On Purim, Obama and the Jews
Purim 2013
David Lazarus - Editorial
Once again another inexplicable, perhaps even divine spin of
events bring President Obama to Israel around Purim. Some see this is an
opportunity for Obama to press the newly elected Knesset for a renewed peace
initiative. Others, a politicized Obama trying to get himself into the
spotlight for some lame foreign policy legacy.
Whatever the reason, the timing of this sudden and rushed
decision of the American leadership to visit Israel cannot be ignored. Who can
forget their meeting on Purim one year ago when Prime Minister Netanyahu put a magnificent,
hand-written manuscript of the Scroll of Esther into the hands of President Obama.
With Mordechai like clarity, Netanyahu declared to Obama, “Mr. President, we
must stop Iran, before they destroy us!”
For the Jewish Prime Minister, it is a no-brainer, Israel is facing a modern-day
Haman. In his speech to the
American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobbying group,
Netanyahu described Haman as "a Persian anti-Semite who tried to annihilate
the Jewish people." Netanyahu explained that “In every generation, there
are those who wish to destroy the Jewish people. Inthis generation, we are
blessed to live in an age when there is a Jewish state capable of defending the
Jewish people.”
This time even more than ever Netanyahu’s message must
remain clear, and not only to Obama. Purim must be a reminder to all of us, women
and men, that we must take action to save ourselves. It is not enough to just
allow events to take their course. We must not wait passively for some divine
intervention.
That is the message in Esther’s Scroll. Purim is the assurance
that the divine hand of intervention will turn the tables on Israel’s enemies, when
someone is willing to stand up for what is right. The hero of Purim is not fate
nor consequence. It is the young girl, who with a good sense of woman’s intuition,
and gentle feminine persuasion convinces
a King listen to her plea. It is about the “coincidences that happen” when a
faithful uncle risks everything to stand up for what he believes and does not
hesitate to warn his people of impending danger.
While Purim is a constant reminder that Jews have enemies
dedicated to our destruction, we learn from the Scroll of Esther that we also can,
and should, do something about it. When the chips are down, and it seems like the
cards are stacked against us, it is not time to sit around and brood. It is
time to remember Purim, a celebration to shake us out of our apathy. It is a call to do something, something we can
do, something we should do. Something that could turn the tables on an enemy,
foil a foe by his own foolishness, or hang a Haman on his own hemp.
While Netanyahu is said to be considering military action
against Iran, Israeli Author Yossi Klein Halevi believes that Netanyahu’s reading
of the Purim story is understandable. “Tradition emphasizes that the Book of
Esther is the only sacred text in the Hebrew Bible without God’s name in it,
and that’s understood as an indication that this is a story that requires human
initiative, that saving oneself requires human initiative, and that God’s help
is implicit” he said. In that sense, Netanyahu is reading the Purim story
correctly when he calls for active Israeli self-defense against our existential
threats.
This year as we approach Purim with a nuclear Iran ticking,
killer chemicals lingering over the Syrian border, Hezbollah missiles
stockpiled in Lebanon, Al Qaida wannabes tunneling under Gaza’s sand hills and
civil wars raging on our doorsteps, the stakes have been raised. Long ago the
die was cast in the Middle East and we have long since crossed the Rubicon of
diplomatic solutions for Israel’s security. Israel cannot and will not risk her
survival to rhetoric and wishful thinking. The only question remaining is
whether or not President Obama and the United States of America will cast their
lot in time to make a difference.
Perhaps this Purim Netanyahu should highlight with a yellow
marker for President Obama the passage in Esther that reads, “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another
place… And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a
time as this?”