What we can learn from Purim and Passover in our ever-complicated reality - opinion

• Published date: 27 March 2024
• Author: GIL TROY
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Purim celebrates Jewish dignity, the freedom to be Jewish anywhere; Passover celebrates Zionist responsibility, the freedom to be Jewish at home, as we leave luscious but enslaving lands to live fulfilled Jewish lives in Israel. Purim highlights individual heroes, Esther and Mordechai, fighting for freedom; Passover emphasizes how we, individually and collectively, must fight to free ourselves from all forms of slavery

Purim pivots around anti-antisemitism, remembering how the evil Amalekites harmed us; Passover turns this around, going from negative to positive, nurturing proud Jewish identities by remembering differently – remembering the Shabbat, embracing the good, not just the bad. And Purim underscores the randomness of our lot – on October 7 and on the battlefield, so many lived or died by sheer chance – while Passover accentuates our interconnectedness as Jews stood publicly, affirming their identities, marking Jewish door posts so the Angel of Death would pass over.

In short, Purim represents the first step in our redemption; Passover propels us ever closer to the never-fully-reachable finish line.

Jerusalem's Thursday-to-Monday Purim suited this year. We're living in an Adloyada haze of sick masquerades and moral confusion. Millions, even without drinking, confuse Haman and Mordechai.

Fooled before October 7 by Hamas terrorists masquerading as pragmatists, the international community now falls for Gaza's masquerade, deeming every Palestinian innocent. UNRWA employees dress like social workers and act like terrorists. Palestinian journalists who joined the massacre hide behind their press cards. Gazans spread evil from command-and-control centers embedded in hospitals, launch pads hidden in mosques, and arms depots behind blackboards.

And those who try to commit genocide against Jews accuse Jews of committing genocide against them.

Meanwhile, purported friends like Chuck Schumer call themselves "shomer" Israel, protectors of Israel, while instead, they "shover" (break) many Democrats' bond with Israel. Fake feminists praise evil rapists as "de-colonizers" while rejecting their victims, forgetting their own teaching that silence in the face of rape is violence.

Incompetent Democratic strategists fear losing Dearborn and the Trump-despising Left, and they risk losing millions in the wavering middle. The intolerance for Israel's disciplined, well-executed, yet bloody war of self-defense against Gaza masks the tolerance Americans showed for America's...