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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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