[img]96|left|||no_popup[/img] Dateline Jerusalem — I should be in Israel right now, celebrating the holiday of Purim, looking out my window at children and adults walking the city dressed in colorful and flashy costumes, listening to music blaring from loudspeakers, and watching dancing in the streets. I should be eating hamantaschen, triangular pastries of poppy seeds, dried fruit jams or assorted other fillings. I should be sitting in synagogue shaking a grogger (like those loud noisemakers often heard on New Year's Eve), stomping my feet every time the name Haman is mentioned when the Scroll of Esther is read. Then I should be coming back to join friends for a festive meal.
Purim is sort of a Mardi Gras in Israel. But I am in the U.S., and although I shall attend synagogue this evening wearing a tiara on my head as my costume of being Queen Esther, there is no comparison to how Purim is celebrated in the States as to that in Israel. In both, Purim is a joyous occasion, charity is given, and Purim baskets filled with delectable treats are passed out. But in Israel, the entire country revels in the happiness. The entire country celebrates.
Some of the fondest memories of my childhood in Los Angeles were the Purim carnivals at the nearby synagogue. I would dress up as Queen Esther in a velvet gown designed and sewn by my grandmother with a small tiara on my head. There was food, music, games. The ultimate prize I looked forward to every year was winning a goldfish in a small round bowl.
It Was a Different Story Then
Of course, as a child I had no idea of the significance of Purim. In an abbreviated version of the story, Purim is a joyous holiday celebrating the saving of the Jewish people in Persia from extermination. Esther was a Jewish woman sent to the King of Persia's harem, but he fell in love with her and made her his queen. She kept her Jewish heritage a secret. The villain was Haman who chose lots (Purim means lots in Hebrew) to pick the day in which he ordered the extermination of the Jewish people. Esther fasted for three days. She gathered enough courage to approach the king, confronting him with Haman's plot to destroy her people. The Jewish people were saved while Haman and his 10 sons were hanged in the gallows originally prepared for the hanging of Esther's cousin Mordechai.
It is said that history repeats itself. While 10 of Haman's sons were hanged for their participation in the attempt to exterminate the Jewish people, 10 of Hitler's top men were hanged during the Nuremberg war crime trials for their participation in the extermination of 6 million Jews. On his way to be hanged, Julius Streicher shouted “Purim Fest 1946!” In 1953, Stalin had plans to deport the Jews of the Soviet Union to Siberia. His scheme never was carried out because Stalin suffered a stroke in the evening of March 1,1953 and died a few days later. Purim was March 1.
Iran is Persia of today. Until Hitler came to power in the 1930s, Iran was called Persia. Its name was changed to Iran by the Shah who was fascinated by Hitler and the concept of an Aryan race. In Farsi, the language of Persia and Iran, Iran means Aryan. Ahmadinejad of Iran is the Haman of today. Iran's nuclear threat to Israel, and the world, is something not to be ignored. Iran has openly stated its intention to exterminate Israel. If not stopped soon, the threat may become a reality, G-d forbid.
This Purim is of major significance. Israelis know that something must be done to stop the Haman of today. We are constantly aware of the fact that war may be imminent, that there will be casualties, G-d forbid, and that within the next few months, the future of the State of Israel will be determined either by action or inaction on the part of Israel, the U.S., and those countries of the world threatened by nuclear Iran. Queen Esther risked her life to confront Haman. Hopefully the world's leaders will not be Neville Chamberlains, appeasing the modern-day Haman/Hitler/Amahdinejad. Hopefully our world leaders will be as brave as the heroine Esther.
L'hitraot. Shachar.