Purim: Deja vu all over again

Mark Twain said that “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes”. The “vibe shift” that the Jewish world has experienced since the October 7th attacks is a modern repeat of Purim in many ways.

Purim is about revealing that which was hidden.

No-one started hating Jews after October 7. Rather, they found licence to say openly what they really thought about us. Their antisemitism has now been revealed.

If anything, it was Jews themselves who changed. Those who thought that the gentile world accepted us – that Israel was a nation like any other, that the antisemitism of pre WW2 was a thing of the past – were rudely awakened. Progressive Jews were rendered politically homeless, their “friends” shedding them faster than one can scream “globalise the Intifada”.

For these people, their hidden or suppressed feelings about their own Judaism have been revealed. In Chassidic terms, this is an awakening within them of the “pinteleh yid” – the essential Jewish soul. The results is that people have sought greater connection with community and legacy. We are seeing this in greater attendance and engagement in synagogues.

In the Purim story, the heroine Esther concealed her Jewishness when she married Achashverosh. When her people were threatened with genocide, she revealed her true identity, advocated to the king and averted the decree.

The decree agreed by Haman and Achashverosh was similarly concealed: only the people in the capital Shushan knew the intent. The rest of the empire were simply told “prepare for something on the 13 of Adar” – not that the “something” was the extermination of all Jews.

Indeed, God does not get a mention in the Megillah. In the miracle of Purim, God’s hand is hidden, as He operates through nature (as distinct from Pesach).

This rescue of the Jews led to a renewal of the Jewish people’s commitment, alluded to in Esther 9:23 “The Jews accordingly assumed as an obligation that which they had begun to practice”. The existential threat brought out the “pinteleh yid” and revived Jewish practice.

One more interesting parallel: once Haman’s decree was neutralised, “many of the people of the land converted to Judaism”, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them” (Esther 8:17). In recent times too, conversions to Judaism have surged.

Our history is full of stories like this. When times are good (and the past few decades have been a golden age for the Jewish world), we discard our faith. Then existential threats bring out our (sometimes hidden) strength and belief. On a micro level, we also see how great adversity brings out amazing resilience and strength in people. While I feel we have a bone to pick with God over this, I’m in no hurry to confront Him directly on it.

The joke goes “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat.” but perhaps it’s more like “They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s use that to rediscover our faith”. OK, the joke is better.

History doesn’t repeat, but often rhymes.