Masks Are A Pane

Purim is tonight.  Purim conjures up images of masks.  This year Purim also conjures up another type of mask as we mark the one year anniversary to the start of Covid.  

The Baal Shem Tov taught us to learn a lesson in the service of Hashem from everything we see.  How much more so when the connection is so obvious – Masks=Masks!

While Covid has been a challenge and has required us to put on our masks, it has also been an opportunity for us to remove our masks.  We’ve been able to see beneath the surface as we’ve spent more time with loved ones than ever before.  More time alone with ourselves. More time out of the normal output and needing to revisit what is really underneath our surface and the surface of our lives.

The masks of Purim are designed to do the same.  The story of Purim is a mask that allows for us to experience G-d in our world through our human senses.  It’s not a sea splitting miracle or a manna from Heaven type.  It’s designed to be a challenge for us to navigate who we are as human beings on the surface and our internal inherent relationship to Hashem and the purpose for which we were created.

You could say that if we choose, the masks can be a pane, a pane into our inner self and into G-d’s inner workings.

What does the mask say to you?  What lies underneath your mask?

Happy Purim and Good Shabbos!

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