner of anonymous giving, when one gives while in costume to someone else in costume.
Dr. Pnina G. Feller, Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies
Purim invites us to set aside a time in which we completely reverse our wardrobe, which in turn reverses our identity. It is an invitation to...cross and reverse all the other dichotomies and uniforms of our lives as well. On Purim we are using clothes against themselves, to deny their power to box us in, and simultaneously to redeem us from needing redemption...Purim...makes us wonder if there is an "authentic self" at all, or whether it is all just endless masks upon masks.
Masking and Unmasking Ourselves
Underneath the garment of the story is perhaps a glimpse of the existence of a force in the universe that can help us move beyond who we are and what our lives presently are, and enable us to become who we aspire to be.
Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.
Discussion Question: Do clothes "box us in" and keep us from understanding our "authentic selves?" Is changing your appearance liberating or superficial? How do clothes convey privilege and class in our lives, especially in the era of the tech bro hoodie?
"Esther's royal garments gave her a facade of power and authority that was necessary as she presented herself publicly. The link between clothing and political power is something we witness every day in politics and that has always been apparent in human life....The royal garments, made up of beautiful robes, a train of pure gold, and the finest of ornaments, may have masked the anxiety she must have felt as she stood in the inner courtyard, waiting for the king to extend his scepter, inviting her to approach his throne. Nevertheless, the clothing both symbolized her position as queen and underscored the new identity she had assumed; she now acted forcefully, as befits both the queen of the palace and the leader and protector of her people." Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.
New York Times Magazine interview with Bernie Sanders, Aug. 17, 2015
Do you think it’s fair that Hillary’s hair gets a lot more scrutiny than yours does? Hillary’s hair gets more scrutiny than my hair?
Continue reading the main story
Yeah. Is that what you’re asking?
Yeah. O.K., Ana, I don’t mean to be rude here. I am running for president of the United States on serious issues, O.K.? Do you have serious questions?
I can defend that as a serious question. There is a gendered reason — When the media worries about what Hillary’s hair looks like or what my hair looks like, that’s a real problem. We have millions of people who are struggling to keep their heads above water, who want to know what candidates can do to improve their lives, and the media will very often spend more time worrying about hair than the fact that we’re the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee health care to all people.
It’s also true that the media pays more attention to what female candidates look like than it does to what male candidates look like. That may be. That may be, and it’s absolutely wrong.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/magazine/bernie-sanders-has-heard-about-that-hashtag.html
Discussion Question: How are women required to costume and mask themselves to achieve and hide power? Why does Bernie get complimented for getting a $7 haircut while Hillary is derided for spending hundreds of dollars to cut and color hers? What would happen if she didn't?
(ז) וַיֹּ֥אמֶר הָמָ֖ן אֶל־הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ אִ֕ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ חָפֵ֥ץ בִּיקָרֽוֹ׃ (ח) יָבִ֙יאוּ֙ לְב֣וּשׁ מַלְכ֔וּת אֲשֶׁ֥ר לָֽבַשׁ־בּ֖וֹ הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ וְס֗וּס אֲשֶׁ֨ר רָכַ֤ב עָלָיו֙ הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ וַאֲשֶׁ֥ר נִתַּ֛ן כֶּ֥תֶר מַלְכ֖וּת בְּרֹאשֽׁוֹ׃ (ט) וְנָת֨וֹן הַלְּב֜וּשׁ וְהַסּ֗וּס עַל־יַד־אִ֞ישׁ מִשָּׂרֵ֤י הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ הַֽפַּרְתְּמִ֔ים וְהִלְבִּ֙ישׁוּ֙ אֶת־הָאִ֔ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ חָפֵ֣ץ בִּֽיקָר֑וֹ וְהִרְכִּיבֻ֤הוּ עַל־הַסּוּס֙ בִּרְח֣וֹב הָעִ֔יר וְקָרְא֣וּ לְפָנָ֔יו כָּ֚כָה יֵעָשֶׂ֣ה לָאִ֔ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ חָפֵ֥ץ בִּיקָרֽוֹ׃ (י) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ לְהָמָ֗ן מַ֠הֵר קַ֣ח אֶת־הַלְּב֤וּשׁ וְאֶת־הַסּוּס֙ כַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבַּ֔רְתָּ וַֽעֲשֵׂה־כֵן֙ לְמָרְדֳּכַ֣י הַיְּהוּדִ֔י הַיּוֹשֵׁ֖ב בְּשַׁ֣עַר הַמֶּ֑לֶךְ אַל־תַּפֵּ֣ל דָּבָ֔ר מִכֹּ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר דִּבַּֽרְתָּ׃
(7) And Haman said unto the king: ‘For the man whom the king delighteth to honour, (8) let royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and on whose head a crown royal is set; (9) and let the apparel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man therewith whom the king delighteth to honour, and cause him to ride on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him: Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.’ (10) Then the king said to Haman: ‘Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king’s gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.’
"On Purim, Jews dress up and wear masks that change faces etched in pain and suffering into joy and frivolity. On the surface, it seems that Purim involves an escape from reality, one moment in which we can mask the pain and difficulties we experience and don fanciful carnival masks and costumes. All is turn on its head on Purim; even gender roles are ignored, and men and women can dress up as the other.
Yet in a deeper way, this Jewish carnival experience allows us to challenge the inevitability of things as they are inherited identities and fates. And in so doing, Purim provides us with the hope that the garments we put on that seem only to mask our present realities can reveal the deep-seated consciousness of our potential for change, our ability to bring happiness and fulfillment to our lives.
Purim's masks may seem to conceal, if just for a moment, the chaos and pain of our present lives and enable us to escape this reality, but they may really offer us the chance to don serious masks of conscious determination to bring the light of the Divine into our world. Yes, God may not be mentioned in the entire book of Esther, and some have seen this as an intimation of the existence of sheer chaos in the world, where anarchy is at play. Yet, we may ask what lies beneath a story that intimates the absence of God and meaning, and the holiday of Purim, which is about frivolity and play.
Underneath the garment of the story is perhaps a glimpse of the existence of a force in the universe that can help us move beyond who we are and what our lives presently are, and enable us to become who we aspire to be. What may be necessary is for us to recognize that, unlike the Exodus story, in which God is recognized through redemptive miracles, the Purim story demands that we come to recognize the Presence of the Divine through the ability to hear the hidden voice of God. The redemptive paradigm of Esther is to see the camouflaged Divine in the darkness of our lives. Purim bespeaks the existence in the world of the light of the Divine, sparks of which are hidden beneath the surface of our lives, and ours is the task to sew those sparks into a full garment of splendor that will enhance the majesty of our souls. Perhaps that is the reason why Maimonides stated that 'all prophetic books and sacred writings will cease to be read in the messianic era except the book of Esther.'"
Cohen, D. N. J. (2012). Masking and Unmasking Ourselves: Interpreting Biblical Texts on Clothing & Identity (1 edition). Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights.