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