A real pity that Jews have to wait for a crisis to remind them that they are Jews. But it's better than nothing. Because maybe all of life is a crisis. And during all of life we need our Jewish identity, our Jewish commitments to God, to Israel, to Torah. The Arabs, with the connivance of the Russians, struck on Yom Kippur. They thought they caught us unaware. Militarily, maybe. But in other ways, no. Yom Kippur teaches us that we can survive without eating and drinking. Without bathing. Without shoes. Without sex. But not without God. Not without a word of prayer. Not without a thought of Torah. Not without each other.Israel is going to win, if only because it can't afford to lose. Of course, we are all going to help to the limits of our ability. But we have got to win the other war too, the one that will continue long afterwards: the war against our self-expression as Jews. The attack against the dignity that allows us to observe our Judaism without embarrassment. The battle against our pride - not arrogance - in our tefillin, kippah, kashrut, Shabbat. The war of attrition by a phoney liberalism-humanism-internationalism that tells us that the only way to save the world is for the Jews to give up being Jewish. It's phoney because only by being themselves can Jews be of service to others. Because only by loving Israel can Jews learn to love mankind. Because only by being truly Jewish do we become genuinely humanitarian. Be-cause only by serving the God of Israel do we come to know the God who created and loves all men and all nations.What can you do? Go to Israel as a civilian volunteer. Contribute to U.J.A.. Buy a bond. Attend a demonstration for Israel or Soviet Jewry. Wear a kippah proudly as a symbol of your Jewishness. Attend services - and walk, don't ride. Seek out an observant Jew and ask him to help you put on the tefillin. Even just once. Or ask him to invite you to his home for a Shabbat meal. Above all - read, study, learn. The shooting may be over soo…

The mood in Israel has changed somewhat, as we hear from press reports and as those of us who were there recently can testify from personal experience. The somber, disheartened, and gloomy mood of the twelve or thirteen months since the Yom Kippur War has lifted perceptibly – but not radically. The mood is no longer black, just gray. There is no longer fear, just anxiety; no longer anger, just resentment. Circumstances may suddenly improve, but that does not seem likely. The defense, diplomatic, and economic realities do not promise to change for the better in any unexpected manner.What a way to enter the festival of Purim! “When Adar comes, one should increase his joy.” How – with prices soaring, Arabs rattling sabers, the Russians holding back their Jews, and the U.S. blowing hot and cold?How shall we be authentic in celebrating Purim – the only time Jews are permitted a bit of controlled abandon – in a year of such depressed morale?But it can be done. Purim itself, despite the joviality and occasional jocularity, is not an exercise in detached fantasy. There is a healthy realism underlying all the joy and happiness.Why, the Talmud asks, do we not recite Hallel on Purim? One answer offered is that the Hallel begins with, “Praise the Lord, you servants of the Lord.” This, however, we cannot recite on Purim – “because we are still the servants of Ahasuerus.” Only those who are completely free can qualify as “servants of the Lord” and extol Him for it. But the triumph commemorated on Purim was not a complete one: we are still the servants of Ahasuerus.No self-delusions here – no mistaking the avoidance of Haman’s genocide for ultimate freedom. No impetuous conclusions about a temporary relief from oppression constituting the “beginning of redemption.”Yet, despite these limitations – and notwithstanding the qualified nature of the victory – we must be happy in Adar. We must surrender to joy on Purim, even if we have to force it on ourselves. No Hallel yet – but fun a…