Will the sound of the 'grogger' ring as loudly this Purim?

(JNS) — “Be this the whetstone of your sword. Let grief convert to anger. Blunt not the heart, enrage it.”

— “Macbeth,” Act 4, Scene 3

The holiday of Purim is the most joyous of Jewish holidays and therefore our sages teach that when the month in which occurs, Adar, begins, joy increases. But given recent events, this year the joy of Adar may feel palpably less than in previous years. Many Israelis kidnapped on Oct. 7, 2023, are still hostages, continually brutalized and mocked, and the three that became the faces of that day’s treachery — Shiri Bibas, and her young sons, Ariel and Kfir — are...