The chief rabbi of Donbass Pinkhas Vyshedski congratulated the Jewish community on the holiday of Purim and called to celebrate it despite the situation in the region.
He said that the most important thing on Purim is to fulfill its commandments: to go to the synagogue to hear the scroll of Esther, to give each other presents, help those in need, to prepare the festive meal and be cheerful.
“Purim is a source of blessing and joy for the entire year to come. Solving problems, and a good, successful, healthy and happy life starts at Purim. If we wish the Almighty to give us a source of joy and a reason to be truly happy over the course of the year, we must be happy and fulfill the commandants of Purim, and the Almighty, in His turn, will give us a reason to be happy and merry, and ensure that we will once more have a large friendly community,” the rabbi said.
Vyshedski compared the situation in modern-day Ukraine with the times of the Persian Artaxerxes, under whom Esther saved the Jews of the Persian Empire from extermination by Haman the Amalekite. He said that 2,400 years ago the Jews also found themselves in a difficult situation, but soon everything changed for the better – and in the same way the Donbass community would soon be reunited and would return to its synagogues.
In 2015, Purim starts of the evening of 4 March.