2013 - The Masks We Wear - A Purim Reflection

The Masks We Wear - A Purim Reflection:

The Holiday of Purim is upon us and as I watch children, friends and myself try to figure out what to wear for the holiday this year, I am noticing something new.

Growing up, my father always told us that on Purim we see who people really are. He says that we usually dress up in the costume that represents who we want to be for the rest of the year. I believe that on Purim we are given permission to break away from our prescribed roles and express the deep longing of being who we feel we truly are.

The older I get, the less I feel the need to “dress up.” I believe that this is because I have learned to step into who I really am, more and more.  I have found outlets that allow me to creatively express the different sides of myself, permitting me to wear different faces, various masks if you will, so that I no longer burst at the seams waiting for Purim to dress up in a costume to reveal the real person that is concealed within.

I wonder if the costumes we choose to represent us on this holiest day of the year* are simply one aspect of us or does the costume represent our one true self?  Are these masks an expression of that which we truly are or are they who we long to become?

It seems that the masks represent merely a piece of the very complex puzzle that defines us as unique individuals.

 The more I think about this, the more I wonder what we really are. I am reminded of the idea that God knows our face before we are born (Jeremiah 1:5). What, then, is the expression of our true essence?  Are we the person who is dressed up? Are we the mask that we are wearing?

 The more I ponder this, the more I am convinced that in life there is no black and white.  We are neither just the mask we show to the world nor the face underneath it.  It seems that we are both the mask and the face underneath, If we can conceive of this, then maybe we can place ourselves in the space in-between the mask and the face, the being-ness that flows between the different faces we show to the world and the expression of self that we reserve for our family, the face of the inner world that connects with Divinity and the face that most represents the belief we hold about who we really are.

 Perhaps ALL we are is not any one concrete expression of our appearance but rather the fluid ebb and flow of who we are at any given moment, in any situation.

 Please join me in noticing this Purim. Notice what faces we show… the masks we wear… what our private and public expression of self is. Notice how we move between these faces and invite the colors of all that we are into our awareness and out into the world.  Allow the many expressions of ourselves to co-exist and live side by side within us, as us.

*According to many teachings Purim is the holiest day of the year, the day even holier then Yom Kippur.  How do the Rabbis come to that conclusion?Yom Kippur is referred to as Yom Hakippurim.  In Hebrew, the preface Ha =  the and K =  like.  We are saying that Yom Hakipurim is the daythat is LIKE PURIM.Laws for Purim:o   Listen / Read or Chant the Megillah (Story of Esther)o   Giving charityo   Giving food to friends and neighborso   Participating in a MealCustoms of Purim:o   Dressing up in costume.Purim is celebrated this year on the eve of Saturday February 23^rd and all day Sunday, the 24^th.