Sunday, March 13, 2011

Purim - The Book of Eszter

Parshat Tsav
Vayikra 6:1 – 8:36
13 Adar 2 5771 / March 18 – 19, 2011

Purim - The Book of Eszter
by Zsofia Eszter Simon, MH Budapest

My name is Zsofia Eszter Simon and I am one of the three lucky girls who established the Moishe House in Budapest, Hungary. When Zvi asked me to write about the holiday of Purim, I got very excited, because Purim is one of my favorite holidays.

I was six years old when I got a Megillah from my father and since then I was very proud that I share the same name with Esther the Queen. But I love the book of Esther, not only because of this, but because it tells us a miraculous story of the power of a praying woman.

I have read the story of Esther many times, and I am still amazed by how brave Esther was, although she was only a young woman. But she knew that she is not alone, and she believed in the power of praying. I think today in our spinning world we are able to forget this tiny but not inconsiderable thing: prayer. We cannot see G-d, but we can feel that G-d is there and we can reconnect with G-d anytime if we want, just as we can connect to the world wide web with our super high-tech iPhone from anywhere. In the book of Esther we cannot find the name of G-d, but we shouldn’t forget that G-d is always there with/for us! Every end is a new beginning and when you feel all is lost, then miracles do happen!! I bless you that you should deepen your spiritual awareness, care in a more comprehensive way for one another and sharpen your commitment to social justice like Esther and Mordechai did a few thousands of years ago.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment