Last Shabbat, some of our friends and neighbors woke up to hateful graffitti that defaced property at 20 homes in our area. Two of the incidents involved anti-Semitic grafitti, which landed Madison on the news as far away as Israel. 

Today is Rosh Hodesh Adar, which means that Purim is almost here. To be frank, Purim has never been my favorite holiday. The narrative of 'they tried to kill us, they failed to kill us, let's celebrate,' has never felt 100 percent comfortable to me. That being said, I recognize that I live in a place of safety, where anti-Semitic graffitti or insensitive remarks are the worst that I am likely to witness as negative responses to Jewishness. 

Purim has been an outlet for our people throughout the generations who have faced true dangers around the world. Purim helps us tell our story in an empowering way. It's a holiday that says, our people sometimes faces danger, and we've gotten through it. In fact, in the face of those dangers, we laugh and we celebrate. We live with gusto.

When we talk with our children about being Jewish, we want them to feel a sense of safety and of joy. When we tell stories of hardships of any kind, placing difficulties in a larger context can help build resilience.  We want our kids to understand that there are ups and downs in life, and we stick together to get through them. Perhaps that's the message of Purim I'll try to focus on this year.  

For the kids, though, this week was joyful and they seemed either unaware or unconcerned with the weekends events. For them, this week was about Queen Esther, the 100th day of school, and building batteries out of lemons.  As it should be.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Rebecca