Kol Tzedek
  • Spiritual Life
    • COVID Community Guidelines & Brit
    • Shabbat Links
    • Spiritual Care
    • Yahrzeits
    • Life Cycles
    • KT's Simcha Band
  • About
    • Purpose, Vision, & Priorities
    • Calendar
    • Staff
    • Community Resources
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Budget
    • Event Requests
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • KT Community Brit
    • Get Involved
    • Member Login
    • Update Your Sustaining Share
  • Learning
    • Sha"tz Training Program
    • Torah School
    • Adult Learning
    • Members' Teachings
    • Rabbi's Blog
    • Rabbis' Sermons
    • The KT Library
  • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Sponsor an Oneg
    • Sponsor Captioning
    • Dedicate a Prayerbook
    • Friends of KT
    • 5783 L'chaim Campaign

Rabbi's Blog

embed disruption

2/26/2021

 
Yesterday Zoom invited me to a webinar. As far as I can tell they had no idea it was Purim. The description read, "In this webinar you will learn pragmatic ways to embed disruption into your strategy, leadership, and culture." I stopped and laughed. At this point we don't need to embed disruption, it has become our pandemic status quo. And then I thought, Zoom just tried to repackage the wisdom of Purim in a webinar.

Every year on Yom Kippur, we ask ourselves in what ways is the Day of Atonement like Purim, inspired by the linguistic wordplay Yom k'Purim? During the mincha service we integrate the spirit of whimsy and carnival to further open the heart.

What if the opposite is also possible? This year I am drawing more connections and noticing the ways that Purim is a lot like Yom Kippur.

Now, on the surface they look antithetical to each other. On Yom Kippur we wear all white. On Purim we dress up in costume. On Yom Kippur we fast from food and water. On Purim we eat and drink until we can't tell the difference between right and wrong. And yet, both holidays are replete with seemingly opposite practices that point us towards change and transformation, towards teshuvah.

​The Sefat Emet explains that teshuvah on Yom Kippur happens through "affliction" -- abstaining from food, water, sex, and other bodily functions, and focusing on prayer and introspection. The Sefat Emet then asserts that on Purim, the work of teshuvah takes place through simcha -- joy, happiness, and celebration.

The most outrageous mitzvah on Purim is surely the instruction to get so inebriated that we don't know the difference between "Blessed is Mordechai" and "Cursed is Haman." The prospect of letting loose and letting go so that we blur the boundaries of what we know to be true is risky and vulnerable. And a subversive way to access that which is hidden, yet persistent and possible. The combination of levity, libation, costumes, and carnival creates a sacred destabilization of reality, embedded disruption if you will. Not for its own sake, but because it leads us closer to our truest selves and to each other.

In the words of Yehudah Amichai:

From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.

Or in the words of adrienne maree brown, "Laughter is important. Joy is important. It's not a guilty pleasure, it is a strategic move towards the future we all need to create."

May the laughter and joy of Purim soften our judgements and loosen our grip on what we know as fixed and true, ad d'lo yada, until we no longer know the place where we are right. And may the coming of spring be full of new possibilities and abundant growth for each of us.

Hag Purim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom,
​Rabbi Ari Lev

Comments are closed.

    Rabbi's Blog
    ​

    You can search Rabbi Ari Lev's blog below:

    Author

    Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari brings Torat Hayyim, a living tradition, to Kol Tzedek through thoughts about prayer, justice, and community. 

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Office & Mailing Address: 707 S 50th St, Philadelphia, PA 19143 
 General Questions: (267) 702-6187 or info@kol-tzedek.org
Shabbat & Holiday Services: Calvary Center for Culture & Community, 801 S 48th St, Philadelphia PA 19143
  • Spiritual Life
    • COVID Community Guidelines & Brit
    • Shabbat Links
    • Spiritual Care
    • Yahrzeits
    • Life Cycles
    • KT's Simcha Band
  • About
    • Purpose, Vision, & Priorities
    • Calendar
    • Staff
    • Community Resources
    • Black Lives Matter
    • Budget
    • Event Requests
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • Membership
    • Become a Member
    • KT Community Brit
    • Get Involved
    • Member Login
    • Update Your Sustaining Share
  • Learning
    • Sha"tz Training Program
    • Torah School
    • Adult Learning
    • Members' Teachings
    • Rabbi's Blog
    • Rabbis' Sermons
    • The KT Library
  • Ways to Give
    • Donate
    • Sponsor an Oneg
    • Sponsor Captioning
    • Dedicate a Prayerbook
    • Friends of KT
    • 5783 L'chaim Campaign