What an amazing day!!!
Pizmon, the Jewish, coed,
pluralistic acapella group from Barnard, Columbia and JTS, joined us this
morning. The Pizmon singers worked with
each class to learn a song. After our
acapella workshops, Pizmon performed for us and then student groups performed
for each other. There was beautiful
music, joy and great fun!
Later in the morning, in Gesher, it was all Purim, all the time! We learned about the four mitzvot of Purim: Giving Tzedakah
to two poor people, giving mishloach
manot, hearing the Megillah read,
and enjoying a festive meal. We were
rabbis addressing a question from 17th century Europe: If there are only 10 Jewish men available for
the Megillah reading, and one of the
men doesn’t want to join the others to make the minyan, can he be compelled to participate? First we wondered about
situations when the needs of the community might supercede the preferences of
the individual such as being a member of a team or not going to school/work
when one is ill. Then Students developed
their own responses to this question.
They asked;could we count women?
What if each man simply read the megillah
in his own house? And then we looked at
some Jewish texts to find answers from our tradition. We also looked at Megillat Esther, chapter 4 verses 13 and 14. In these verses, Mordechai is trying to
convince a reluctant Esther to approach the king and to intervene on behalf of
the Jewish people. He says, perhaps it
was for this purpose that you have become queen. Do we have a purpose? How might we know what it is?
Best wishes for all good things
during the February recess. When we
return, our focus will be Pesach.
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