Purim is just around the corner! Though marked by masquerading and merriment, there are some very serious themes that lie behind the ribaldry that marks our joyous holiday.
The Jewish Future is Always Tenuous
At its core, the Purim story is a tale of antisemitism. “There is a certain people….” says Haman, as he spreads calumnies about the Jews. As the classic preamble for any antisemite, those words impugn all Jews with qualities and conduct that undermines the integrity of a nation. More likely it is the antisemite who broadly and falsely ascribes qualities to the Jews that are his or her own. Haman may have been the first, but tragically, he was not the last.
I wish that the title of this piece was hyperbole, but sadly, it is a statement of fact. There is not one community where Jews have lived that has given us full stability and security. Even this country, a refuge and place of unbelievable Jewish vibrancy, has faced times where Jews have felt threatened and unsure of their fate. These past years have brought vicious antisemitism of the sort that we haven’t encountered in over sixty years. Reminiscent of the redlines on city maps that marked areas where Jews and Blacks couldn’t live, we’ve witnessed lines in universities where Jews cannot cross. Painfully, the same lines were drawn by some of those for whom we fought to erase lines that excluded them. “There is a certain people…” say the antisemites of today as they accuse all of us, because of our support for Israel, of being complicit in the complex actions of a sovereign nation with its own army and government. The failure (or refusal) to understand history, the complex opinions of the Jewish community here, and the nature of democracy in Israel is the fuel upon which fires of antisemitism feed.
And so, we have another crucial insight from our light-hearted celebration of Purim: Whether in the guise of those who misread or intentionally distort history, or those who hide their true intentions behind seemingly innocuous actions and subtle dog whistles, the Hamans persist. Our future well-being rests upon us ripping the masks off of their actions as surely as we remove our own masks when our celebration of Purim ends.
—Rabbi Ron Stern