Thought for the Week
Shabbat P'kudey
15 March 2024
Dear Members and Friends,
This is a strange year. The world beyond our own Jewish world is preparing for Easter and holidays at the end of this month, yet we, in the Jewish community, are yet to celebrate Purim, let alone Pesach. In this leap year, when an additional month has been added or ‘intercalated’, to use the technical term, into the calendar, we must wait an extra month to read Megillat Ester, the Book of Esther – the book that tells the story of how Esther saved her people by pleading with her husband to reverse a cruel and genocidal decree against the Jews of Persia.
It was for plausible reasons that Purim was abolished by the founders of Liberal Judaism. Even the words of Esther could not persuade them to remind us of the catastrophes that had beset the Jewish people throughout the ages:
‘For how can I bear to see the disaster which will befall my people! And how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred’ (Esther 8:6).
It was not because they did not want to recap past tragedies or remember the Hamans of Greek or Roman empires, the Crusades or Cossack pogroms in Eastern Europe. The devastation and destruction of the Shoah had yet to befall our people.
Nor was it because of the imaginary, fictional nature of the book with its caricatures and parodies, its sending up of the Persian court and laws.
No, it was because of the closing chapters of the Book of Esther in which the king, Achashverosh, permits the Jews of every city ‘to assemble and fight for their lives,’ to defend themselves against any people or province who attack them, and ‘destroy, massacre, and exterminate its armed force together with women and children, and plunder their possessions’ (8:11).
It was because of the document that was to be issued as a law in every single province throughout Persia, to be publicly displayed to all the peoples, ‘that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies’ (8:13).
It was because ‘no one could withstand [the Jews], for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples,’ because they ‘struck at their enemies with the sword, slaying and destroying; they wreaked their will upon their enemies’ (9:5).
It is impossible to read the Book of Esther at this moment in time in the carnivalesque, mocking, satirical context that was intended by its author – as an overblown parody of Persian culture. There can be no gleeful gloating over our enemies, fictional or not. For this is a book written for Jews without sovereign power, subject to the rule of powerful, tyrannical empires. This is not a book for Jews to take to heart today, for its story of revenge is too close and too painful to our current truths.
To hear Israeli public figures speak this week of the ferocity of Israel’s response in Gaza, the destruction of civilian infrastructures, the terrible ‘collateral damage’, the ‘abandonment of any sense of shame and embarrassment’; to be told of the constant settler violence against vulnerable Palestinian communities on the West Bank, and the dangerous dream of Israeli supremacy among the far right, an ‘agenda of Armageddon’ – was more frightening than anything I have heard or read in the last five months since October 7.
Even if a Palestinian state were created tomorrow, said one of the speakers, the Jewish State and the Jewish people would still have to live with the destruction of this war and serious crimes against the innocent civilians of Gaza.
In the cabaret of Esther, we are left with one question. After the Jews of Persia had avenged their enemies, how was it possible for calm to be restored; for an ordinance of ‘equity and honesty’ to be observed throughout the kingdom; for Mordechai the Jew to be regarded with honour, ‘seeking the good of his people and interceding for the welfare of all his kindred’ (10.3)?
I am asking myself, how was that possible? How might it become a possibility for now, for the future? If freedom and independence are a vehicle to human rights, how can we, here in the UK, empower the individuals and institutions in Israel that are defending those values with their life?
Shabbat Shalom,
Alexandra Wright
Tue, 19 March 2024
9 Adar II 5784
Archive
March 2024
Shabbat Ki Tissa
When The Moon of Adar Begins, We Increase Joy.
February 2024
Shabbat Yitro
Reflections on Hostages, Israel, and Gaza
A Letter to Jewish Students at British Universities and Colleges
Second Anniversary of the War in Ukraine - 'Do not be afraid!'
January 2024
Shabbat Shemot
Shabbat Va'era
Shabbat Bo
What gives you hope?
December 2023
Shabbat Vayishlach
Shabbat Vayeshev
Shabbat Mikketz
Shabbat Vayiggash
November 2023
Shabbat Va-era
The Most Important Teachings of Judaism
Shabbat Tol'dot
Shabbat Vayetze
October 2023
Simchat Torah
Am I My Brother's Keeper Thoughts about Israel and Palestine
Shabbat Noach
Imam and Rabbi in Conversation
September 2023
August 2023
Shabbat Shof'tim
In a place where there are no people, strive to be human
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
Shabbat Va-y'chi
The Book of Exodus
Shabbat Va-era
Mental Health Awareness
December 2022
Shabbat Vayetze
Where is Home?
Chanukkah
November 2022
October 2022
Shabbat Ha'azinu/Sukkot
Simchat Torah
Shabbat Bereshit
September 2022
Shabbat Shof'Tim
A Tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Weight of History
Shabbat Nitzavim/Rosh Hashanah
Embracing Uncertainty
August 2022
July 2022
The Meaning of Law
Shabbat Balak
Broken Peace. Can radical extremism be an answer?Shabbat Mattot
Destruction and Responsibility
June 2022
Shabbat Naso/ Shavuot
When leaders are criticised
Shabbat Sh'lach L'cha
Shabbat Korach
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
About Hope
Shabbat Vayikra
Rabbi Igor's Purim message from Warsaw, Poland
Shabbat Shemini
February 2022
January 2022
Mental Health Shabbat
Shabbat B'Shallach/Shirah
The Jewish Response to Hatred
Shabbat Mishpatim
December 2021
Shabbat Mikkeitz/Chanukkah 5782
On Punishment and Forgiveness
Shabbat Va-y'chi
Who is Wise?
November 2021
Parashat Tol'dot
Jewish Women's Aid Shabbat
Shabbat Vayishlach
Favouritism in the Torah and today
October 2021
September 2021
Shabbat Nitzavim
The Book of Life
Yom Kippur
Sukkot
August 2021
Shabbat Re'eh
Shabbat Ki Tetzé
Preparing for the High Holy Days
July 2021
June 2021
Reflections on the Meaning of Life
Shabbat Korach
Crime and Punishment
Shabbat Balak
May 2021
Reward and Punishment
Shabbat B'Midbar
Naso - Everyone Counts
Shabbat B'Ha'a lot'cha
April 2021
March 2021
Ki Tissa
The world without fear
Shabbat Vayikra
Language and our understanding of the world
February 2021
Parashat Yitro
Equality vs Equity
Shabbat Terumah/ Zachor
Turning values into habits
January 2021
Shemot
Identity
The hill we climb
To be the light
December 2020
Dreams of the ideal future
Vayeshev/ Chanukkah
Don't let the light go out
November 2020
The place where we are right
Human fractions and divine oneness
Who deserves to be loved
Vayetze
October 2020
September 2020
Being a hybrid community
Selichot 2020
Rosh Hashanah
To fast or not fast?
August 2020
Shabbat Shof'tim
Approaching The High Holy Days
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
A change of perspective
Coping during Coronavirus
The importance of hope
March 2020
Reflecting on Coronavirus
Support in uncertain times
Reconnecting with the earth during troubled times
The importance of sacrifice
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
Recognising sacredness
Building a future of hope
Chanukah
Reflecting on the story of Chanukah
November 2019
October 2019
Letting go of anger and hurt
Safety and security
Prayer is policital
Hope