Toward the end of the Book of Esther (Esther 9:22), our story recounts:

וְהַחֹ֗דֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר֩ נֶהְפַּ֨ךְ לָהֶ֤ם מִיָּגוֹן֙ לְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּמֵאֵ֖בֶל לְי֣וֹם ט֑וֹב לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת אוֹתָ֗ם יְמֵי֙ מִשְׁתֶּ֣ה וְשִׂמְחָ֔ה וּמִשְׁל֤וֹחַ מָנוֹת֙ אִ֣ישׁ לְרֵעֵ֔הוּ וּמַתָּנ֖וֹת לָֽאֶבְיוֹנִֽים׃

The month which was turned for them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

From this, we are taught three out of the four mitzvot we are obligated to perform as part of our Purim celebrations. This week, leading up to Purim itself, we’ll explore each one of these four expectations, and what it might teach us about Purim and about ourselves.

לַעֲשׂ֣וֹת אוֹתָ֗ם יְמֵי֙ מִשְׁתֶּ֣ה וְשִׂמְחָ֔ה
They should make them days of feasting and gladness …

In both rabbinic literature and college campus Purim celebrations, much is made of the command for the mishteh—translated as “feast,” but related to the word for drinking. Ask your average Jewish undergraduate about Purim, and they are likely to be able to tell you that one is commanded to drink until you cannot tell Haman from Mordechai. And while there is certainly a recklessness suggested for the celebration of Purim, there is—as I hope is always true of our tradition—something deeper as well.

In the Babylonian Talmud (BT Megillah 5b), the rabbis are trying to understand what the expectations—and limitations—might be on Purim. Rav Yosef explains as follows:

“Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day [yom tov]” (Esther 9:19), that the term “gladness” teaches that it is prohibited to eulogize on Purim; “feasting” teaches that it is prohibited to fast; and the term “good day” [yom tov] teaches that it is prohibited to perform labor, just as on a Festival, which is also referred to as a yom tov?

For Rav Yosef, then, the commands for gladness and feasting are two different things; perhaps we are meant to understand these obligations as laying claim to both our physical and spiritual experience of the holiday. For all of its fun and celebration, Purim is not meant to be hedonistic; the pleasure and joy is a gateway to something deeper. That something is perhaps hinted at in the beginning of Esther 9:22, which reminds us that this is a month—and a holiday—which for them was turned from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day.

Perhaps, like the command for matanot l’evyonim, the frantic joy of Purim is the attempt to bottle it up, to save that happiness and celebration for a day we’ll need it again—a stockpiling of light for the inevitable darkness which will pass our way eventually. It’s no Megillat Esther, but I am reminded of a lyric from “Two Step,” by the Dave Matthews Band, which says that “celebrate we will, for life is short but sweet for certain.”

In that spirit, we hope you will join us tonight for our Purim celebration. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., we’ll hear and learn from Megillat Esther, and then graphic artist and veteran editor of DC’s “Batman” comic books, Jordan B. “Gorf” Gorfinkel, will offer a kinetic, dynamic, and engaging presentation focused on how the Jewish cultural history of storytelling is inextricably linked to the global fascination with caped crusaders.

—Rabbi Sari Laufer