Happy Purim! RABBANIT SHANI TARAGIN on Why Purim Is the Most Zionistic Holiday
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ADAR SHEINI 5779 MARCH 2019 TORAT ERETZ YISRAEL • PUBLISHED IN SHUSHAN • DISTRIBUTED AROUND THE WORLD ISRAEL EDITION RABBI BEREL WEIN פורים שמח! living our own purim story PAGE 24 Happy Purim! RABBANIT SHANI TARAGIN on why purim is the most zionistic holiday PAGE 5 RABBI JONATHAN SACKS invites us to be alert to G-d's messages PAGE 14 SIVAN RAHAV-MEIR with advice for a noisy world PAGE 23 RABBI CHAIM NAVON analyzes binge relationships PAGE 22 RABBANIT YEMIMA MIZRACHI with some magical moments for women this issue is dedicated in loving memory of PAGE 21 professor cyril domb by his wife and children Torat HaMizrachi HITLER, HAMAN & HAMAS A Parashat Zachor and Purim Primer bsolute evil has existed for minute. Thousands of years later, Individuals and societies possess both millennia. It constitutes a Hitler declared the same intentions. the passion for altruistic good and single-minded, systematic Tragically, he succeeded in murdering the impulse for self-destructive evil. focusA to destroy all good in the world. one third of the Jewish people, and Israel's mission is chiefly the former; According to Torah tradition, it has a if not for the hand of Providence Amalek's the latter. name. Amalek. The Torah commands guiding the actions of the Allied It was not by chance that Amalek was us to always remember and never Forces, he would have gone much 1 the first nation to attack Israel, as forget what Amalek represents. further. Unstopped and unchecked, this type of evil would, G-d forbid, soon as we came out of Egypt. This can be sourced from Parashat Zachor. This is the essence of Parashat Zachor. destroy every last Jew wherever they Here are two remarkable points which Our Sages instituted an annual are. public Torah reading on the Shabbat highlight Amalek’s pursuit of evil: preceding Purim, lest we forget The Perennial Battle “How he happened upon you on Amalek’s role in world affairs. The Even though Amalek no longer exists the way and cut off all the stragglers saga of the most infamous Amalekite, as a nation, it most certainly exists as at your rear, when you were faint Haman, at the heart of the Megillah, is an ideology. Its goal is to eradicate and weary, and he did not fear G-d” a sobering reminder of the existence everything good in the world – first (Deuteronomy 25, 17-19). of absolute evil and our obligation to the Jewish people, and all those who confront it. stand for morality and justice. Firstly, there is no stated motive for this attack. Amalek was not motivated Final Solutions Remarkably, only two nations are by any normative political or military the first of nations – the reasoning. Theirs was not a battle over ,ֵראשׁ ִ ית called Having mentioned absolute evil, most 2 situations in life are not so black or Jewish people and Amalek. land or religion nor a war of defense, white. Certainly in ethical terms, little deterrence or display of regional The point is clear. These two nations 3 power. They chose to attack for no is absolutely good or absolutely bad, are pitted against each other in the reason other than to commit evil for but rather nuanced with many shades perennial battle of good versus evil. its own sake. To sow darkness at the of moral grey. Nevertheless, world and Just as on an individual level we battle very dawn of Israel’s aspirations to be Jewish history are testament to the constantly between our good and evil ‘a light unto the nations.’ undeniable existence of destructive impulses, so too these forces struggle ideologies of significant evil. with one another on a cosmic level – Secondly, Amalek always inte the collective mission of the Jewish ntionally targets innocent civilians. Haman’s intention was to kill every people as opposed to that of Amalek. last Jew in all 127 countries of Theirs is not a regular military Achashverosh’s global empire in The struggle between good and evil confrontation but rather a purposeful one day. His Final Solution was on is at the core of much literature and and systematic attack on those lagging the brink of implementation. It was art. Because it is so central to the behind: the elderly, the young, the only through the grace of G-d and psychological and historical reality weak and the infirm. They attacked the actions of Mordechai and Esther of the human condition. Heroes and the most vulnerable and defenseless in that his plan was thwarted at the last villains are locked in constant battle. society. HaMizrachi seeks to spread Torat Eretz Yisrael throughout the world. HaMizrachi also contains articles, opinion pieces and advertisements that 54 King George Street Chairman represent the diversity Editor-in-Chief Production & Advertising Manager Jerusalem Mr. Harvey Blitz of views and interests in Daniel Verbov Meyer Sterman our communities. These [email protected] 02 620 9000 do not necessarily reflect Chief Executive Rabbi Doron Perez any official position of Creative Director Design www.mizrachi.org Mizrachi or its branches. Jonny Lipczer Hadas Peretz Follow us c d f l Rabbi Doron Perez HITLER, HAMAN & HAMAS A Parashat Zachor and Purim Primer Amalek Today The Leaders’ Crucial Role pluralistic and democratic “live and Amalek-type evil has taken on a Therefore it is incumbent on let live” society must not become our new name. Terrorism. The aim of statesmen and leaders to comprehend greatest weakness. The forces of good 4 international terrorism is to do the challenge of dealing with Amalek. cannot prevail if we are not armed exactly what its name implies: to with robust moral clarity. It was Mordechai who had this clarity terrorize anywhere and everywhere. Parashat Zachor is the perennial The acceptable international norm of moral vision and courageous temerity to stand up to Haman. It was reminder of this need. Purim is the in military interaction is that an primer of how to contend with this army confronts another, and only his and Esther’s heroic leadership, with assistance from Above, that evil and how each player has their combatants in uniform fight against part to play. The Hamans of the world their counterparts. Civilians are prevented the total annihilation of the Jewish people. will always attempt to win over the beyond the pale of ideological and Achashveroshes – to isolate, sanction, military conflict. An Amalek mindset What would have happened to punish and persecute the Jews. operates differently. It is specifically Europe, and beyond, if not for The Mordechais and Esthers must the civilians, the non-combatants, the heroic leadership of Winston display clarity and courageousness who are the aim of their terror. Churchill in the 1940s? Charles in confronting this evil in the face Hamas and Hezbollah terrorize Israeli Krauthammer, America’s sorely of fierce opposition and impossible civilians just getting on with their missed preeminent columnist, argued odds. And the ultimate role is played lives. Al-Qaida, ISIS and the like do that Churchill’s role in confronting by the Almighty, behind the scenes, the same in cities around the world. Nazism was so indispensable that it masking the indispensable face of made him the most important person Providence in the drama of human Iran today is the greatest supporter 5 of international terror and has its of the 20th century. What enabled and Jewish destiny. own diabolical aspirations for nuclear Churchill to be the right statesman at the right time was his absolute clarity hegemony. 9/11 showed us just what 1 The Netziv (HaEmek Davar, Exodus warped minds of terror could conjure of vision of what Nazism stood for 17:14), distinguishes between the nation up. There seems to be no limit to the and aspired to achieve and what the of Amalek which no longer exists and the immoral perversion and distortion of right response was to that evil. ideology of Amalek which persists to this heart and mind. day. From countless articles in the 30s, it is 2 Regarding Israel: “Israel is holy to G-d, the Terrorism, as fitting for an Amalek- evident that he, more than anyone else, first of His grain…” (Jeremiah 2:3). type ideology, exists outside the understood and articulated the looming Regarding Amalek, in Bilaam's prophecy: moral consensus and international threat. In 1935, many branded him as “When he saw Amalek, he took up his convention of normative political, an extremist sowing panic and viewing parable and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, and his fate shall be everlasting military and societal living. the world in simplistic, black-and-white terms. By 1940, none of his critics destruction” (Numbers 24:20). Yet if one thing is clear, could doubt him. In our nuclear age, 3 The Malbim on the above verse says that understandable and proven about Churchill’s brand of leadership, courage none of these five reasons at the core of all normative military conflict were present Amalekite anti-Semitism it is this – it and clarity of vision is more critical here. begins with the Jews but never ends than ever. 4 Rambam (Laws of Kings and Their Wars with them. One can be sure it will Yes, life is very nuanced and 1:1). Based on the Talmud (Sanhedrin 20b), spill over to all fair-minded, good the mitzvah of remembering and confronting the – ְ ּכ ַל ל ִי ְשׂ ָר ֵא ל people around the world. Buildings complex and must be viewed with Amalek is a mitzvah on and planes in New York, trains in great sophistication. And yes, this Jewish people as a collective – and is to be Madrid, buses in London, night clubs Amalek-type hatred is rooted in a implemented by the king.