Joy in the Face of Evil!

BH

During this past week I’ve had a lot on my mind.

As Shabbat ended last week I was shocked to hear of the terrorist attack claiming the lives of five of our brothers and sisters. Murdered. In their home in middle of the night. For one reason. Simply, because they were Jewish.

Sunday morning I celebrated as my cousins, whom I work with at Chabad of McGill, gave birth to their first, a beautiful baby boy.

As this Shabbat comes in I prepare to rejoice ahead of a wild kind weekend. A busy and fulfilling, tiring yet inspiring weekend.

Beginning tonight, with Shabbat dinner, where Chabad is expecting the largest crowd of the semester. Why you ask? Well, after the birth of the Rabbi and Rebbetzin’s baby boy, were having a Shalom Zachor - a party to welcome him.

Tomorrow night, at Purim, were expecting hundreds of students to join in for the pinnacle of Jewish joy. Sunday, we’ll G-d willing be having a bris at Chabad House.

Wow. Just writing about it all causes me to lose my breath!

All this together has had me thinking. What is the purpose? And Specifically, I have been thinking about what the holiday of Purim actually means to me and the Jewish people today.

This Shabbat, at the synagogue, we will be reading a supplementary Torah reading called Parshat Zachor - the Parsha of remembrance. Within Zachor we are told to wipe out the name of Amalek. We are to remember the atrocities caused by his nation, and obliterate his name.

We are told to wipe out his name, and we are told not to forget.

Confusing? Only slightly. I have my view on what that means - and what the holiday of Purim means today.

Purim is our most joyous holiday. We celebrate. Some of us drink. We eat. We dance... pure partying! Why? What is it all about?

The easy answer is that we are remembering the miracle that happened when Haman attempted to wipe out the Jewish people. We were saved, in miraculous fashion and thus celebrate.

This past week five of us were murdered for being Jewish. Have you seen Jewish people bowing to the violence? Are the Israeli people backing down? Will they retreat and give up our Holy Land?? NO!

We must obliterate the name of Amalek by bringing an end to evil in the world! We must not stop there. We need to implement the remembrance part!

By obliterating alone, we move on, satisfied that we have conquered the obligation. But by remembering, we not only eradicate evil, we infuse new light. New joy!

We remember what Amalek did to us - and continues to do - and march forward. We reflect in the loss of innocent lives at the hands of a modern day Amalekite, then we turn to the world and show them who we really are!

This will NOT deter us! We will proceed to add joy to the world!

We WILL celebrate Purim!