Cyrus, we are here!
“History doesn’t repeat itself, but it certainly does rhyme.” Mark Twain
It just cannot be a coincidence. Even though over 2500 years of history have passed, there are just too many connections. This Monday, March 2nd, is Purim, the Jewish festival that celebrates the victory in 473 BC. of the Jewish people of the Persian empire over a clique of ruling elites who plotted to destroy them. Today Israel and the Jewish people are putting their lives on the line, together with the Americans, to defeat the current ruling Ayatollah clique that is holding the Iranian people captive. Today, Israel and the Jewish people are repaying a 2500-year-old historical debt owed to the Persia people.
First, some history:
Following his conquest of Babylon in 539 BC, Cyrus the Great (also known as Cyrus II) the King of Persia freed the Jews from the Babylonian Captivity. Cyrus issued a decree (often called the Edict of Restoration) that permitted the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple. Cyrus the Great is the “liberator” who allowed the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem.
In the Book of Esther tells the story of Purim which occurred in in 473 BC3. Haman, the evil grand vizier to King Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), the grandson of Cyrus the Great, tricked the King into issuing a decree calling for the destruction of the Jews of the Persian empire. King Ahasuerus was married to Esther, a woman of Jewish ancestry who impressed him with her beauty, intelligence, poise and elegance. When she learned of the decree, Queen Esther intervened on behalf of the Jewish people, and King Ahasuerus realized he had been tricked by Haman. However, it was the law that once the King issued a decree it could not be revoked. So King Ahasuerus issued a new decree which said that the Jewish people were allowed to defend themselves against anyone who dared attack them.
During the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette famously led American troops against the British. His efforts greatly assisted in the American victory. In 1917, after three years of horrific trench warfare in WWI the French were desperate for hope. In June of 1917 the first soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces, led by Colonel Charles E. Stanton, arrived in Paris to help the French fight. Then on July 4, 1917, during a a speech at the grave of the Marquis de Lafayette in Paris Colonel Stanton famously declared, “Lafayette, we are here!”
A 2500 year old debt repaid:
Today the Israelis have repaid their 2500-year-old debt to the Persian people. Along with the Americans, the Jewish people have removed the military monopoly the Ayatollah regime used to imprison and repress the Persian people. The Israeli government, along with the President Trump and Crown Prince Pahlavi, have issued new decrees. Like King Ahasuerus they are telling the Persian People to rise up and defend themselves against the Ayatollah regime that threatens to kill them. Forget calling the military attack on the Ayatollah regime Operation Roaring Lion. The only proper name is “Operation Cyrus, we are here!”.