Rabbi's Corner

We are just about midway between Purim and Passover, both holidays that celebrate redemption and yet describe redemption in starkly different ways. Besides sharing the paradigm that describes most Jewish holidays—They came to kill us. They failed. Let’s eat— it’s a good time to reflect on what else connects these two very different redemptions. That connection is the agency of the Jewish people. Like the moral of the opening story, Jewish survival depends not on faith alone but on people, and more centrally, Jews, taking action on their own behalf.

Purim recounts a reversal of fortune, a reversal that is brought about by the Jews in the story.  You will recall that a government official, Haman, sets up a plan to kill all the Jews in the Persian empire. The justification: if as the God-fearing Jew, Mordecai, asserts, Jews were not allowed to humble themselves before a court official such as Haman, then the loyalty of all Jews was suspect. Better not risk it. In the “interest of the state” and to soothe Haman’s wounded ego, best solution: get rid of the Jews.  A war of annihilation. Once Queen Esther learns of Haman’s plot and the king’s complicity, she risks her life and reveals her own Jewish identity to her husband. The plot quickly reverses itself. In the end, the executions meant for the Jews were visited upon Haman and his family and hundreds of other assailants. 

But this reversal of fortune isn’t a result of the king’s decree calling off the assault. That didn’t happen. Nor were royal armies unleashed to defend the Jewish people. That didn’t happen either. Haman had persuaded the king to officially incite the townspeople throughout the empire against the Jews in what could rightly be called a pogrom. Then Esther’s courageous reveal motivated the king to send out a follow up decree permitting the Jews to defend themselves against those who might assault them!  It’s mind-boggling, really. Victory came solely by the courage and struggle of the Jews themselves. They were drawn into a defensive war against ordinary peoples incited against them to commit genocide. Jewish agency is what turned the tables. 

The Passover tale I suspect is even better known. Here Jewish agency also plays a role but not in directly fighting the oppressors. Adonai, the Israelite king of kings, speaking through Moses, battles it out with the Egyptian god-king, Pharaoh. There are ten plagues to show for it and the parting of the Red Sea. Destruction and death result from the standoff between these two superpowers vying for dominance. Adonai wins. The Israelites escape to freedom. The pursuing Egyptian army drowns.  The loss of life is not to be celebrated. But the agency of the Israelites is to be commemorated along with God’s redemptive arm forevermore. The agency of the Israelites? Yes.  Overcoming their fear and suspicion, inculcated over 430 years of subjugation, the Israelites chose to place their trust in Moses and their faith in the redemptive power of their God. It is their trust and faith that allows them to risk an escape, to change their fate, and to escape their oppressors. God couldn’t have saved them without this decision to act. We learn that the first step to political freedom is finding in whom to trust. The first step to personal freedom is finding one’s faith. 

Jewish agency plays a central role in both the redemptive tales of Purim and Passover. This is what connects the two holidays. This agency includes taking risks that put one’s life at stake, taking up arms to defend oneself against assault, finding in whom to trust, and finding one’s faith. Each of these acts are keys to survival and freedom.  We should never underestimate our ability to act for good in the world.