A Purim to Remember

For more than 3,000 years, we Jews have been victims aplenty. But from time to time, we’ve also done some pretty nasty things ourselves.

ed note–an extremely important piece for several reasons–

1. Please note–citing the author’s own words–that Purim is a BIBLICAL, not Talmudic–celebration of Judaic vengeance against Gentiles.

We are forced to point this fact out due to the cognitive dissonance that predominates amongst certain ‘experts’ in this movement who insist upon hyperfocusing on the evils of the Talmud (of which there are many) while at the same time completely ignoring the seeds of these Talmudic evils–the Old Testament itself. Anyone out there who has made a name for him/herself as an expert on the Jewish problem but who either sidesteps the Old Testament origins of this problem, or worse, who for reasons rooted in their own religious emotionalism believes the Old Testament to be a ‘holy’ book that originated from the mouth of God needs to be avoided as much as someone would avoid a hustler in a long trenchcoat selling ‘discount’ Rolex watches on the streets of New York City.

2. Note also that our esteemed Hebraic author (yes, I am being serious in this case, he does deserve a nod of respect for his brutal honesty on this matter) draws a direct line to the Judaic celebration of genocide throughout the history of these tortured prisoners of Zion and how all of this has led to the rise of a highly unstable and dangerous political entity that threatens the safety of all persons. 

Yonatan Gher, Jpost

The Shabbat before Purim – this Shabbat – is called Shabbat Zachor. On Shabbat Zachor synagogues read from two Torah scrolls: from one, the regular weekly Torah portion, which this year is Parashat Tetzaveh. From the other, we read Parashat Zachor – “the Portion of Remembrance.”

Said remembrance is of the Amalekites’ attack on the Israelites en route from Egypt, and the commandment to smite their memory for all eternity: “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. When the Lord our God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget.” (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)

Hammedatha the Agagite, who in the Book of Esther, attempts to persecute the people of Israel. Agagite means descendant of Agag, king of the Amalekites.

It is often jokingly said that the common theme of Jewish holidays is “They tried to kill us, we killed them instead, let’s eat!” There are a lot of Jewish holidays. It seems that the commandment to remember is one which the Jewish people are happy to fulfill with gusto.

We remember the Egyptians, the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Midianites, the Greeks, the Romans – just to name a few – not to mention the Spanish, the Christians generally, the Muslims, and of course, the Germans, and on and on. They don’t call us the “People of the Book” for nothing.

Most nations around the world need to come to terms with their troubled past, and many have. Every child in the States comes to terms with the fact that the founding of their country was fraught with the suffering of Native Americans, with its past with slavery, with its use of nuclear bombs. Pretty much every British person I speak with about the Middle East will start by saying something like, “Well, we made a right pig’s ear of it, didn’t we?” And coming to terms with its past is a major part of German education and everyday life, and even current political discourse, 73 years later.

I mentioned Poland before, which is struggling with its past, being very much the victims of Nazi Germany’s occupation, but in many cases, also complicit with or the perpetrators of the atrocities committed in Poland during that period. Israel is being very vocal in its opposition to a new Polish law that limits what can and cannot be said about Poland’s involvement in the Holocaust, and in this context I would ask: What kind of example does Israel set, in terms of a nation’s ability to take responsibility for its own wrongdoings?

For more than 3,000 years, we Jews have been victims aplenty. But from time to time, we’ve also done some pretty nasty things ourselves. We’ve smitten entire towns, massacred entire peoples. We remember Amalek – that they once attacked us when we were weak – but fail to call our retribution by its proper term: genocide – all the way down to the cattle. For the crime of aiding the future King David, King Saul massacred the entire priestly city of Nob – all men, women & children, and again with the cattle – all but one boy who escaped and later became the High Priest Evyatar. Fast forward a bit, Israel had a major role in the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, and we killed 2,000 people in the last Gaza conflict. And this, of course, is a very anecdotal list, where I managed not to mention “occupation.”

Why am I doing this?

I’m doing this because I believe it’s good that American kids learn about slavery, Australian kids about their history with the Aboriginal community, Spanish kids about the Inquisition, and German kids about the Holocaust. It’s because we are all people, capable of amazing things, but also of horrible things. A nation that doesn’t teach its kids about its inner demons is a nation that could become very dangerous. That’s why Jewish kids should start taking a more reflective approach to the Amalek story.

On Purim we disguise ourselves as something we are not. Lot’s of fun, yes, but when it’s over, let us take the opportunity to really take our masks off and reveal our true selves: Sometimes they killed us. Sometimes we killed them. Let’s stop killing people.