It’s crazy - I've read three Purim books this season: Esther:
A Breslov Commentary on the Megillah, that my husband picked after a shiur
of visiting Breslov Chasidim; Purim
and the Persian Empire, used in preparation to teach a Sunday school and
women’s class; and The
Queen You Thought You Knew, that I picked up accidentally at the store
because it looked cute, which turned out to be the best as it related to the ideas in
the other two books. And after reading all three books, here was my
Esther moment. After requesting time off
from the not-so-friendly boss for the Passover holiday, I receive an e-mail
that read verbatim “What is Passover holiday?”
After a few deep breaths, I put together a polite response “It is a
Jewish religious holiday that people of my faith observe every year, along with
a number of other holidays when we cannot work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover”.
So instead of an average white person from an obscure East European country nowhere on the map, who looks and sounds like “where are you from”, I became a member of the very much known and distrusted religious minority, bound by loyalties outside of the company’s mission, oriented towards goals that don’t always align with the roadmap strategy for the next few quarters. Turns out that I bring my own salad to company sponsored meals and wear skirts on casual jeans days for reasons other than obsession with looks, that what looked like cute quirks is not-so-cute and not-so-funny part of the despised and feared Jewish observance. Am I back in the USSR? Time will show, and if I perish, I perish, and will be reborn again.
How do I answer to the statement - "but other Jews don't do any of that"? How do I answer my own father, when he tell my son during a dinner on Sunday "Why are you wearing a kippah, it's not Shabbos today". What right do I have to stick out as "holier than thou"?
Other Jews bowed to Haman, but Mordechai did not. Was he perfectly holy? It must have helped. Being holy gives one confidence, moral strength. But even a Jew who is not perfectly holy does not have to bow to Haman.
So instead of an average white person from an obscure East European country nowhere on the map, who looks and sounds like “where are you from”, I became a member of the very much known and distrusted religious minority, bound by loyalties outside of the company’s mission, oriented towards goals that don’t always align with the roadmap strategy for the next few quarters. Turns out that I bring my own salad to company sponsored meals and wear skirts on casual jeans days for reasons other than obsession with looks, that what looked like cute quirks is not-so-cute and not-so-funny part of the despised and feared Jewish observance. Am I back in the USSR? Time will show, and if I perish, I perish, and will be reborn again.
How do I answer to the statement - "but other Jews don't do any of that"? How do I answer my own father, when he tell my son during a dinner on Sunday "Why are you wearing a kippah, it's not Shabbos today". What right do I have to stick out as "holier than thou"?
Other Jews bowed to Haman, but Mordechai did not. Was he perfectly holy? It must have helped. Being holy gives one confidence, moral strength. But even a Jew who is not perfectly holy does not have to bow to Haman.
No comments:
Post a Comment