Virtue. It is a good policy. It won't save you from all trouble and distress, but its rewards are greater than any alternative. My point is that doing the right thing is usually the easiest thing to do. And if so, why do anything else? The only real questions are 1. defining "the right thing," and 2. mastering ones self, passions, subjectivities which can get in the way of clear vision.
On Chanukah, we play with a dreidel. On Purim we make noise with a gragger. We spin both. The gragger, we spin from below and the dreidel, we spin from above. What does this teach us?
On Purim we were saved by the faith of a courageous woman, Queen Esther, who approached a human king. On Chanukah, we were saved by the courageous Maccabees, who put their faith in the Divine King. On Purim, we were saved from below, on Chanukah, from above. |
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