My Word: Celebrating Purim is an expression of faith in our survival - opinion

How is it possible to celebrate Purim this year? It’s a question I have been asked repeatedly recently. I’ve even asked myself. The simple answer is: We have no choice. The situation, on the other hand, is anything but simple.

Purim marks the survival of the Jewish people as recorded in the Scroll of Esther. Haman, the adviser of Persian king Ahasuerus, plotted to kill every single Jew in the empire. Esther, with the help of her uncle Mordecai, came to the rescue. That was in the fourth century BCE. In current times, the Islamic Republic of Iran (what was once Persia) funds global terrorism – including Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis – and is on the threshold of a nuclear breakout. Today, instead of being hanged on his own gallows, Haman would probably be invited to address the UN.

Every Jewish holiday this year falls under the shadow of the events of October 7. As Jews celebrated the Sabbath and the joyous Simchat Hatorah festival, thousands of members of the Hamas terrorist organization invaded southern Israel from Gaza under the cover of a massive rocket barrage. The atrocity they perpetrated was staggering. Some 1,300 were murdered, many of them raped, mutilated, and burned to death, whole families wiped out; thousands were wounded; some 240 abducted, of whom at least  134 remain in captivity, dead or alive. The youngest is one-year-old Kfir Bibas, the oldest is Shlomo Mansour. To mark Mansour’s 86th birthday this week, the family of this grandfather of 12 asked people to eat an ice cream, his favorite food, and post a photo on social media captioned: Bring.Shlomo.Home.

The world is not comfortable with what happened on October 7. That’s why it wants to move on and stop the fighting in Gaza – even if that means allowing the continued existence of the Hamas terrorist organization. The global village doesn’t like Israel fighting back. Israelis are perceived as perpetrators, not victims. End of story, beginning of narrative.

The October 7 Hamas invasion and massacre are tied to events encircling the globe from the Palestinian street – and more significantly, the curriculum of incitement in its schools – to universities in Europe, North America, Australia, and South Africa. The violent mass rallies against Israel’s existence – “From the river to the sea” – are aimed not only at Israelis and Jews and their supporters. They are a successful intimidation tactic. In the Western world dominated by intersectionality, it is a brave person who continues to speak out despite the risk of being “canceled.”

Glazer's Oscar acceptance speech

Jonathan Glazer – a British-Jewish filmmaker I had never heard of before his outrageous Oscar acceptance speech last week – is a case in point. I don’t know if he has plans for Purim, but he has a role around the Seder table this Passover: The Wicked Son. Out of the four sons mentioned in the Haggadah, it is the wicked one who sets himself apart from the rest of the Jewish people.

Glazer is the director of Zone of Interest, zooming in on the life of the Auschwitz commandant and his family in their home adjacent to the concentration camp. Standing next to producer James Wilson and executive producer Len Blavatnik, Glazer declared: “Our film shows where dehumanization leads at its worst. It’s shaped all of our past and present. Right now, we stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people.”

It’s likely that Glazer hijacked the speech itself, speaking in the name of his partners without their prior approval. Addressing his remarks to a world audience that doesn’t know about, or care for, the nuances of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Glazer desperately wants to be seen as part of the “enlightened” crowd. Only a few brave souls wore a yellow ribbon as a reminder of the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.

According to a Variety report this week, more than 450 “Jewish creatives, executives, and Hollywood professionals” signed an open letter denouncing Glazer’s speech. Their statement says: “We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination.”

It’s a topsy-turvy world indeed. The more “woke” a person is, the more their eyes are closed to what’s really going on. Hamas could have stopped its hostilities and had a ceasefire deal today – yesterday, 168 days ago. Instead, it chooses to hold those it abducted to Gaza in a vast warren of terror tunnels, or in homes, schools, and hospitals, using the Gazan population as human shields.

The October 7 atrocity did not come out of the blue. The destruction of the Jewish state is literally written in the Hamas Charter. The “dehumanization” of Jews long ago turned into “demonization.”

It’s disturbing that so many people believe that were the Palestinians to have a state of their own – alongside all the other Muslim, Arabic-speaking countries – there would be universal peace, while the one Jewish state is considered the main cause of global conflict.

A joke doing the circuit on social media last week was that the “Two-state solution” refers to Michigan and Minnesota, states with large Muslim populations where voters could have an impact on Democrat party leader Joe Biden’s bid for presidential re-election.

Senator Chuck Schumer’s comments were no joking matter. Although Purim is marked by pranks, parodies, and skits – Purimspiels – it seems Senate Majority leader Schumer was not kidding last week when he called outright for Israel to replace its democratically elected leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, and said that “the US government should demand Israel conduct itself with a future two-state solution in mind.”

What the US and EU have in mind regarding the two-state solution is not what Hamas or the Palestinian Authority with its “pay-for-slay” incentive for terrorism have in mind. It enables Hamas to literally get away with mass murder and rewards it for its efforts. This is the message that would go out to every terrorist organization and regime. Iran’s leaders aren’t trembling with fear, they’re shaking with laughter. All they have to do is fund their terrorist proxies, and the Western world will defeat itself.

INSTEAD OF giving in to despair, we need this year more than ever to celebrate who we are, what we have been through, and what we have nonetheless achieved. Purim is one of those quintessentially Jewish holidays celebrating survival against the odds – and our extraordinarily long, strong communal memory. It’s one of those festivals only half-jokingly referred to as: “They tried to kill us, we survived; let’s eat.”

Adults might tone down the festive mode next week, but the basic commandments of the holiday are too important to entirely ignore: hearing the Scroll of Esther read out loud – while drowning out the name of Haman; eating a festive meal; exchanging gifts of food with friends; and giving gifts to the poor. Children will get dressed up – expect more soldiers and police officer costumes than in previous years – and traditional special parades will be held. From Haman to Hamas: At every event, we will remember the murdered, the fallen soldiers, and those still being held in captivity in Gaza. Raise a glass to absent friends and family, eat an ice cream to honor Shlomo Mansour and the others held in Hamas hell holes.

Glazer et al can try to refute their identity, but there will always be an Amalek, Haman, or Hitler to remind us. We are still collectively reeling from October 7, but we can be proud of the soldiers fighting back, the spirit of volunteerism, and the strengthened ties between Israel and the Diaspora.

We must celebrate Purim this year. It is not just a matter of remembering the past, it’s an expression of faith in survival for the future.