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Words: Danny Raphael
Music: Sephirot: https://soundcloud.com/sephirot
Video: Philip Kingslan John https://kingslanjohn.wordpress.com

As well as being a work in its own right, this video is part of a lesson plan about Purim and the lessons it offers us in social responsibility, email me on dannyraphael@gmail.com for a copy.

The Story of Esther pretty much laid down the rules for how to write a Hollywood thriller, packing in as it does all the classic elements: paranoid ruler, sneaky deputy, bucket loads of sexual politics, an epic struggle of good versus evil, a comic-yet-murderous subplot, complete with dispensable idiots, and so on...

This song is my attempt to understand what we, today, can learn from this rip-roaring story, and the way that we've been celebrating it for the last 2,500 years - by dressing up, telling the story, feasting and giving gifts to our friends and to the poor.

Having looked into it a bit, I discovered that dressing up and giving gifts aren't just random ideas for getting the kids out the way, they're actually important and transformative, for us and for those around us, and that's where the song goes, explaining the connections between the ancient story of sex and politics and our imperative today to care for our fellow humans.

I hope you enjoy it...

Daniel

Hook

The truth of this world is hidden

But people are livin in a prison

Chasing power and fame

But you know it all fades away

The truth of this world is hidden

But people are livin in a prison

If you hear the Megillah this Purim

Then you will hear it calling


Verse 1

Did you know that the name of the heroine of Purim

Esther [whispered] means the star of the morning

Breathing the rays of hope and calling

Light to disseminate cos day is dawning
-
?But what was the day that Esther started?

?What was the lesson that her life imparted?

Simply – we gotta take responsibility

Cos in this life we're livin in, Divinity is hidden see
-
And some folks front but none have got the ability

To bring a miraculous delivery

Like splitting the sea we just can't conceive

This epitome of miracles – it's just too deep
-
And that's why Esther was born and blessed

To suggest how we need to address this test

It's easy to remember the light when it shines

But what you gonna do when the light, done hide?


Hook


Verse 2

Visualise Esther livin as a Queen

In a luxury palace, every girl's dream

But Esther knows that nothing's what it seems

And what seems so real can come apart at the seams
-
So when opportunity came a-knocking one day

Did-she-try-to-evade? Did-she-try-to-escape?

Or-did-she-risk her life for the saving

Her brethren from the evil plot to dead them?
-
Cos Mordechai asked her the question

Don't-you-see-we-alllll exist in connection

There's no escaping this interdependence

Every single one of us needs the redemption
-
And you might be a queen or a king or a jester

But one of these days you'll be tested like Esther

So what you gonna do when the going gets hard

Will you act like yourself, or will you wear, a mask?


Hook


Verse 3

You know the deepest truth is counter-intuitive

On Purim wearing a mask is removing the

Mask that we usually wear as we go thru our lives

You know we all wear a disguise
-
We all play a role when it suits us fine

But none of us like to be played tho, right?

See I mentioned the fact of our inter-connection

How like it or not we're interdependent
-
So your neighbour is more than a boss or a client

Or somebody selling what you wanna buy

Purim teaches that true celebration

Comes from repairing our fragmentation
-
Sharing our gifts whilst wearing a costume

Giving allows us to be who we want to be

I know that you're just like me

We need each other to be, complete


Hook x 2