You’re not the first

On this week’s podcast, my husband mentioned something that I found genuinely grounding.

The Mishna Berura – written a little over a century ago – already felt the need to address the challenge of people bringing their children to shul and making too much noise and distraction, making it impossible to fulfill the mitzvah of Megillah. The Mishnah Berurah and the earlier poskim discuss the halachah when people get too drunk and cause property damage, embarrass others publicly, etc.

The chaos of Purim is not a modern problem. It is not a sign that something has gone wrong with you, your family, your community, or this generation. The Jewish people have been navigating this specific overwhelm for a long time.

Which means that whatever happened this week — the noise that was too much, the moment you hit your edge, the seuda that didn’t go the way you imagined, the day that passed in a blur — you were in very good company.

There’s something settling about that, I think. Not that it makes it easier — but that it places you inside something much larger than this busy week.

And this year, there’s another layer to “you’re not the first.” Jewish women throughout history have been doing exactly this — making Shabbos, feeding their families, holding their children, keeping the rhythm of the Jewish home going — while something enormous and frightening was happening outside the door. This is what we Jewish women do. We keep the inside world alive even when the outside world is uncertain.

When you imagine generations of Jewish women before you navigating this same week — does anything shift in how you’re holding what happened?

Supporting your sensitivity,
Rena

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