Normally, this time of year, I like to join the tradition of Purim and write a Purim shpeil.

You’ve all read them, making silly things sound real, making the impossible possible. It’s something I enjoy.  But this year is different. This year when I sat down to write my spoof of reality I realized that I couldn’t make up anything as strange as the actual events and times we live in. There is a line from the book The Man of LaMancha that goes. “When life itself seems lunatic who knows where madness really lies.”

It really doesn’t matter if you are young or old, religious or secular, democrat or republican, conservative or liberal,…we are looking at crazy times. Times when passions are building to fever pitch. “IT’s my way or the highway”, “My candidate or no one”, speakers being shouted down and protested. The passions are turning into anger, and some of the anger becomes vicious. Be careful my friends, those who you shout down, those who try to shout you down, we must find respect and dignity for each other. We must find our Jewish soul. Your opinions, I may hate, you I love. Leaders in Israel make decisions we find objectionable, it is still our homeland and it needs our common strength. Your political candidate is awful, but you are part of the light unto the nations. We seemed to have forgotten that we are in this together. As Jewish Americans and as lovers of Israel we share not only a history but also a destiny. We love the United States of America. We love the State of Israel. We share this same short moment of life on this planet. Support your candidate, sound an alarm if you feel the need, do not remain silent if you disagree with an action of the Israeli government, but never forget all we have is each other. As Rabbi Nahamn of Breslev wrote, “If you believe breaking is possible, you must also believe fixing is possible.”