I wish you a Purim Sameach

Purim this year is like living in a time warp.

Timelines feel like they are folding onto themselves. The past, present, and future are all merging into an experience that's hard to describe.

When the sirens blare, woven in between the mitzvot of the day, sometimes I am frozen, feeling stuck and on edge. Oftentimes, I feel so certain, so hopeful, feeling like I have a vision of what is happening in the world- how it makes sense in the context of the original Purim story, the cycles of everything we've been through for the last decade, a story building up to a climax- an ending we already remember. Something that has been built into our destiny.

It is not a regular Purim- it's a precipice.

It feels like living in the middle of a cycle- where everthing is changing and in flux.

And yet- we're in the middle of a w*r.

People have been k*lled by exploding rockets.

Every couple of hours another siren goes off and my house shakes from the cluster b*mbs and their b*mblets that sound like fireworks- but the kind that can devastate everything within sight if we didn't stop them.

We are literally living on the edge.

And yet, somehow, we have Purim music blaring in my house, alongside the roaring of the w*r planes overhead, costumes (even the dog), megilla, mishloach manot, and delicious food for a seudah (even though our big one was postponed till next year). I've got more hamentaschen dough in the fridge, and when I'm done writing, I'm going to make cookies in the shape of our enemies hats, and we will eat them, as our ancestors have done for thousands of years.

Maybe I'll play with a new shape this year, too...

I know that this isn't just a w*r.

This moment is different.

I feel the fusion of all these realities and possibilities.

I think right now, there is fear, angst, hopelessness, fierceness, joy, strength... all feelings are present.

We are living hour to hour- rocket to rocket- in wonder. In shock. In certainty. In horror. In hope.

When I was reading along with the megilla this morning, there were too many echoes that felt too familiar.

But I was listening for a deeper message.

I didn't just recognize the characters and the places- I also recognized our people.

Warriors.

Brave.

Committed to survival.

Today, when I'm looking around my surreal life, I am asking myself:

How can I choose to live today?

So wherever you are in the world, I wish you a Purim Sameach.

And what I mean is: I wish you life.

Robust. Committed. Joyful. Hopeful. Blessed.

May we finally close this story and move on to our chapter of redemption.

Thousands of years in the making.