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Contributing Editor
Editorial
Purim's Persian
Roots Demand
A Recounting
H
President Obama: "I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."
and on the minds of Detroit Jews plan-
ning or contemplating a visit to Israel
— for a bar or bat mitzvah celebration,
a synagogue mission, an organizational sojourn
or personal pleasure — is the No. 1 global ques-
tion: "Just how serious a danger to the world is
Iran's pursuit of nuclear arms?"
The danger pulsates. Projections put Iran, the
largest state sponsor of terrorism, a few months
to a year away from having a nuclear warhead
it wouldn't hesitate to deploy against Israel and
threaten the West with.
Against this somber backdrop, President
Barack Obama strode to the podium before
13,000 Israel supporters, including 200
Detroiters, at the annual
American Israel Public Affairs
Committee policy conference on
Sunday in the nation's capital and
delivered his boldest defense of
Israel and warning to Tehran yet.
"Israel's leaders': he declared to
applause, "should have no doubt
about the resolve of the United
States, just as they should not
doubt Israel's sovereign right to
make its own decisions about
what is required to meet its secu-
rity needs.
"I have said that when it comes to preventing
Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, I will
take no options off the table, and I mean what
I say. That includes all elements of American
power; a political effort aimed at isolating Iran;
a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and
ensure that the Iranian program is monitored;
an economic effort to impose crippling sanc-
tions; and yes, a military effort to be prepared
for any contingency."
Obama didn't articulate new U.S. red lines
on Iran. But he assured he doesn't have a policy
of "containment," as Iran's leaders and some
congressional members believe — a policy that
would prove feeble if the Islamic Republic is
able to actually make an atomic bomb.
"I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtain-
ing a nuclear weapon," Obama said.
That staunchness, and Obama's insistence
that Israel must be able
to defend itself against
any threat, put a smile
on the face of Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. In a Monday
press briefing at the White
House, Netanyahu said, "If
there's one thing that stands Netanyahu
out clearly in the Middle
East today, it's that Israel and America stand
together."
Still, always wary of Obama's motives,
Netanyahu asserted that Israel has "the sover-
eign right to make its own decisions."
He added, "I believe that's why you
appreciate, Mr. President, that Israel
must reserve the right to defend itself.
After all, that's the very purpose of
the Jewish state — to restore to the
Jewish people control over our destiny.
That's why my supreme reponsibility
as prime minister of Israel is to ensure
that Israel remains master of its fate."
The U.S. leader's strong rhetoric
resonated in the pro-Israel crowd
that packed the Walter E. Washington
Convention Center, but it didn't
shelve his administration's lingering
weak record on support of Israel in regard to
settlements, borders and other pivotal Israeli-
Palestinian issues.
Diplomacy First
Israeli President Shimon Peres spoke just before
Obama and said the U.S. and Israel share the
same goal: to prevent Iran from developing a
nuclear weapon. "There is no space between us,"
Peres said.
Bolstering that notion, Obama said: "No
Israeli government can tolerate a nuclear
weapon in the hands of a regime that denies the
Holocaust, threatens to wipe Israel off the map
and sponsors terrorist groups committed to
Israel's destruction," Obama said.
A nuclear-armed Iran not only would trigger
an arms race in a volatile region and embolden
Iranian and Syrian regimes that have brutalized
ou don't have to speak Farsi to understand the depth of Iran's
hatred for Israel. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
vow to wipe the Jewish state off the map while denying
the Holocaust could be dismissed as hyper-politicking if it were not
for Tehran's full-throttle pursuit of nuclear weapons despite mount-
ing international sanctions. Plus, the Islamic Republic's alliance with
Hezbollah as a proxy army is real.
Today is Purim 5772 – a time to recall the Persian land's historical
ties to demonizing and endangering the Jewish people. Similarities
between the Persia of Purim and the Persian regime in modern-day
Iran go well beyond location.
The Haman of biblical times sought to exploit the power of his day by
buying off Ahasuerus, King of Persia, with riches, assurances of obedi-
ent subjects and appeals to vanity. Mordechai was a cousin of Esther,
part of the king's harem but who kept her Jewish identity secret.
Because Mordechai, a Jew, would not bow down to him, the arrogant
Haman, given free rein by the king, plotted to destroy the Jewish
people and chose the 14th of Adar by lots (purim). Esther, persuaded
by Mordechai, intervened while knowing being in the king's presence
without being summoned could mean death. After a three-day fast
to toughen her will, she told the king about Haman's plot. The Jewish
people were saved while their would-be exterminator was hung on the
gallows that had been meant for Mordechai.
Ahmadinejad, the modern-day Haman, seeks to exploit the power of
the day – nuclear arms capability – by buying off the wary world com-
munity with oil, threats, distortions and lies.
Worthy of great celebration on this joyous and fun holiday is the cru-
cial difference between biblical times, of course, and today. Israeli Jews
do not live under the fickle hand of a king they need to please or curry
favor with. They live in an independent, sovereign state with their own
government and army. Such is the wonder, inspiration and necessity of
Zionism and the modern state.
The primary commandment involving Purim is to read the Megillah,
or scroll, known as the Book of Esther, which recounts the Purim story.
The situation the Jews of ancient Persia confronted in the fourth
century BCE has been repeated through the ages. Since Haman, there
have been hundreds of Purim katans (little Purims) that have been
celebrated for short periods or longer, to mark the deliverance of Jews
from an evil decree and an oppressor. Most of these Purim katans are
long forgotten because the Jewish communities that celebrated them
no longer exist. But some still resonate:
• Purim Mitzrayim – Cairo Jews celebrate their survival from intend-
ed extermination in 1524.
• Purim Winz – German Jews in Frankfurt-am-Main began their cel-
ebration in 1615 after the king ordered to death an anti-Semite who
organized attacks on Jews.
• Purim Carpentras – The celebration marks the sparing of the
Jewish community after a 1651 blood libel.
• Tiberias Purim – The Jews of Tiberias celebrate the averting of a
1743 war that could have destroyed them.
• Hitler Purim – The Jews of Casablanca proclaimed this celebration
in 1942 after Nazi Germany's advance was halted.
In each instance, Jews prevailed only because others defended them
or enabled them to defend themselves. Yes, God provided encouraging
support. There are no Purims for the many sorrowful times when Jews
did not survive oppression.
Each generation has its Haman, it is said. But the vigor of Israel
and the Jewish diaspora has fundamentally altered the mettle of the
Jewish people and has all but assured against another extermination
lottery as long as we Jews don't become complacent.
Obama And Israel on page 32
March 8 • 2012
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