Purim will not be solely a celebration of Jewish survival. It’s a political handbook.
The E-book of Esther reads much less like historic folklore and extra like a case examine in tips on how to endure — and outmaneuver — authoritarian energy. It’s a story about concern, propaganda, strongman politics and the damaging phantasm that silence will hold us secure.
When Mordecai urges Queen Esther to confront the king, she hesitates. She understands the menace. She sees the injustice. However she is afraid. Talking out might value her standing, security — even her life. Silence feels safer. Acquainted. Rational.
Mordecai’s reply cuts by the consolation of quiet compliance:
“If you happen to hold silent on this disaster, reduction and deliverance will come from one other place — however you and your father’s home will perish. And who is aware of? Maybe you might have attained this royal place for simply such a disaster.”
His message is bracing. Privilege will not be safety. In an unjust system, nobody is really insulated. The query will not be whether or not historical past will transfer. It’s whether or not we are going to transfer it.
Haman, the regime’s xenophobe-in-chief, persuades King Ahasuerus to legalize genocide with a bribe and a story. He describes the Jews as “a sure individuals, scattered and dispersed.” Outsiders. A menace to stability. Completely different. Harmful.
The decree is chillingly bureaucratic: destroy, bloodbath, exterminate — males, ladies, kids — and plunder their property. Authoritarianism not often begins with chaos; it begins with paperwork.
However Haman misreads what he sees. “Am echad” — he calls them one individuals, intending it as an accusation. But the phrase carries one other which means: a unified individuals. What he labels as vulnerability turns into a protecting power. What he frames as distinction turns into a solidarity of holiness.
Esther’s reply to the decree will not be despair. It’s group: “Go, collect everybody collectively.”
Autocracy is dependent upon fragmentation. Resistance begins with connection and grows by reinforcing them.
King Ahasuerus, in the meantime, embodies the fragility of the infallible strongman. When he regrets his choice, he refuses to revoke it. An edict sealed with the king’s signet ring, he insists, can’t be undone. Moderately than admit error, he points a second decree permitting Jews to defend themselves.
The end result? Preventable bloodshed. Seventy-five thousand lifeless. Delight proves deadlier than coverage.
Rabbi Mike Moskowitz and Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum have collaborated extensively on LGBTQ+ inclusion and social justice points. (Courtesy Kleinbaum)
Purim doesn’t romanticize energy. It exposes its absurdity — the gaudy shows of wealth, the drunken banquets, the performative masculinity. It reminds us that authoritarian pageantry is designed to encourage obedience and nationalist fervor, not ethical readability.
After which it does one thing radical.
It instructions pleasure.
We’re instructed to have fun, to ship presents to 1 one other, and to offer to the poor. These should not sentimental rituals. They’re social methods. Pleasure builds resilience. Generosity builds belief. Mutual assist builds networks that outlast regimes.
The place authoritarianism thrives on isolation and concern, Purim insists on group and braveness.
The story’s lesson is neither naïve nor partisan. It’s enduring: Silence doesn’t save us. Unity does. Energy rooted in cruelty collapses. Energy rooted in collective accountability endures.
Esther stepped ahead not as a result of she was fearless, however as a result of she understood that concern couldn’t be her grasp.
Maybe that’s the deepest instructing of Purim: We’re alive on this second for a purpose. Historical past has positioned us right here. The query is whether or not we are going to collect, converse, give, love — and select pleasure — collectively.
is the senior rabbi emerita of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York Metropolis and director of The Beacon.
is the director of multi-faith scholarship at The Beacon.
The views and opinions expressed on this article are these of the creator and don’t essentially mirror the views of JTA or its guardian firm, 70 Faces Media.
