Wear a Costume

בס''ד

Wear a Costume

Ta’anit Esther

Shabbat Zakhor

11 Adar, 5771

March 17^th, 2011

You know, there are still places and times left when adults wear costumes: Carnival in Brazil, Halloween in the Village and in West Hollywood, every time I put on a suit.

Somehow or another, Purim isn’t one of them.

My rabbi, Sharon Brous, is very mahmir (strict) about this. Young and old, you best, shall we say, show up in costume. Not only that, but it had to be a costume that reflected something real inside of you – some aspect that doesn’t get expression in the real world.

She dresses up as a hippie. I don’t get it.

It’s all found in Esther’s name, really. It’s so similar to word hester - hidden – that our rabbis fell all over themselves interpreting the revelation of hiddenness as the deep meaning of the holiday: Purim is where what’s inside comes out.

To be an adult often means to be charged with stability, mostly for the sake of children and productivity. This requires us to divide between the internal and external life, so that others don’t suffer the vagaries of our emotions. But though life may ask us to conceal our inner life, it is not the same thing as saying that the inner life doesn’t exist.

What stays away from the light fades and withers. It’s time to bring the hidden into the sun. Wear a costume.

Purim Sameah

Happy Purim,

Rabbi Scott Perlo