Finding your voice – Purim’s connection

Whenever my children speak their mind I am always proud.  Even when standing up to me, it makes me feel awe when they rise up and make their point. These little babies that I have had the pleasure to watch grow have not only souls but strong personality and confidence in their views. They are particularly passionate when they feel fairness has been violated or when someone has been taking advantage.

With Purim on the horizon, Purimspiels being rehearsed, and the final calls for volunteers to work at Carnivals coursing through email queues, I am touched more by the connection to our heritage and the strength that the Jewish People get from the Torah and Midrash.

Of course, Purim is about a story about how Esther found her voice, but over history there have been brave Jews who have found their voice and used it to fight wrong, to lead the Jewish people and to propagate the religion.

Where does the strength come from? It comes from the teachings, the stories and the examples of leadership that start in the Torah.  The book of Exodus reveals the process of building a society born of slavery and the many challenges that brings.  At the core of course is faith in G-d and that strength that people get from that faith.

The story of Purim is another Exodus from bondage.  But while Moses got his strength directly from G-d, Esther had to summon hers from her faith.  As our history evolves, there are no red seas being parted, there are no cases of generally accepted divine intervention being chronicled.  Yet there are many acts of faith and many miracles.

It is the connections we make to the teachings of the Torah that are the foundation of much of our ethic.  And that ethic drives us to our voice.

At MitzvahArt we are proud to preserve each Bar/Bat Mitzvah’s connection to Torah through our Art.