Shushan Purim with Rebbe

Somewhere in the recesses of Zakein Mamrei's video archive, forever etched into the hearts of the revolution faithful is a video of Rebbe's Shushan Purim Seudah in the bookstore building. There has perhaps never been a starker contrast on the streets of amsterdam ave. (unless of course you count the time I danced with Rav Willig dressed as a crack baby surrounded by a sea of MYP guys). There we were all in one place a small band of displaced souls at YU crammed into a stuffy fourth floor apt. in the bookstore building. While many scurried to classes below and scarfed down two slices and a drink before shiur, we thought of how the jews in shushan continued their fight after battles everywhere else had died down and as our brethren in walled cities around the world sat down to their purim feast, we too sat down to erect a wall of our own. You see sometimes a wall is needed to protect you from negative energy, as betzalel correctly told moshe first the mishkan then the aron and keilim. You know the saddest thing in the world is when you know in your heart that you must build an impenetrable wall, and that you must conceal yourself with your comrades lest you succumb to the beast that is lurking. There we sat awaiting our leader trumpets blared, shofars were blasted, and there were certainly a few who found themselves staring wide eyed as we sang pesach tunes. And as the afternoon turned to evening and our Rebbe bid us farewell leaving us to wound and maim each other in our drunkenness, we understood our mission with great clarity. We were tasked with growing trees without boxes to confine them. To sit on benches and bring life to wisdom.