Listening for Ourselves: Megillah in a Time of War |
I sent a note to friends in Israel this week. I shared something I’d written about Purim — about living with uncertainty, the emotional whiplash of following news from a distance, the anxiety of not knowing how the story turns. I wanted them to know they weren’t alone.
Their responses taught me something I hadn’t expected.
The first came from a friend who has lived in Israel for decades. She was generous with my words, but honest: “They do not capture the reigning sentiment here. We are buoyant. Relieved that this is finally happening. As much as we hate the shlepping back and forth to the shelters, we feel it’s for a good cause. We are all in.” She mentioned, almost in passing, the tragedy in Beit Shemesh. Grief and resolve in the same breath.
The second came from a friend who works with high school students from the Diaspora on a semester abroad program and was with his students in Kibbutz Ketura when I wrote. He thanked me for reaching out, and then — with the instinct of a true teacher — reached for a verse I wouldn’t have chosen. Not Esther’s “if I perish, I perish.” Not Mordechai’s “for such a time as this.” He went to chapter 9:
“The Jews gathered together in........