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| Photo Credit: Scott B. Roland |
One of my favorite things about the Hebrew calendar is that each month is a chance for renewal, learning, refocusing, and celebrating. Every single Hebrew month has it’s own attributes and Adar is no exception. The Talmud curiously teaches that one who enters Adar increases in joy. In Hebrew, mi she’nichnas adar marbim b’simcha.
At the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College, one way you know it’s Adar is because our Dean, Rabbi Sharon Cohen Anisfeld does a headstand after
morning services every day of Adar. Right there in the Beit Midrash, she does a headstand. There is now a quite a large following of students who join her in this practice.
It wakes you up to stand on your head. It physically gives you a new perspective on things and gets you out of your routine. The practice is a physical enactment of the words v’na’hafokh hu (Esther 9:1) which appears in the megilah which we read on Purim, which means they turned things upside or turned things inside out. Which is exactly what happens on Purim.
For many people, Purim is simply a fun night to go crazy and wear a Halloween costume. (People either love or hate this holiday for these reasons). On Purim, there is a custom to drink ad she’lo yada, until you do not know the difference between Haman the wicked and Mordecai the good. Purim is our way of letting loose within a Jewish context. It is harkening back to ancient Bacchanalian celebrations. And as soon as Purim is over, we must fervently start getting things in order for Passover. This is not so different from the transition from Mardi Gras to Lent that our neighbors go through.
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| Photo Credit: Scott B. Roland |
The headstands help us prepare for Purim. But, I think there is better, deeper, more meaningful way to allow ourselves to really na’hafokh hu, on Purim besides getting drunk. Another way to do that is by dressing up and actually being someone else. So it’s not just Haman and Mordecai who are unrecognizable – it’s you.
Purim outfits aren’t supposed to be just arbitrary costumes. When we dress up in costumes or wear masks, we allow ourselves to be someone else. In many traditional communities, it’s customary to dress up in drag on Purim. There is even a practice of especially dressing up as your opposite self. Jungian psychology teaches that our opposite is actually our shadow self – the self we do not want to be or do not allow ourselves to be in daily life. In a deeper sense, putting on a costume or a mask may actually be a chance for us, in situations where it’s kosher to be someone else, to actually be our other selves. In masking ourselves we reveal a hidden truth about ourselves. Now that’s scarier than doing a headstand!
And so the challenge of Adar is to increase our joy. On Purim we increase our joy by completely getting out of our routine and turning life on its head. We increase our joy on Purim by leaping into that place of she’lo yada the place of the unknown.
So, my challenge for us – whether we love Purim or we don’t -- is to find way to go deeper. Find a way to stand on your head and to get off balance so you can ultimately recalibrate yourself. Find a way to be your opposite or the other half of yourself, which may ultimately give us a chance increase wholeness, increase balance, and ultimately increase joy in our lives!
Sarah Tasman is in her last year of studies at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College where she is also pursuing a masters of Jewish Education. Whether she is leading shabbat services in Fairbanks, Alaska, facilitating a Rosh Chodesh circle, mikveh guiding, or teaching high school students, Sarah believes in the transformative power of creative expression and is energized by a Judaism that engages the whole person: mind, heart, and spirit. Her vision as a rabbi is to engage others in Jewish life, learning, and spiritual practice through the arts and to nurture personal meaning and connection in Judaism.
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