The Purim War And The New Jewish World

This war did not start on Purim, but as of this writing there is little reason to believe it will stop before then. But this slight deviation is made up for by the enormous historical resonances of the Purim holiday itself and the current war between Israel and Iran, the Jews and the Persians.

Unlike the Yom Kippur war, or the slaughter on Simchat Torah, October 7, 2023, or numerous other examples from our history, perhaps most important the duplication of Tisha B’Av, where we were attacked on a day meaningful to us, this time the situation is reversed. Not only has Israel turned the tables on its strongest foe, it has done so with the backing of the mightiest military in human history.

There are caveats of course. Unless the next American president is Marco Rubio, that president is unlikely to support Israel (if at all) the way past presidents have, much less as much as Trump. The future is uncertain, but that is always the case and I doubt that foregoing the war with Iran would succeed in winning back much American political support.

But directionally, this represents the world today where Israel is a regional power with a huge economy. We may be hated in the world, but we have powerful friends. Some of our friends are still scared to be seen with us in public, but that may change depending on what happens here. And indeed, Iran itself may “re-friend” us in the not too distant future.

This is what it means to join the family of nations. This is what it means to be a normal people. There will be conflicts, especially for this people in this place. But compared to the world my family members left behind 150 years ago, running from the tsar, or even the situation some of our fellows face this very day all across the world, Israel today is fulfilling the quest to return to normalcy. The fear that it wasn’t so was what hit us so deeply on that day in 2023.

So, yes, they tried to kill us, we are winning, but it’s not quite time to eat. It is, however, past time to start living in this world of strength. We don’t need the pity the “Blue Square” ads seek.

אל תדרכו עליי