With its hamantaschen, “shpiels,” feasting, and costumes, it’s easy to think of Purim as a lighthearted holiday. But of course it’s far more than that. In celebrating the defeat of an enemy sworn to annihilate us, we must acknowledge the troubling echoes between the events described in Megillat Esther and events taking place in our world today.

I find inspiration in how we are instructed to commemorate the Purim victory. In addition to a celebratory feast and the annual reading of the Megillah, we are told to perform two mitzvot that affirm our deepest values as a people. The first is giving gifts to the poor, matanot l’evyonim, so they can purchase food and also partake in the celebration. The other, mishloach manot, the giving of gifts of food and drink, is another visible display of unity. Haman spoke of us as “a certain people who are scattered and dispersed,” and so we celebrate his defeat by giving to one another, showing that for all our differences, we are not divided.

These two mitzvot are so central to the Purim story that they are codified in Megillat Esther itself: “… make them days of feasting and joy, and sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.”

The lesson here is that with being saved as a people comes the responsibility to care for one another as a people. Nobody is left out of the festivities — we are bound together. It’s a powerful teaching that underpins our work, reaching out to the poor and hungry, and finding the causes that we can all rally around. For us, these teachings extend far beyond Purim, inspiring and guiding us always.

Particularly in these fraught times — when parts of our community seem intent on demonizing and dividing rather than uniting around issues of common concern — we must remember and internalize the lesson of Purim. Just as Esther asked Mordechai to “gather together” all the Jews in advance of her approaching the king, let us similarly gather together with respect and compassion to collectively meet the challenges of today.

Chag Purim sameach