Page 30 - HaMizrachi #27 Purim USA 2021

THE PEOPLE AND THE LAND MIZRACHI IN THE NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Gael Grunewald

Jewish Identity in Galut

onfusion and uncertainty seem tension every Jew in the Diaspora has Mordechai understands that his actions
in-built into Purim – one of its felt at one time or another. And that’s can endanger the nation – he sees the
Cmitzvot is ad delo yada, until one also the tension around which the connection between preserving Jewish
cannot differentiate between Haman Megillah revolves. identity and the decrees of annihilation
and Mordechai. We read of the Jewish – but he seeks to arouse awareness to
people being faced with annihilation and History, of course, testifies that many another danger lurking for the Jewish
saved at the last minute. And beneath Jewish communities became well-estab- people in the Diaspora – a loss of iden-
the surface, the entire story of the Megil- lished in the Diaspora over the years. tity, a loss of connection with the Jewish
lah gives us a glimpse into the oft-flimsy Indeed, the entire Babylonian Talmud, people, the Torah and a longing for the
fabric of Diaspora Jewry. as its name implies, was written in exile. Land of Israel.
From pre-war European Jewry in all of
Up until the time of Esther, the Jewish its glory, and Moroccan Jewry with its Esther arrives at Achashverosh’s palace
nation had only ever dwelled in Israel. extensive literature and learned sages, with the secret of her identity. She sym-
For hundreds of years the Jews were to the great Jewish communities today bolizes the great challenge the Diaspora
living in their land, fighting their ene- all over the world, the cornerstones of presents to the Jewish people – one
mies, building their kingdoms. And can hide one’s Jewish identity and even
here, for the first and only time in the Jewish community life outside Israel reach the highest echelons of power.
Tanach, the people of Israel as a nation were laid in the first Jewish exile, in However, as Mordechai tells Esther, “Do
found themselves on foreign lands. Megillat Esther. not imagine you will escape… for you
and your father’s house will perish.” He
life in the Diaspora. How should the “” Beneath the story of warns Esther not that her secret might
Beneath the story of Haman’s evil decree
lies an important discussion of Jewish
be revealed, but that if it is not revealed,
Haman’s evil decree
Jewish people behave in the many years lies an important even she may ultimately forget it herself.
of Exile to come? On the one hand, the Megillat Esther’s story of salvation is
prophecies of Yirmiyahu call on the discussion of Jewish not a tale of one community in a cer-
people of Israel to settle in the Dias- life in the Diaspora tain country during a certain period.
pora and not think this is a temporary It is a story of Jewish salvation for all
period expected to pass: “Build houses At the beginning of the Megillah, we see generations. The Megillah continues its
and live in them, plant gardens and eat a description of life in Shushan, osten- story even after the decree is removed,
their fruit” (Yirmiyahu 29:5). On the because the story of the Megillah is the
other hand, the prophet immediately sibly one of harmony, free of worry, story of Jewish identity in foreign lands,
follows with: “I will gather you from all sadness and mourning. The exile is for- wherever Jews are along the continuum
the nations and from all the places to gotten, until even the Temple vessels are of history.
which I have banished you – declares used for the king’s feast. All peoples sit
the L-rd – and I will bring you back to together and there is room for everyone,
the place from which I have exiled you” Jews and Persians alike.
(Yirmiyahu 29:14). Mordechai stands aloof from these fes-
As someone who was born and raised tivities. His philosophy is that yes, we are
in France in the 1970s and ‘80s, I still part of life here but we must preserve
remember the constant tension between our Jewish identity. Yes, we are com- Gael Grunewald is Deputy Chairman of the
World Zionist Organization and head of its
the desire to be a part of the society in mitted to the kingdom and therefore we Education Department. He is one of World
which I lived and the need to preserve will save Achashverosh from Bigtan and Mizrachi’s representatives in the National
my own Jewish identity. I think that’s a Teresh, but we will not bow to Haman. Institutions.

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