WITH ALL EYES ON NASA’S mission to Mars, let’s not miss a major encounter heading our way. We are scheduled to rendezvous with Planet Purim on Saturday night March 6 and Sunday March 7. It takes a whole year to get to Planet Purim, so let’s utilize it to the max.

Planet Purim is not a sci-fi concoction or whimsical fantasy. They’re still searching for life and water on Mars, but Purim teems with life, its beverages flow like water, and beyond red, Purim explodes into a kaleidoscope of colors, sights and sounds. Unlike the mythical Martians, Planet Purim has real people and real issues waiting to be discovered. You don’t need millions of dollars to travel 100 million miles to reach Planet Purim, nor do you have to be a rocket scientist or Jet Propulsion expert.

Planet Purim is not way out in outer space, nor is it a distant anachronism. Purim sends clear, continuous and uninterrupted signals that hit close to home, here and now. Put out your sensors and probe around, and you’ll find that Purim’s landscape and environment is strikingly similar to ours, with contemporary ramifications and applications. Purim’s hate mongering Haman who threatens the Jews and the King’s wavering duplicity are awfully familiar. Mordechai’s faith and beautiful Esther’s rally to unite us saved the day. Divine Providence caused Haman’s downfall and established Purim as an eternal holiday that guides and inspires us for all time, up to, and including, the coming of Moshiach.

Full of Spirit and Opportunity, Purim doesn’t need rover contraptions that crawl two feet a day. You can get there by car, bus, or by foot. Just pop into Planet Purim, and tune in and listen to the whole Megillah reading! Purim has no aliens; we’re all friends exchanging “Mishloach Manot” food gifts, giving charity to the poor and eating the Purim dinner. Instead of freezing cold, Purim is welcoming warm, even hot at times, both by night and day. And you don’t need sophisticated spectrometers to analyze the inner properties of various Hamantash flavors.