On Purim we flip reality on its head. Like a reversible parka we pull Purim inside out. Creating the yang to the yin of Torah, providing the raucous background to the saga of the Jews, Purim revels in revelation of the hidden. On this holiday of masquerades and role reversals we reveal deeper sides of ourselves, and we are permitted to conceal what is normally exposed. All year we teach our children to be who they are, but on Purim we ask them to be who they are not.

We our obliged on Purim to perform all activities in a state of gadlut mohin (expanded consciousness). This state can thankfully be induced in a variety of marvelous ways: singing, dancing, eating and drinking. The common denominator of all of these paths is being imbued with the spirit (or spirits) of your choice. But while Purim celebration is fueled by all manner of spirits, it is not a time for beer-guzzling. It is, rather, a time to indulge in a great slivovitz (plum brandy), a long-treasured bottle of Napoleon brandy or B&B, a lemon-marinated vodka, or a splendid single-malt scotch (room temperature - never on the rocks). At our annual Purim seudah (festive meal served on Purim afternoon) our host has accustomed us to frozen pineapple-coconut daiquiris of unknown octane. It's so thick we eat it with a spoon. [By the third chapter of the megillah( the megillah is read a second time on Purim day) we not only can not distinguish(ad shelo nay-dah ) between cursing (arur haman) Haman and blessing Mordecai (barukh mordekhay) but even Uncle Irv is beginning to look cute in the "Sweet Charity" chemise and high-heel number he's wearing. Maybe it's the fishnet stockings?]

Fortuitously positioned as a harbinger of spring, Purim joins Mardi Gras and St. Patrick's Day to form a triumvirate of formidable fun. As a wheel in this tri-cycle of minor American festivities, deeply rooted in the mythic past, Purim is perfect to be the first officially recognized American Jewish holiday. Just as everyone feels Irish on St. Patrick's Day, and Creole (Creolish) at the Mardi Gras, now finally a holiday when everyone can feel Jewish. (Purim is a great holiday for assimilated Jews, they can show up at all of the events wearing masks and nobody knows that they were there.) This national observance of Purim is especially suited to the American-Jewish experience. Megillat Esther, the Scroll of Esther is the inspiration for Purim. The events of the Scroll take place entirely in the Diaspora. There, too, the Jews seem to be deeply involved in the political life of the capital city. They certainly are acculturated enough that a nice Jewish girl named Hadassah (Myrtle) can marry the King. (It's almost like a Schlossberg marrying a Kennedy, but I digress).

Megillat Esther also has the distinction of being the only book in the entire Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) that makes no mention of the Name of God. This ominous "secularity" has been a very fruitful lure to myriads of rabbinic interpretations throughout the centuries and it's another possible parallel to our situation here today.

This official celebration of Purim as an American holiday will do much to preserve Jewish humor at its best. Jewish humor is a powerful weapon of the spirit, and the best Jewish humor is found in the Purim Shpils (plays) and toyres (parodies) that are traditionally associated with the festival. They carry on the fervent Jewish love affair with text and its myriad of meanings.

This writer suggests that our official Purim celebration follow the custom of a three day observance that is current in the State of Israel. Erev Purim, or ta'anit Esther, the Fast of Esther is dedicated to preparing for Purim. It also commemorates the three-day communal fast undertaken by Queen Esther to win the support of her kinfolk and favor in her spouse's eyes.

[Some may bridle at the idea of fasting but there is so much to do on Purim Eve that there isn't even time to eat. Fasting only enhances the effect of the Purim spirits that will be imbibed at sundown when the megillah is read for the first time. Ta'anit Esther is a superb time to make sure that your community is observing the important tzedakah aspect of Purim, the matanot le'evyonim , presents to the poor and needy. It is customary to give at least 3 shekels (3 20-dollar gold pieces will do) to at least 3 causes.]

The first evening of Purim is devoted to the reading of the megillah and the accompanying presentations of community Purim shpils (plays) in a variety of settings and media. With the instituting of Purim as the American- Jewish (or is it Jewish-American, I'm a bit tipsy already) holiday the best of these shpils will be featured on the PBS purim shpils broadcast after the Purim seudah (festive meal) the next afternoon.

Purim morning is a good time to recover from the night before by preparing the mishloach manot or shalach mones, , the gifts of cake and wine delivered to friends and family in the neighborhood. It is customary in some communities to make a l'chaim (raise a glass) at every stop. [Warning: Do not observe this custom if you are driving]. If children are delivering shalach mones it is appropriate to tip them using high denominations of Purim money redeemable only at special Purim Carnival Cruise Ships anchored offshore (at the three-mile limit) all along our Eastern and Western coastlines. Proceeds of Purim gaming and the International Purim Sweepstakes will be devoted to children's causes throughout the world .

Purim afternoon the seudah commences. This festive meal symbolizes the centrality of mass consumptions of food depicted in the megillah. The Purim story opens at a gigantic mishteh (feast) on the occasion of King Ahausuerus' royal anniversary. Later in the story, it is at a meal that Esther will thwart Haman's nefarious plot. And it is by feasting that Esther and Mordecai (Ishtar and Marduk to their close friends) choose to commemorate these events.

Carried out with fervor these Purim meals will soon rival the Passover seder for numbers in attendance. Jewish families will celebrate the Purim seudah with the same communal feeling now reserved for the High Holidays. Costumed bobbes and zeydas, face-painted nephews and nieces, accordion playing neighbors, organ-grinding teen-agers with monkeys on their backs will sit at tables with flurries of Hamans, Esthers and Mordecais singing parodies of kiddush (the sanctification over wine at the sabbath meal) and birkat hamazon grace after meals). Solos and duets, barbershop quartets harmonizing ancient Yiddish curses, Purim toyres offered and accepted or rejected, the bacchanalian atmosphere is tempered by an occasional deep and frothy golus (exile) sigh. Es is shver tsu zayn a yid, (It's hard to be a Jew), even a Purim yid.

As the second day of Purim is transformed into Shushan Purim (celebrated in cities surrounded by walls that have been standing since the time of Joshua. Purim is always observed on Shushan Purim in Jerusalem.)midnight masquerade balls commence all over the world.

These charity balls which end at sunrise pave the way for the annual Seagram's Purim Day parades held in Jerusalem, New York, Melbourne, and Moscow and broadcast via satellite to all corners of the world.

Purim as described here is already in practice in various forms around the world. The pluralistic nature of Purim, its underlying individuality (especially if you're hiding behind a mask), and its melodramatic underpinnings are subversive. No doubt the Rabbis are pleased that Pesach (Passover) arrives only four weeks later. The punctilious devotion to details of Pesach prevents the victory of out and out anarchy. In this month where, until recent times, Jewish women all over the world practiced being slaves, the chaotic Dionysian thrust of Purim refreshes the Apollonian seder (order) of the Festival of Freedom.

Purim lies within the unrelenting dichotomy of Jewish life today. The deep desire to fit into our host societies, on the one hand, and the deep desire to remain distinctive, on the other, is remarkably challenged by Purim. For on Purim we get a chance to redefine who we are not by the dictates of our external circumstance, but by the deeper yearnings of our hearts. That is why some wise Rabbinic wag, who no doubt was under the influence of many encounters with a slivovitz bottle, remarked that "When the Messiah comes all of the Jewish holidays will disappear except for Purim." The power of Purim lies in its ability to redeem. But this redemption is not from Mitzrayim (Egypt), but from our inhibitions, our maytzarim. Purim teaches that our redemptive power lies beyond Passover. It resides in our passions.

Reb Moshe Waldoks is the founder of Nishmat Hayyim, the rabbi of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, MA, and the co-editor of THE BIG BOOK OF JEWISH HUMOR, now in its 25th anniversary edition.