Dear Friends,
We are now well into the Jewish month of Adar, and Purim is fast approaching. For many of us, Purim represents a sort of Jewish Halloween, a time to dress up and eat sweets. For many Jews in traditional congregations, Purim looks like a Jewish version of Marti Gras, a time of drunken revelry and rule-bending, where we throw convention out the window.
While dressing up, drinking, and abandoning convention are all part of Purim, another less-publicized aspect of Purim is the mitzvah of Matanot L’evyonim, the commandment to give gifts to the poor. The commandment comes from the following verse in Megillat Esther:
And Mordecai inscribed these things and sent letters to all the Jews… to enjoin them to make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day thereof, every year… a festive day: to make them days of feasting and joy, and sending portions one to another, and gifts to poor people.1
Interpreting “gifts to poor people” to mean at least two people, on Purim, we are commanded to give charity to at least two poor people, at least about $5/person.
While Judaism teaches that we must give to the poor all year, Purim is the only holiday that places tzedakah to the poor at its center. This year, I began to wonder, what is it about Purim that caring for the poor should be a particular focus? After all, Passover is the holiday about oppression and slavery. Sukkot is the holiday about being fully dependent on God. Why tzedakah on Purim?
Interestingly, as I investigated this question, though I found lots of sources detailing how to fulfill the mitzvah of giving to the poor on Purim, it was very hard to find any sources on why we do so.
One reason we give on Purim is that Purim is a holiday focused on joy, and it is hard to be fully joyful when we know that those less fortunate cannot afford to celebrate, too. That said, this rationale is true for all Jewish holidays, but only Purim includes the focus on this Mitzvah.
Second, Purim is about Jewish unity. Haman accused the Jews of being a “scattered and divided nation.” On Purim, we insist that we are connected to and responsible for other Jews. Normally, I focus my tzedakah on helping non-Jews, particularly low-income communities in the Boston area and in the developing world. On Purim, I focus on poor Jewish people, and affirm that I have a special responsibility to make sure that my own people have enough to survive.
Directing my tzedakah to poor Jewish people has also forced me to acknowledge the existence of poverty in the Jewish community. Jews in America have largely “made it,” and our community is proud of our stories of realizing the American dream. Yet, according to a study done by Boston’s Combined Jewish Philanthropies in 2005, 8% of Jews in MA live below the poverty line, with higher percentages amongst elderly people and Russian immigrants. While I wasn’t able to find more recent statistics for Boston, an article in the Jewish Daily Forward reported that from 2003-2013, the number of American Jewish families living in poverty has doubled. By giving to Jews on Purim, we both help Jews in need and shed light on the struggles of poor Jewish families.
Finally, Purim is about transformation. Just as the fate of the Jews was drastically reversed, from being doomed by Haman to triumphing over Haman and his family, so we recognize the potential for our world to be different and more just. By giving tzedakah on Purim, we remind ourselves that it is our responsibility to help everyone in our community to survive and thrive. Just as we are supposed to blur the boundaries between good and evil on Purim (we are commanded to get intoxicated to the point that we can’t tell the difference between Mordechai and Haman), so we might imagine a world with softer divisions between the haves and have-nots, where everyone has enough.
If you want to give Tzedakah this Purim, I encourage you to check out Yad Chesed, Greater Boston’s collective effort to help poor people in the MA Jewish community. Or, if you want to help all people regardless of religion, I encourage you to consider supporting Family Promise, the program Sha’arei Shalom works with that offers temporary housing to homeless families.
Blessings for a joyful and transformative Purim,
Rabbi Margie