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Purim's Lessons
al other "yesterdays."
oon, we will hear Purim
For example, we Jews were in
cheer — and later its
shock
at the end of the 19th cen-
echoes. As we prepare for
tury
when
the Dreyfus affair in
the sounds of Purim, it is
France
led
to the endangerment of
important to study the lessons of
Jews.
In
1894,
Captain Alfred
the Book of Esther.
Dreyfus was unjustly accused and
You recall that Haman succeeds
convicted by a French military tri-
in receiving the support of the
bunal of being a spy for the
king to destroy the Jews. All the
Germans
against France. Dreyfus,
king's provinces
a Jew, identified com-
received the king's
pletely as a
decree that on the
Frenchman — but
13th day of the 12th
throughout France,
month, all Jews, no
the conviction of
matter what their
Dreyfus was followed
gender or age, should
by
attacks against
be killed.
Jews
and destruction
Mordechai became
of
Jewish-owned
aware of this edict.
property.
With deep anguish in
Recently, historian
his heart, he goes
Pierre Birnbaum
into mourning, tear-
describes in detail the
ing his clothes, put-
anti-Semitic
venom
ting on sackcloth
spewed
at
French
with ashes and crying
Jews in prose and in
with such intensity
poetry during the
that his cries must
Dreyfus period. It
have pierced the
was awful! Of all
RABBI HE RBERT A.
heavens.
countries of the
YOSK OWITZ
On the other hand,
world,
how could
Special Co mmentary
upon hearing of the
extreme
anti-
king's edict, Queen
Semitism
occur in
Esther sends a mes-
France?
kage to Mordechai to learn, Ma ze
France was the country in which
v'al ma ze — "What is this and
the great revolution initiated by
why is this?" (4:5).
Napoleon led to equality for all
Is it possible that Queen Esther
French citizens. This resulted in
did not hear the wailing and weep-
nearly
a century of Jews feeling at
ing of Mordehcai and of other
home
in
France. Could it be that
Jews throughout the country?
the
anti-Jewish
sentiment that pre-
Esther must have known why
ceded the Napoleonic revolution
Mordechai, her uncle, wore the
had never dissipated? If Dreyfus
sackcloth with ashes and why he
and his fellow French Jews were
shrieked. Why did the queen,
aware of the Book of Esther, they
closely identified as a Jew, ask this
might have repeated Esther's
question?
words.
"What is this and why is
Apparently, while Mordechai's
this?"
initial reaction to the news of the
king's edict was emotional, the
queen's first reaction was analyti
Know Thy Enemy
cal. Esther wanted to know the
As we prepare to celebrate Purim
reason for this terrible proclama-
5763-2003, we, too, ask the same
tion that had been made against
question, "What is this and why is
her people by her husband, the
this?" Why is there so much anti-
king. Esther's question yesterday is
Semitism again?
our question of today and of sever-
In "Midrash Esther Rabbab,"
the rabbis interpret Esther's words
not as questions, but as an analysis
Herbert Yoskowitz is a rabbi at Adat
of her people's contemporary situa-
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
tion. The rabbis looked upon her
S.
not only as beautiful in physical
features, but beautiful in mind and
in spirit, too. Her words "What is
this?" referred to Persian Jews who
looked at the Torah and said, "We
are exempt from all observance,
from all practice. The Torah does
not apply to us."
Esther's words "Why is this?"
attempt to explain why Persia's
Jews rejected the Torah's applica-
tion to them. They felt no anti-
Jewish prejudice in Persia; the king
had married a Jewish woman and
did not examine her background.
The rabbis wrote that most Jews,
unlike Mordechai, did bow down
to the idol worn by Haman. The
rabbis surmised that the spiritual
degeneration was so vast that
"destruction was inevitable."
With Queen Esther's words, the
seed was planted to awaken Jewish
life amongst Persia's Jews. The
three days of fasting that ensued
led Jews to save Jewish life and
eventually Jewish lives.
There were actions to be taken
on the political and military
fronts, too.
When Esther discovered
Haman's plot, she mobilized the
Jews to fight and she implored the
king to intervene. You know the
rest of the story. The king inter-
vened on the side of the Jews. We
were saved from harm.
The Book of Esther reminds us
to ask the question "Ma ze v'al ma
ze?" What emboldened our ene-
mies to attack us at this time?
We must learn the lessons
taught in the scroll read on Purim.
The scroll of Esther teaches us not
only to ask the question "What is
this and why is this?" but ultimate-
ly to take actions against the
enemy even as we strengthen our
Jewish lives. Then we will see the
day when, as in Shushan of old,
"the Jews enjoyed light and glad-
ness, happiness and honor" (8:16).
The Book of Esther ends with
reference to Mordechai, ranked
second to the king, a Jew who
"sought the good of his people and
interceded for the welfare of all his
kindred" (10:3). Can we do any
less?
❑