In every generation, Rabbis pen lengthy sermons about how “this year more than ever” the holiday of Purim is relevant. And still somehow this year it seems like the Megillah was truly written for our time!

Diaspora Jews can certainly relate to the portrayal of the Jewish nation as being at the mercy of antisemitism and the desire of our young people to hide away their Jewishness to save themselves and to avoid conflict. Yet, if the story of Purim can lay out our challenges, it can also be a source of inspiration, strength, purpose and pride.

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One of the major themes of the holiday is that of transformation. “V’nahafoch hu,” and it was turned upside down: from fear to joy, from mourning to celebration. We are familiar with the transformation of Esther from a scared Jewish young woman, sent to the palace to become part of the King’s harem and told by her uncle Mordechai not to mention her Jewishness, to a politically savvy queen who steps up to save her people from certain destruction. What we often focus on less in this story is the transformation of the Jewish people as a nation.

In a foundational essay on the holiday of Purim, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook points out that Haman, in his description of the Jewish people, calls us “one nation, scattered and dispersed among the other nations, in all the provinces of your land” (Esther 3:8). There appears to be a contradiction here. On the one hand, the Jewish People are spread out and divided across the 127 lands of the king’s empire. On the other hand, they are called “am echad,” one people. Rav Kook points out that although it may feel like we are a divided people, splintered and rife with infighting, our true nature as a nation is to be united, to be one.

He identifies a critical moment in the Megillah where this takes place. When Esther is asked to step up and take responsibility, she understands that she alone can save the people. Yet even though she will bear the burden and she will put her life on the line, she gives Mordechai an important charge: “Go, gather all of the Jews in Shushan” (4:16). Esther fundamentally understands that this moment of fighting for the Jewish people is not an issue only for the leaders; this is on each one of us. She asks the Jew to step up, to identify, to proudly proclaim that they are with her and with one another in this fight for our survival. Esther’s gathering of the Jews in that moment is how the Jews go from being disparate and divided, to being an am echad. Rav Kook adds that this call of Esther’s was not a singular call in her generation but rather a continuous charge to the Jewish people in every generation. Go – gather – be one.  Fight the urge to splinter off, refuse to give into polarities, divisiveness and baseless hatred for one another.

So easy to say, and so hard to do. How do we actually overcome the very real differences that divide us? What can unite us in times of polarity and distrust?

The Talmud (BT Shabbat 88a) teaches us that the original acceptance of the Torah at Mt. Sinai was an act undertaken with coercion. As a group of former slaves who had not yet completely owned their freedom, experiencing Divine revelation in such an overpowering way could not possibly have allowed for free choice. Quite a subversive and radical claim! The Rabbis quickly resolve this problem by stating that although the acceptance of the Torah at Sinai was coerced, in the generation of Achashverosh, during the events of the holiday of Purim, the Jews willingly reaccepted the Torah – “kimu ma shekiblu kvar – they confirmed that which they had already accepted (at Sinai).”

Yet the question remains, why Purim? Why is this seen as a moment of acceptance of the Torah?

Perhaps it is because the entire story appears to be done without any Divine intervention. Indeed, this is the only book of the Bible where the name of God is completely absent. This is not a story where God’s presence is overpowering with thunder, lighting, smoke and fire.  This is a holiday about the power of human beings. The power of the individual, and of the communal to transform. It is the holiday of stepping up and taking responsibility. It is the holiday that teaches us we can’t do it alone. It is the holiday that teaches us that we can’t afford to be a nation that is divided and spread out; we must be united.

And what should this unity be based on in order to truly become am echad? It is through the Torah, our shared inheritance of Jewish text, Jewish values and Jewish life. Our central identity as a people is the Torah we have inherited, ready and waiting for every Jew to step up, take responsibility and add their unique voice.

This Purim, let us recommit to one another and to remaining am echad, one people. Let us do this by proudly laying claim to our Torah. Let us center the act of Torah study, learn together, and commit to being in dialogue with those we disagree with. Thus, we will fulfill Esther’s charge to gather as one people, steeped in pride.

Rabba Yaffa Epstein is the senior scholar and educator in residence at The Jewish Education Project.