Page 30 - HaMizrachi #7BackgroundwithJIF-Purim

purim: Rabbi Stewart Weiss

WHERE THE DIASPORA

AND ISRAEL MEET

n the surface, Purim is the has a child by him. Would that union be the city of Shushan tzahala vesamecha,
feel-good capital of the Jewish celebrated in song and seudah? Does the rejoiced and celebrated.” “Tzahala,”
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O holidays, what with the revelry end justify the means? from the word Tzahal – at last, an army
of the masquerade parties, the drink-till- of our own!
you-drop feasting, and the over-the-top The Jews don’t come off too well either.
parades. It’s even the one time when we They are tossed about by Haman and The final, hidden chapter of the Megillah
are actually encouraged to make noise in Achashverosh throughout the story, gives it its true and lasting significance.
the synagogue! forced to submit to the menace of Esther and Achashverosh have a child,
one while begging for the mercy of Darius, who rises to the throne upon
The storyline of Purim is straight the other. Indeed, one of the reasons Achashverosh’s death. Darius decrees
out of a Disney movie: Idyllic Jewish we omit Hallel on Purim is that we that the building of the second Temple
community enjoys a cushy Diaspora remained, even at story’s end, under the in Jerusalem may now begin. He thus
life until evil villain appears on the subjugation of the Persian Empire. reaffirms the order originally given by
scene, determined to kill them all. From Cyrus and suspended by Achashverosh’s
nowhere comes a beautiful young girl, Yet the Sages, after long debate, decided
her real identity masked – like any good to canonize the story of Esther and add first wife, Vashti. The center of Jewish
super-hero – who miraculously becomes it to our national calendar for posterity. life will return to our eternal capital. It
the queen. At just the right moment, she I suggest they reached that decision for is in this merit that the story of Purim
unmasks, convinces the king to undo the two crucial reasons. achieves permanent value, and it is why
nefarious plot and execute the plotters, First, something revolutionary occurs it is the only post-Exodus event that
and saves her people. occurs in Diaspora Jewish history that is
near the end of the Megillah. Perhaps for commemorated annually by the Jews of
And they all live happily ever after. the first time in the history of the Jews every community.
in the Diaspora, we are given the right
But a lot more is going on here than to defend ourselves. Achashverosh does As with all of our heroes and holidays,
meets the eye. A deeper look at Purim not deign to dispose of the murderers Purim is a complex combination of grief
reveals a plethora of intriguing, even bent on our destruction, claiming that and glory, tragedy and triumph. But in
embarrassing, questions. Start with an official edict, once sealed, can never the end, the overriding ideas of Jewish
Esther, the maidel who would be queen. be rescinded. But he does grant our independence and Jewish national
At the very least, she is forced against petition to take up arms, and this we do destiny in Israel justify the Sages’
her will into the harem of Achashverosh, with IDF-like courage, killing 75,500 of decision to uphold Purim as a national
a voracious womanizer with no great our enemies and erasing the existential day of celebration. Particularly in our
love for the Jews. Esther’s plight is even threat against us.
more tragic according to the Sages’ view own day, when we are privileged to
that Esther was married to Mordechai. This flash of independence is a beacon witness the pride of a magnificent Israeli
Now she is guilty of the cardinal sin for our future, when we would have army and a largely-rebuilt Jerusalem,
of adultery when she voluntarily goes the means and the moxie to overpower each of us has “lots” to celebrate!
to meet the king, whose tete-a-tetes any and all who would endanger our
are notoriously of a sexual nature. survival. Indeed, the Megillah winks
Esther herself poignantly expresses the at the time to come. When the Jews 1 Esther 4:16.
impossibility of her situation: “I shall first learn of Haman’s plot, they are in 2 Ibid. 3:15.
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surely be lost forever!” a state of deep despair: “And the city of 3 Ibid. 8:15.
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Shushan was navocha, bewildered” – or
Imagine how this whole scenario would simply put, a nebech. But later, when Rabbi Stewart Weiss is Director of the
play in Bnei Brak. Jewish girl is taken we fight back and wipe out our foes, Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana
by non-Jewish ruler, lives with him, and the opposite sentiment prevails: “And jocmtv@netvision.net.il

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