Purim – is this (only) something to celebrate?
JVL Introduction
Tonight, Thursday March 11th marks the start of Purim; a festival where Jewish people are encouraged to dress up and have fun. Peter Beinart explains the festival itself in the article but emphasises that too often while Jews remember and celebrate the courage of Esther who persuades the King to reject the vile exterminatory antisemitic edict of Haman (boo hiss) but not what followed the victory of the Jews.
“When Jews tell the story of Purim today, many of us stop there. But that’s not quite right. The book of Esther doesn’t end with Haman’s death. It continues because although Haman is gone, his edict to kill the Jews remains. The king can’t reverse it. What he can do is empower Mordechai and his kinsmen to take matters into their own hands. Which they do. “The Jews struck at their enemies with the sword,” proclaims the book of Esther, “slaying and destroying; they wreaked their will upon their enemies.” On the 13th day of the month of Adar, the Jews kill 75,000 people. They declare the 14th “a day of feasting and merrymaking”. With the blood of their foes barely dry, the Jews feast and make merry. That’s the origin of Purim.”
Two years ago Beinart questioned how we see Purim after the Huwara Pogrom in 2o23 and inevitably his latest article has prompted allegations of antisemitism, eg here and here. The issue is not about Jewish resistance to the order to exterminate them but firstly the celebration of the murders as well as the maintenance of the idea that Jewish history is one of permament victimisation which ignores Jewish capacity to commit atrocities. His justifiable horror at what took place in Huwara almost pales against the current context of Gaza where almost daily more and more horrors are revealed of what Israeli soldiers and settlers ae doing and celebrating. In his piece about Huwara he notes that “…one of the most dangerous days every year in Hebron for Palestinians is Purim when people get dressed up and drunk, the settlers, and attack Palestinians.”
LL
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Tue 11 Mar 2025. Read the original here.
As Jews celebrate Purim, let us end the slaughter in Gaza committed in our name
Our refusal to reckon with the dark side of Purim reflects a refusal to reckon with the dark side of ourselves
‘My hope, this Purim, is that when Jews encounter the slaughter that concludes the Book of Esther, we shudder’
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A fine exposition of the Jewish actions in Gaza; while not exonerating Hamas, this brings a much-needed balance to the Israeli self-justifications and victim blaming. If only there were Jewish voices like this in the present government.
The JC piece on this misquotes Beinart; see my Twitter/X thread on this:
https://x.com/ChronometerJ/status/1900558553959608425
I’d like to add another problem with celebrating the story of Esther (as well as the obvious feminist objection). This is the template of survival through gaining the favour of the powerful: the ruler, the court, the government, the markets. No matter how many times this leaves Jewish communities vulnerable to popular hatred, community-establishment leaders go on and on following this despicable route. Jewish communities aren’t alone in this, but it is a heritage that needs to be confronted. Well done Peter Beinart for continuing this exploration.