Of the many Jewish holidays that dot the calendar, one of my son’s favorites is Purim. For children, Purim is celebrated with costumes, festival foods like hamantaschen, donations to those in need, and a community reading of the Book of Esther, which joyously celebrates the bravery of Esther and Mordechai and the deliverance of the Jewish people from Haman’s decree of death.
With our children, the Jewish community’s celebrations around Purim have generally glossed over the deep dangers and threats represented in the Book of Esther and have favored levity and celebration of community. This year, however, I spoke with my son about a deeper meaning of Purim. As he has become aware of the omnipresent antisemitism around us, the Purim holiday has lessons for both him and the Jewish community to learn.
A major lesson of Purim involves Jews experiencing antisemitism, standing up to hate, and fighting off existential threats. Rabbi Robert Goodman notes that Esther 3:8 may be the first such written record of antisemitism. This verse presents the antagonist advisor, Haman, asserting to the regent Persian, King Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people, scattered and dispersed among the other peoples in all the provinces of your realm, whose laws are different from those of any other people and who do not obey the king’s laws; and it is not in Your Majesty’s interest to tolerate them.” Haman argues that because the Jews are different, they must be suspect although they followed the law of the land.
Haman’s influence directly led to the persecution of the Jews and the call for those in Persia to kill their Jewish neighbors. The King’s wife, Esther, reveals that she is Jewish, and the plot of Haman ends with his death. What is important to note, however, is that the call to kill Jews in the kingdom was never actually rescinded; the impending genocide remains.
What is not often shared in Chapter 9 with children is that while Haman’s plot is foiled and he is killed, the Persian Jews are still in danger as the King’s decree to kill the Jews has gone out and cannot be repealed for some unexplained reason. In response, the Jewish community was armed and sanctioned by the King to deal with this existential threat. The story goes that the Jewish community then defended itself, fighting those who tried to destroy it, resulting in the death of 75,000 Persians across the empire.
I shared this lesson of self-defense with my son this Purim. The lesson is not to murder or seek revenge against your enemies. Purim celebrates and recounts the miracle of Jewish survival despite the efforts of our enemies to wipe us off the Earth. Chapter 9 of the Book of Esther is salient this year given the hate-filled chants promoting the same hate of centuries before; mobs and terrorist groups actively seek the death and destruction of Israel and Zionist Jews around the world through acts of violence against the Jewish community from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh to New York.
The question to ask is what should the Jewish community do about it; will the Jewish community fight back appropriately and stand up by holding the line on American values of freedom, faith, and association? Or will the Jewish community remain fairly quiet, inactive, and throw up its hands and ask what’s the point, as few have stood up in the government and privately to stop this madness? While the Trump Administration’s aggressive position on antisemitism is welcomed by many Jews, the Jewish community has been far too passive since the October 7 massacre in Israel and in the current era of so much hate and antisemitic violence.
Dr. Michael Berenbaum of the American Jewish University observes that the Purim holiday is about human action and not waiting for others, outsiders, or G-d, to intervene and help the community, for “the fate of the Jews is dependent on human initiative and action.” Berenbaum notes that “Esther risks her life to plead with the powerful King to confront his Prime Minister [Haman] and overturn the evil decree.” Even with Haman gone, the Book of Esther shows that “the Jews cannot depend upon the King and the powers that be to protect them” for “Jewish history is in Jewish hands” such that action—force in the case of Purim—must be used against enemies if the Jewish community is to survive.
This is the lesson I taught my son this Purim—the Jewish community must confront threats, dangers, and bullies. We collectively have been far too passive to our detriment, and we will not thrive in a world with so much antisemitism unless we are actively pushing back and demanding the right to exist as part of the global community.
This originally appeared on AEI.org. The American Enterprise Institute is a public policy think tank, where Samuel J. Abrams is a Nonresident Senior Fellow. Abrams is a professor at Sarah Lawrence College.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Jewish News.
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