Something about Rabbi Perl's speech on Sunday really struck a chord for me. He asked us how many people the Jews killed. How many people the Jews killed, thought I. What is that supposed to mean? Rabbi Perl must be just like his wife- he must edit the megillah! Never once in my 17 (almost 18) years of living, and 15 years of learning about the megillah have I heard someone tell me that the Jews killed people in the megillah. Sure, maybe I skimmed over it during megillah reading, but that is doubtful, because the megillah gets kind've boring once the whole 'plot' story-line is over. So what was up with all this killing? Well, unfortunately we don't have an answer for this yet in class, but do any of you have any guesses, based on what we have learned so far, as to how this could fit in with the context of the Megillah?
So, though I don't have an answer to the question above, I do have more swell thoughts about "The Dark Side of Purim" thanks to an article by the same name on the Forward by Shaul Magid. Shaul starts off his article with an anecdote about Orthodox Israeli scientist and philosopher Yeshayahu Leibowitz. Mr. Leibowitz was once asked whether he would ever consider living outside of Israel. One would normally think that the response to such a question would be something along the lines of, No, I need to live in Israel because this is the land the God promised to the Jewish people. But, as the story goes, he said that he would not... because Israel was the only place he could live where he would never have to celebrate Purim. What the what?! Who wouldn't want to celebrate Purim? What kind of answer is that? It's a Jewish holiday of happiness and gift giving, of dressing up and eating a seudah. Why would he want to avoid that? And how could he avoid it? What is your response to this surprising answer?
Since Jerusalem is a walled city, it celebrates Purim a day after everyone else (on Shushan Purim). So, Mr. Leibowitz could properly avoid Pruim by being in Jerusalem for Purim and traveling to Tel Aviv on the evening after Purim. Pretty sneaky, huh? So, now we know how, but why did he feel the need to do this?
According to Leibowitz, Purim is essentially a the celebration of violence. It's the day that we drink to bloody revenge- to the time we killed Haman, his sons, and- oh, right- 75,000 other people! Purim is the day that we drink to celebrating the blotting out of the nation of Amalek (this could not be made any more clear by the fact that the Shabbat before Purim is Shabbat Zachor, when we gather to read about the command to wipe out Amalek). True, the Rabbis said that this commandment isn't such a big deal because, anyways, we don't know who Amalek is anymore. Even though we can't identify people from Amalek, we have never forgotten about them.. Take this example: a young settler in Israel named Ayelet was asked if she thought Amalek was alive today and she said, "Of course," and pointed toward an Arab village in the distance. What is your reaction to this story? Does it shock you? Or do you believe that it is okay to point out people as being from Amalek?
Does this give you a slightly different perspective of Purim, or is it blowing ideas out or proportion? Well, and I'm kind of surprised that I'm saying this, but I think this might be a little much. Don't get me wrong- the whole 'destroying Amalek' thing really gives me the creeps. I'm not a big fan of that thing; never have been. But I don't think that Purim is about destroying Amalek. I'm sure that by the time we're finished learning about Ester, we will have many themes and applications we can take with us... and I doubt that "destroying Amalek" will be one of them. We have discussed that Amalek represents the idea of randomness; that Amalek believes that the world is disorderly and that this directly contradicts with the Jewish view (that is, that everything in this life has meaning, and that ultimately it is God who controls everything). I think it's safe to say we should be able to dislike what it is Amalek stands for and wish for the destruction of that mentality without literally wishing for the physical destruction of people who think that way. What do you all think?
The whole issue of Amalek has been bothering me for several years now. Ever since I was old enough to comprehend that we were actually commanded to commit genocide, I've had some major questions. I've asked advisors and teachers and rabbis about this issue, but no one had had a clear answer for me. One person said that we're not obligated to kill anyone, but saying we believe in the commandment is a test of faith exactly because it defies our basic morals. Needless to say, I was not satisfied with that answer. As far as the issue of Purim celebrating violence, I definitely see the problem. I personally think that the crux of the celebration depends on the intention of those celebrating. No Jew ever (I think) said, "Okay, let's celebrate the deaths of 75,000 people who were trying to kill us!" I won't personally go to the extreme and try to escape Purim altogether, but I definitely have some issues with it.
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