Would the real Purim please step forward?!?

Purim -- the Feast of Lots -- seems full of contradictions. One minute, Jews are helpless and mourning in sackcloth. The next, they're fighting their enemies -- and winning! Miracles are happening - but God's name isn't mentioned. On Purim, the Jews reaffirm their allegience to Judaism -- and reach new spiritual heights. But then come masquerades, parodies, and serious drinking and feasting.

Purim teaches us to see through the contradictions of life and realize that they are all part of the plan! Long before Haman writes his decree of destruction, a queen is deposed to make way for Esther, who ultimately saves the Jews. The medicine comes before the illness. Purim means lots - as in a lottery. But the sequence of events suggests anything but chance.

Ultimately, Purim is the holiday of Jewish unity. Just as the contradictions of the Purim story resolve into a unified theme -- the Jewish people join together, "b'lev echad" in one heart, to celebrate.

The Vilna Gaon wrote that the Torah could never have been accepted by a divided nation - the nation had to be "B'lev echad, K'guf echad" -- as one heart and body. Just as the Jews united at Mount Sinai, so did they at Purim. As they rejoiced, "Kimu v'kiblu haYehudim" - "the Jews confirmed and undertook" (Megillat Esther, 9:27) to maintain Judaism, with even more enthusiasm than at Mount Sinai (Talmud, Shabbat 88a).

All four observances of Purim bring us together. First, we all sit together, as we hear the Megilla reading. Then the mitzvah of Matanot L'Evyonim - Gifts to the Poor - unifies the poor and the wealthy. Mishloach Manot - Sending Portions - strengthen the ties between us and our friends. But this is still not enough.

Finally, to release the last barriers that separate us, we drink. The drunkenness of the Purim meal, should rid us of our inhibitions, not to bring us to wildness, but to allow us to show our inner and deeper love for one another. By drinking (in moderation) we blur the boundaries separating us to feel even more oneness.

Purim toast: The achdut -- unity -- we achieve this year should last us until the next Purim!