Wonderings 23 What Makes You Happy?
This week we celebrate the new month of Adar II (also known as "Adar Bet" for the second letter of the aleph-bet, which represents the number 2). We are taught that when "Adar enters, joy enters." Obviously not everything has been joyful during Adar I, and not everything will be joyful during Adar II, and some of these things we have no control over. However, we are still able to find joy in our lives. Purim still comes and we celebrate.
On the Jewish calendar the last month of the year is considered the happiest month, mostly because the holiday of Purim is in the middle of the month. I hope that you do not think that the kind of happiness we find on Purim is mostly for the children - it is actually mostly for the adults- or maybe it is not a competition, because everyone is supposed to be happy. For hundreds of years we have gotten dressed in costumes, shared treats with friends and family, and celebrated the victory over crazy leaders who wanted to destroy us. It sounds like obvious sermon material, so maybe I should save the part about how something like that is happening now in the world, and that even today someone became a leader - someone who is Jewish - and is trying to save the day (and I pray that long before Purim this year, President Zelensky and the world do save his people - not just the Jewish people).
I would like to focus instead on finding joy.
Purim is a time when we get to celebrate that after being cooped up all winter, and signs of spring are appearing, and we want to be bold, get out, and enjoy the day and save the day. We get to dress up in crazy ways - and make people smile. I love that Jewish tradition encourages joy.
When things are stressful one of the things that I do is take a few minutes and play games. I love word games. I love finding the correct word whether it is for a game of scrambling the letters (I have been playing Jumbline2), crossword puzzle, anagrams, Wordle.
This week I am wondering: Do you play any of the games I do? Are there other games that you play that bring you joy? Are you thinking about participating in our Purim events (we have the community Purim Carnival on March 13 and Shabbat Evening Purim fun on March 18)?
(I don't like to give any hints about what the Purim Schpiel theme is for this year, but it may involve some of the games that you tell me bring you joy.)
CLICK HERE to go to the B'nai Zion Purim page where you can find recent Purim videos, games and more. For example, you can find the links to the: Beatles one, Elvis one, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel, Fiddler, Esther and the Wolf (with my siblings playing all of the musical instruments), Beignet Zion version, and of course - last year's Pandemic Purim (which I initially did not want to do, but it is one of my favorites now).
CLICK HERE to go to the Wonderings main page to see all Wonderings questions and replies.
Once again, I want to thank everyone who has responded to my "Wonderings." You are always welcome to respond to any of the questions I have asked by calling or emailing, no matter how long ago the question was originally posed. You can also choose to keep your replies totally private, and not be posted on the Responses page. I always try to remove personal / identifying details when I do post the replies.
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Responses:
As the Russian attack on the Ukraine continues, it is difficult to focus on joy, and seems irresponsible to try to distract ourselves from the conflict. I am spending most of my time worrying about this war. However, I also am preparing for Purim. On Shabbat we suspend our grief and worries to find peace and re-Jew-venate. On Purim we suspend our worries and celebrate that the Jews have faced many enemies and are still here. We are very proud of President Zelensky - who is very proud of being Jewish. We can take a little time - during the Purim carnival; Purim Shabbat; Purim day itself - and be joyful. I ask about what games you play, and what makes you joyful, because it is part of what I need for preparing this year's Purim schpiels. Meanwhile, I am praying for peace. My grandfather escaped the Ukraine, but now I stand with Ukraine. [Rabbi Jana]
We play lots and lots of games in our family: Chess, mancala, battleship. Scrabble, boggle, wordle. Monopoly, candyland, life, catan, ticket to ride, clue. Dominos, sequence, uno, go fish. Pictionary, charades, I spy, 20 questions. Minecraft, Mario, Fortnite. This time of year, we start playing more outside with skateboards, bicycles, frisbees, and basketballs. One of our favorite times of the week is family game night. One of our favorite times of the year is Purim. Everyone gets excited when picking out the costumes they’re going to wear. We will certainly be participating in the activities this year. [A]