For the past several weeks my columns have focused on the world crisis confronting us as Jews. We are the generation that has been destined to see “Purim in Real Time.”
The unbridled slaughter that threatened our people in Persia millennia ago threatens Israel today – and from the same source, the same nation.
In Jewish history, everything is replay. There is, however, a very big difference in this case. Haman had directed the Persians to kill all Jews. But that would have taken a considerable amount of time and at least some Jews would have escaped. The Hamans of today will just have to push a button if and when they get their hands on a nuclear weapon.
I write these words following Parshas Zachor – the Torah portion that calls on us to remember the barbaric evil that the despicable nation of Amalek, the founding fathers of all Jew haters, inflicted upon us. We have to remember in order not to allow similar monstrosities to unfold again.
But how can we remember if we remain asleep? Those who choose not to remember history are condemned to repeat it. Not even eight decades ago, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain struck a deal with Hitler and assured us of “peace for our time.” The Western world cheered his words. The winds of hatred were blowing, oppression and slaughter were in the air, but the world remained blind and deaf.
Today, as was the case in the 1930s, deals are being negotiated and struck with the new Hitlers on the block, the Iranian mullahs. It is no secret that Iran is in the forefront of Holocaust denial; at the same time, Iranian leaders proclaim their intent to launch another Holocaust against Jews by wiping Israel off the map.
As in the past, the world is content to feed the Jews to the ferocious beasts.
Prime Minister Netanyahu came to America this week to plead the cause of his beleaguered nation. To the glee of all Israel haters, though, it was Netanyahu who was accused of endangering Israel by risking its relationship with the U.S.
Sadly, many prominent Jews in Israel and the U.S. jumped on that bandwagon despite the frightfully high stakes involved. And the stakes are indeed frightfully high. This time Israel – not to mention the U.S., the West, and the Arab world itself – is confronting a potential nuclear threat from the world’s foremost sponsor of terrorism and jihad.
We have seen Christians and Muslims beheaded and burned alive by ISIS. We have read about girls forced into prostitution. It is reminiscent of the dark ages. And what has been the response? A few tough words here and there, some patchwork bombing runs, and not much else.
Our Sages teach that the word “Sinai” can be interchanged with the word “sinah” – hatred. From the moment Hashem gave us the Torah, hatred from the nations has been our lot. There is only one path for us to the canopy of peace and security, and that is the path of Torah and trust in Hashem. And it is to Hashem – the all-powerful Creator of heaven and earth and our loving Father – that we must reach out.
The Jewish people are charged with a mission to be witnesses of Hashem and His Omnipresence. To ignore that charge is to invite disaster. Sadly, this is a lesson we haven’t really learned despite thousands of years of tragic experiences.
But that is the message of Purim. And today we can learn it in real time. “Go gather all the Jews” was the cry of Esther HaMalkah. That clarion call was the charge to every Jew to unify and recommit to Torah and mitzvahs.
How were our forefathers saved from the bloody sword of Haman? The megillah states it loud and clear. “Kimu v’kiblu” – the Jews of Persia confirmed and recommitted themselves to Torah. We must do no less.
I’ve been writing about the saving power of gemilas chasadim – loving kindness. To assure that power for all time, Queen Esther enacted the mitzvah of shaloch manos – sending gifts of delicacies to our brethren (at least two) in order to foster good feelings, warmth, and friendship between Jew and Jew.
These feelings are desperately needed in our self-centered, money hungry, and materialisticallyobsessed communities. The prescription of loving kindness given to us by Queen Esther creates an all-encompassing unity that could save our people. But Esther did not stop there. She also called upon the nation to pray and repent.
We can do no less. We are at the 11th hour and, as Haman happily reported to King Achashveirosh, the Jews are a “scattered and dispersed nation” – in other words, disunited and therefore a soft and easy target.
No, there’s not much time, but we must find it in ourselves to unify, to come together, and prepare the path for Mashiach as it is laid out for us in the Torah.