This Sunday, we have the unique opportunity to heed a call to action that the Rebbe announced 44 years ago.
In 1981, like this year, most of the world celebrated Purim on Friday, the fourteenth of Adar, as per the Megillah's instructions.
The Megillah further instructs that residents of Jerusalem (and other ancient walled-in cities) celebrate their special Purim, known as Shushan Purim, on the very next day. But how do they perform the Purim mitzvahs when the fifteenth of Adar occurs on Shabbat?! Handling money, for example, even for charity, may not be done on the day of rest.
This gives rise to the Purim Meshulash (“Triple Purim”), a unique celebration that is actually distributed over three days—Friday, Shabbat, and Sunday.
In a letter sent to all Jewish people worldwide just before Purim, the Rebbe noted that this provides us with a unique opportunity:
When Jews went into exile, after the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdosh, they vowed never to forget Jerusalem, and remember it and raise it above every Simchah, as David, the Sweetener of the Songs of Israel, declares in Tehillim.
It would therefore be appropriate, indeed very much so, for Jews everywhere to make this coming Sunday [...] a particularly joyous one by additional activities that produce joy: Torah study (“rejoicing the heart”), spreading joy among Jews in the spirit of Ahavas Yisroel, and if suitable or necessary—through Mishloach Monos to friends, and gifts to the poor, and particularly through gatherings to spread Yiddishkeit in the spirit of “Yerushalayim”— Yirah shleima, complete awe (of—את—Hashem) … and to do all the above with true joy, in accordance with the conclusion of Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, Laws of Purim: “The good-hearted feasts always.”
In this way we identify ourselves still more with Jerusalem, to which we turn every day at prayer, as it is written, “They will pray to Hashem through the city which You have chosen,” chosen and given to every Jew and to all Jews for ever, as an eternal inheritance.
Let’s be sure to heed the Rebbe’s call and infuse this coming Sunday, March 16, 2025, with Purim joy, Purim-themed celebrations, gift-giving, and Torah classes.
