Purim isn’t Jewish Halloween. It’s a guideline for Jewish survival.
As the Nation of Israel hunkers down, waiting for the assumed-to-be imminent American attack on Iran, we are also waiting for Purim.
The holiday begins on the evening of Monday, March 2. But what does a holiday commemorating events that occurred around 483–473 BCE have to do with today’s news?
Purim isn’t Jewish Halloween, though it can be easy to make that mistake, considering how much of our focus goes into costumes for the kids, what goes in the mishloach manot, and who is having a party.
It has become politically incorrect to talk about evil people in civilized nations plotting genocide against the Jews. It is shocking to talk about Jewish revenge and celebration at the downfall of the evil ones.
The first sounds paranoid and disconnected from modern reality (or does it?). The second upsets everyone who sympathizes with dead Jews while objecting to living Jews defending themselves. It also scares Jews who were taught that if they are progressive and choose liberalism over tribalism, they will be embraced by the “family of nations” and protected from further persecution.
It’s no wonder few teach the story of the Holocaust that wasn’t, especially now, after October 7.
Purim is the Jewish holiday that resulted from the events that took place in the kingdom of Persia some 2,500 years ago, when Haman, an advisor to the king, became so enraged that Mordechai the Jew would not bow before him that he decided every single Jew in the kingdom needed to be destroyed — every Jew, from India to Africa.
Haman did not realize that Queen Esther was a Jew. When the king was looking for a new queen, Esther obeyed her uncle Mordechai’s instructions and did not disclose her identity. When Haman convinced the king to announce the date for the genocide of the Jews, Mordechai told Esther that she needed to speak to save their people, although doing so would endanger her life.
Mordechai tells Esther: “Do not imagine you will escape inside the king’s house any more than the rest of the Jews. If you persist in saying nothing at this crisis, relief and succour will appear from another quarter, but you will perish, you and your family.”
So Esther spoke. Although she was terribly afraid. Although it was dangerous to be a Jew and speak for the Jewish people. She put her people above her own security, what was right above what was convenient.
But first, she asked Mordechai to garner the support of all the Jews, telling them to fast. She needed the strength of their focus and unity in this time of great need.
And with her wisdom and charm, she managed to convince the king to overturn the decree to exterminate the Jews.
When this story is taught, the most common “takeaways” are that Esther was a Jewish girl who won a beauty contest and became queen, and that Haman and his sons were killed.
The rest of the story is set aside, minimized, ignored — because Jewish revenge is terrifying, especially to Jews who do not want to belong to the “Ivrim,” those who stand on the other side, separate and different from all other nations.
Mordechai sent, with the consent of the king, a decree to all the Jews throughout the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces that on the day their murder was planned, they were to defend their lives.
Thousands who had planned to slaughter Jewish men, women, and children met their deaths by Jewish hands.
When the extent of the death toll was discovered, the king did not stop the Jews; instead, he granted Esther one more day to finish the job.
And the Jews celebrated. And Mordechai taught the Jews that this celebration was to take place every year from that time onward, and that Jews were to give each other gifts (sweets) and give to the poor to ensure that everyone celebrates the holocaust that wasn’t.
And Mordechai was popular among all his countrymen because he took care of his people.
Because everyone likes those who are victorious.
Purim isn’t a frivolous “holiday for kids.” It’s a guideline for Jewish survival.
The story teaches that one person can change the fate of the entire nation. That it is not man or woman that makes the difference, but that both are necessary. That when the Jews are united, they are invincible.
And that not to speak is to speak.
We usually associate that message with the Holocaust and the famous poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller:
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
But for the Jews, this lesson is an ancient one, taught to us in the Book of Esther.
The story also teaches us about the power of fighting back and exacting justice from every would-be murderer, because that is how you protect the nation.
And that when you succeed, you celebrate.
Many believe that Jews don’t exact revenge or celebrate the downfall of our enemies — but that’s exactly what Purim is. We’ve been celebrating every year for 2,500 years. We mock the enemy with a festival showing how his evil plan was turned upside-down; we chomp on cookies that mock the ears of Haman. We read the story together in the synagogue, boo and make noise to drown out the name of the enemy every time he is mentioned.
And now, when we behave exactly the same way toward new enemies who rose up to destroy us, many (including some Jews) are bewildered.
Persia is now Iran, and they have been plotting to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth for decades. They built an empire of proxies across the Middle East, from Iraq and Yemen to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza — planning to circle the Jewish Nation in a ring of fire that would be our ultimate destruction.
And then came October 7. For one day, the Gazan invasion brought the Holocaust to Israel. With deep understanding of history, the invasion was methodically planned to recreate the deepest Jewish horror in modern history — using fire, torture, and terror to rip families apart and not only slaughter but break the spirit of the Nation of Israel.
But we did not break.
The Nation of Israel fought back. And the nations of the world expressed horror at the death toll of the enemy who had tried to destroy us. And even some Jews joined the cries of pity for those who wished to slaughter Jewish men, women, and children.
We retrieved all of our hostages, dealt debilitating blows to all the proxies, and even struck the head of the snake — Iran.
But we were stopped before the job was completed.
And today we know that the ayatollahs of Iran are trying to reignite their ring of fire — their nuclear program, ballistic missiles, and their proxies.
And they slaughtered thousands of their own people who rebelled against the evil regime.
President Trump, like the king of ancient Persia, made decrees. He promised the demonstrators of Iran, “Help is on the way.” He told the world that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles that threaten other nations. And he built up unprecedented military might, ready to be unleashed on Iran.
But the ideologues of Iran will not — cannot — change their murderous ideology, because to do so would mean rejecting their identity. Like Haman, their one true desire is to destroy all of the Jews.
And they will never stop unless they are made to stop.
And now the world is waiting. What will President Trump decide? And what is he waiting for?
Iran is an existential threat to the Nation of Israel, a danger to the people of Iran, and the cause of enormous suffering around the world.
And now, as I write, the first siren goes off — not because there are incoming missiles, but because the attack has begun on Iran and we are to be ready for whatever might come next.
It is almost as if President Trump was waiting for Purim. Perhaps the man who writes his name in gold on towers he built knows that the stories of the Jews last longer than any building.
Happy Purim. There will be no celebrations now, but hopefully, when this is over, there will be. It is time for the horror Iran has inflicted on the world to be turned upside down and become a time of rejoicing and freedom — an opportunity for a better future for Israel, the Middle East, and the world.
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