Seeing Through To The Inner Jew (Purim 5768)

Everyone wears masks. The fellow in deep depression who attempts suicide, and everyone talks about how he smiled all the time. The gruff, aggressive macho man who suffers from low self-esteem and anxiety. Some may be most offended by the Global Warming Warrior globetrotting in his private plane, others by the religious or spiritual leader that is privately involved in unreligious and unspiritual activities. Either way, we know that many people aren't what they seem, and that almost all of us aren't exactly what we seem. So how can we peek behind the mask, and tell what a person truly is?

The rabbis in Talmud Eruvin provide some tools. "With three things a person is recognized," they advise. "Through koso (his "cup"), keso (his wallet) and kasso (his anger)."
Koso. When that drinking cup goes bottoms-up a few times, the person's psyche seems to get dredged bottoms-up. Underlying prejudices come out (Mel Gibson?), true feelings burst forth, and often, violent natures show through the prevailing veneer of reasonableness. To Jews protesting that there was no anti-Semitism in America, the activist Rabbi Meir Kahane hy"d would respond, "So why don't you go into a bar at one in the morning, get up on a table and announce to the assembled that you're Jewish?"
Keso. So on what do they actually spend their money? Where do they donate their charity dollars? The moderate, suburban Muslim donating heavily to the Holyland Foundation tells us more about his core than his Polo shirt and Dockers. The woman who prattles on about ecology, but won't give a penny to Save the Earth, is telling you more about how she wants to be perceived than about who she is.
Kasso. What gets you really steamed? What gets you to finally blow? Is it someone calling you fat, or someone that kicks a homeless fellow? What kinds of things are you easily able to keep your cool about? Are you okay with someone knocking all religious people, but you can't handle someone saying the Red Sox are better than the Yankees?

In all three of these areas, G-dfearing Jews impress, and especially so on Purim.

Go to Lakewood Yeshiva on Purim, and see fellows bombed out of their minds praying fervently to G-d for a sick friend, or hugging each other, tearfully professing their deep admiration and love.
Go to Bnei Brak, and watch as charity is given out freely, well above the means of the givers, to recipients they met moments ago, accepting their sob-stories as absolute truth.
Go to Williamsburg or Crown Heights, and watch the anger spill out against Amalek, against evil, against those that attack the vulnerable and the helpless.

This is the true heart of the Jew, overflowing with love and charity for all, the anger and hate reserved for those that represent and perpetrate evil.

You thought devout Jews put on masks on Purim? In fact, they're involved on Purim with removing them. Take a fast peek, and walk away impressed...