In April 2006 – when Bayonne resident and former national Hadassah president Deborah Kaplan told The Jewish Standard that “Hadassah is not an association — it’s a way of life” — her own chapter was marking its 70th anniversary, while the Jersey City chapter, with which Bayonne had merged several years before, was celebrating its 85th year.

The Jersey City group was then the second oldest chapter in the state. The first was founded in Newark in 1914.

Kaplan, who said she had been involved with Zionist groups since she was 8 years old, added, “If Hadassah had not been founded by Henrietta Szold in 1912, we would still have needed to create such an organization.”

The festival of Purim is generally associated with frivolity, feasting, and drinking, rather than with immersion in deep thought. All the merriment that envelopes the day, however, conceals its more serious messages.

Rabbi Norman Lamm, the chancellor, rosh ha-yeshivah and former president Yeshiva University, has authored “The Megillah: Majesty & Mystery,” to aid readers who seek to delve into Purim’s deeper significance.

A leader of modern Orthodoxy who has gained wide acclaim for his writings and discourses on interpretations of Jewish philosophy and law, Lamm has authored over 10 books, including “The Religious Thought of chasidism: Text and Commentary,” which won the coveted 1999 Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought.

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm was the third president of Yeshiva University. After his retirement from that position in 2003, he was named the university’s chancellor and rosh ha-yeshivah (head of school). He is the author of many books, and recently completed “The Megillah: Majesty & Mystery,” a new commentary on the Book of Esther published in time for Purim by the OU Press. Publication was celebrated Tuesday night at Teaneck’s Congregation Keter Torah. Deena Yellin Fuksbrumer interviewed Dr. Lamm prior to the event. What follows is an edited version of that interview.

Q: What motivated you to publish “The Megillah: Majesty & Mystery”?

M’gillat Esther illustrates, in a highly artful manner, how a totalitarian system deals with disobedience. The agitants leading to the exercise of absolute power are two individuals, Vashti and Mordechai. As a result of their individual provocations, all women and all Jews in the Persian empire of King Achashverosh are victimized. The Book of Esther thus is both sexist and racist.

Within the framework of the book, however, the “Jewish problem” finds a resolution with a (more or less) happy ending. The subjugation of the women, on the other hand, is not resolved. Rather, it continues to exist beyond the end of the book into our own day. This should have implications for how we celebrate Purim today.

With the dysfunctional marriages of King Achashverosh front and center in the Purim story — his first wife Vashti is summarily dismissed; his second fears for her life when she wants to discuss the pending annihilation of her family — the holiday has become an opportunity to talk about the dark side of relationships, whether it be domestic violence, sexual trafficking, or relationships gone wrong, as in domestic violence, or the plight of agunot (“chained women,” a reference to women whose husbands refuse to give them Jewish divorces).

They may be the heart and soul of the synagogue, but the most active shul volunteers are a strikingly modest bunch.

Viewing themselves as part of a team — a collection of synagogue workers who “give and get, rather than give and take,” according to one such volunteer — the same individuals called upon to change a synagogue light bulb do not seem particularly eager to shine that light upon themselves.

Some have been synagogue presidents, some have found a niche performing specific tasks for their congregation year after year, and some devote themselves not only to their shuls, but to other communal organizations, as well. All, however, it would appear, prefer to operate behind the scenes, helping to build their communities in whatever way they can.

More than 13.5 million children under the age of 18 in the United States have special health care needs, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That translates into nearly one in every five households with at least one child requiring costly specialized education, medical care and related services.

These children’s needs may range from such chronic medical illnesses as diabetes or cerebral palsy, to such emotional or behavioral health problems as autism, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), sensory impairments, or learning disabilities.

The ratio of special-needs children in Jewish households is likely no higher than the national average. However, the financial stakes and personal sacrifices can be far greater for parents wrestling with ways to provide their children with a suitable educational and social environment within a Jewish communal framework.

With the availability of better screening techniques, the number of children diagnosed with special needs as early as age three has increased astronomically. So has the cost of treatment and education — estimated to be in the billions. Health insurance companies are being flooded with claims from families with special-needs children, and have different out-of-pocket health expenditures depending on the state, says Julie Holmquist, spokesman for the PACER Center, an advocacy group for families of children with disabilities.

That is why parents need to educate themselves about available resources and how to advocate for their children. As one Bergen County parent advises: “Nobody sits you down and gives you a plan to follow to best address your child’s issues; it’s up to you to research, network, and advocate for your child.”